Chapter 12 #2
Gracie came out of her bedroom wearing her favorite flower girl dress that Lincoln had bought her, with cowboy boots and a ski jacket. My daughter had her own sense of fashion, and as long as she wore her coat, I’d let it go.
I loaded the animals into my truck. Maxine sat up front in the passenger seat, while Bob sat in the back with Gracie.
When we arrived at my parents’ house, Gracie led Maxine inside, and I had to carry Bob because he’d fallen asleep on the four-minute drive over, and he refused to walk inside.
We were the last to arrive, and Presley was already there. She appeared completely comfortable as she laughed at something Georgia had just said.
I set Bob down on the kitchen floor, and he finally got his second wind and wiggled his way over to my mother, who had a treat waiting for him.
Gracie was introducing Presley to Maxine, and I looked up to see Brinkley watching me with that devious look on her face.
“Good to see you, brother,” she said, and I didn’t miss the smirk.
I gave her a warning look as I made my rounds and gave everyone a hug. I kissed my mom on the cheek, pulling my dad in for a big bear hug before he guided everyone to the table.
Gracie had her hand in Presley’s as they walked to the dining room.
My chest squeezed.
Boundaries.
How do I keep my daughter from falling for this woman when I can’t control myself around her? Gracie had no clue about self-preservation.
My mother could clearly read my mind because her gaze locked with mine, and she gave me that look, the one that told me to relax.
Always the therapist.
We took our usual seats, with Presley taking the chair beside me that my mother had added to the table. Gracie sat on the other side of me but leaned forward to continue telling Presley about Maxine.
“And she really loves Daddy. Maxine thinks she’s his girlfriend.”
“Well, Maxine is easy on the eyes. He could do worse.” Presley smiled, and everyone chuckled.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s eat.” I placed some vegetables on Gracie’s plate before piling some on my own and handing the platter to Presley.
“Your daddy gets so uncomfortable when you talk about that kind of stuff, doesn’t he?” Brinkley said with a wicked grin on her face, and I glared at her. She loved to put me on the hot seat.
“Not if we aren’t at work. He doesn’t like to talk about those kinds of things at work. Right, Daddy?” Gracie asked, and I knew exactly where she was going.
“It’s fine. Let’s eat our dinner,” I said, trying to stop the train wreck before it happened. “So, Reese, how is the pregnancy going?” I asked.
Reese chuckled at the shift in conversation and smiled. “I feel just as good as I did yesterday when I saw you. It’s going well.”
But everyone else was smiling at Brinkley, who looked like she was up to no good, as usual.
“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling good, Reese,” Brinkley said as she reached for her wineglass. “But, Gracie, what things doesn’t Daddy like to talk about at work?”
Fucking Brinks. The little deviant.
Hugh barked out a laugh, and Finn was smiling as Georgia looked at me with empathy. She knew what was coming. Brinkley could sniff out a body of water in the middle of the desert, and Gracie just made it clear she was keeping a secret.
“Badgering a child is beneath you,” I hissed.
Presley’s head fell back in laughter. Even though she had no clue what was happening, she knew my family well enough to know that they were giving me shit.
Gracie leaned forward and smiled as she watched Presley on the other side of me.
“It’s not a secret here because we’re a family.
Daddy doesn’t want the work people to know that me and Presley are inked on his heart and that he loves us.
” She shrugged, all that innocence making it hard not to want to scold her for outing me to the nosiest fucking people on the planet. They would have a field day with this.
I groaned. “I’ll explain this later. Mom, how’s work going?”
“Nice try,” Brinkley said over her laughter.
Presley put her hand on my forearm as if she wanted to help. “It’s not literally inked. She’s confusing something from a story he must have shared.”
She was trying to make it better, but I was fairly certain that she’d just made it worse.
“Can you pass the chicken please?” I asked, and my father handed me the platter with a ridiculous smile on his face, and I desperately wanted to change the subject. “Is this a new marinade, Mom? It’s really good.”
“It’s barbecue sauce in a bottle,” Finn said over his laughter. “The kind we have every week.”
“What story did Daddy tell you that made you think you and Presley were inked on his heart?” Brinkley asked my daughter, with the widest grin spread across her face.
She was like a motherfucking dog with a bone.
Like Mr. Wigglestein if a bitch was in heat a block away.
“I don’t know. Daddy tells me lots of stories.”
Ahhh… good answer, kid. That ought to stop the feeding frenzy for a minute or two.
“Ink is kind of a strange word to take from a story. What was it about?” Georgia asked, completely clueless that she’d just asked the worst question possible.
“I don’t know a story about ink. I just know Daddy calls the writing on his heart his ink. And his heart says Gracie and Presley with my birthday. We’re his heart, and we’re there forever. Right, Daddy?”
I closed my eyes for a second and waited for it.
Three.
Two.
One.
“That’s why you wear a T-shirt at the lake now? I thought you were sensitive to the sun! Tattoos are works of art. Show that shit off, man,” Hugh said over a mouthful of potato salad.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” I hissed. “And I am prone to burning.”
“And let’s try to get through a dinner with our granddaughter without anyone swearing, all right?” my mother said, and Hugh laughed louder.
I couldn’t help it if I’d walked around with my shirt off at home and I had the most observant five-year-old on the planet.
The tattoo wasn’t even that big. I’d gotten it shortly after Gracie was born.
She’d noticed it over a year ago and had barely mentioned it after I said it was inked there on my heart forever.
They both were.
It was supposed to be just for me and no one else.
But now it would be the topic of conversation for years to come.
Long after the woman beside me left town.
Which she would be doing very soon.