Chapter Seventeen
“It’s hard to let people see who you really are.” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.
Eric stood on Gracie’s porch with a bottle of wine, a bouquet of flowers, and a bag from Jensen’s Diner. Gracie had texted him what her parents liked after he’d left, and he was prepared to put his plan into action.
He rang the doorbell and waited nervously for them to answer. It wasn’t that he was scared of Gracie’s parents; he’d known them most of his life. It was more that he might have exaggerated his parental appeal to Gracie. He’d never actually tried to woo someone’s folks…but it couldn’t be that hard, right? He’d watched enough movies.
Fine, so he’d had to call Mike Stevens for advice, and he’d suggested bringing flowers for Gracie’s mom. It had been humiliating, especially since Mike hadn’t been afraid to tease him a bit about it. Eric had allowed the small revenge, especially after giving Mike such a hard time, but his main motivation had been making Gracie happy. She had been so keyed up about it, and he’d wanted to make her feel better.
The door swung open, and now, faced with her father’s blank expression and her mother’s frown, he wondered if he was in over his head.
“Mr. and Mrs. McAllister, how are you?” He held out the flowers and wine to Gracie’s mother. “These are for you. Gracie had to finish a few last-minute orders at The Local Bean, so I offered to bring dinner over.”
Mrs. McAllister took the wine and flowers. “Thank you, Eric, that was very thoughtful.”
“Well, come on in, kid, no sense in standing out there in the cold,” Mr. McAllister said.
Eric stepped inside after stomping the snow off his boots. “I got the Philly cheesesteak for you and the barbeque ranch chicken sandwich for Mrs. McAllister.”
Gracie’s dad’s face lit up. “Great, I’m starving. And please, I’m Ken and she’s Franny. No need to be so formal.”
“Thank you, sir.” Eric set the food on the counter and shrugged out of his jacket, hanging it over one of the dining room chairs. “So, Gracie says you’re staying with her for a couple of weeks?”
“We’ll be visiting friends too. We don’t want to be in anyone’s way,” Franny said.
Her tone was filled with a hostility Eric didn’t understand, and he tried to reassure her. “You won’t be. I know that Gracie is really excited to have you here. She was actually trying to buy a bigger place, but things fell through.”
Both of her parents stilled.
“Gracie was going to buy a house? Where?” Ken asked.
Eric noticed the pinch in Franny’s mouth and figured they probably hadn’t known that Gracie was trying to buy. “On Cherry Tree, I think. It was a for sale by owner, but they went with someone else.”
Several moments of heavy silence ticked by, and Eric almost unbuttoned his flannel so he could breathe through the tension.
Finally, Gracie’s dad, who seemed the easier-going of the two, broke the quiet. “Well, that’s some interesting news. Should we wait for Gracie or go ahead and eat?”
“We might as well start now. I’m sure Eric already knows our daughter is avoiding us. I’ll just go wash my hands.”
Franny’s awkward announcement and departure left Eric alone with Ken.
Eric decided to rip off the Band-Aid by being candid. “I’m guessing your wife isn’t pleased Gracie and I are seeing each other?”
Ken sighed and rubbed a hand over his balding head. “It’s not really you. It’s that she wanted Gracie with someone who has a stable income, and Fran thinks small businesses are a gamble.”
Eric could understand her reasoning to a point, but America was built on small businesses that grew. There had to be more to it than that.
“Well, to be honest, sir, it’s not as though Gracie and I are getting married. We’re just dating. And my family’s bar has been around for thirty years, and even with Hank’s Bar in the heart of town, business hasn’t slowed down yet.”
Ken looked up at him and held Eric’s gaze. “You don’t have to worry about me, son. As long as my baby girl is treated well and is happy as a lark, I don’t care if you sell porta potties.”
Eric burst out laughing as he placed his food container on the table. “Appreciate that.”
“You make her cry, though…”
“You’ll chop off my junk?”
“That’s not even the worst thing I’ll do to you.”
That gave Eric pause, and he decided that Ken was a lot like Gracie…little but fierce.
The two of them sat down and had just started eating when Gracie’s mom came out of the bathroom, holding a bottle of baby shampoo and some bath toys in her hand. She looked right at Eric with a stern, narrow-eyed glare.
“You wouldn’t happen to know why my daughter has baby items under her bathroom sink, would you?”
Well, son of a bitch, this is shaping up to get a whole lot worse than just awkward.
“Gracie was taking care of a little girl for a couple of weeks who ended up going to live with her great-grandmother. Gracie has been having a hard time not seeing her.”
“Whose child?” Franny asked.
Gracie’s mom should have been an FBI interrogator. She was hard to say no to. “Just a little girl whose mother had died and her caretaker had been neglecting her. Gracie found her all alone when she was delivering meals for the church on Thanksgiving.”
“Our Gracie was doing that?” Ken actually sounded surprised.
Eric looked between the two of them. Did they really not know this about their daughter? “Yeah, she does it every year you guys aren’t around. Then she heads over to Gemma and Travis’s, but with Gemma on bed rest—”
“She never told me Gemma was on bed rest!” Franny cried.
He had a feeling he might not be helping the situation, but it was too late to stop talking now. If he could just make them understand…
“Yes, but she’s okay. Just a little high blood pressure, from what I got. She should be fine.”
Ken waved his hand as if to stop any more of his wife’s questions. “Back to Gracie and the child.”
“Sure. Anyway, Gracie took her in so she wouldn’t have to go to a foster home while they found Pip’s next of kin.”
“Pip?” her parents said together.
“It’s what Gracie called her. The girl didn’t really talk.”
Both of Gracie’s parents were silent for several seconds until Franny finally put the items back. When she joined them at the table, she turned to her husband. “Well, at least we know she wants to have children. If she can take in an orphan, she can certainly give us grandchildren.”
For some reason, Franny’s casual dismissal of what Pip had been to Gracie rubbed him raw. “All due respect, ma’am, but the bond those two shared was unique. I’m not saying Gracie won’t be an amazing mother, but I don’t think Gracie wanting a child is why those two connected the way they did. And if it’s all the same, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention Pip to her unless she brings it up first. Like I said, she’s been having a tough time not being able to see her, and I don’t want her hurt.”
“Well, damn,” Ken said.
Eric had no idea what he meant until Gracie’s mother flushed a violent shade of red and lit into him.
“Who the hell do you think you are telling me how to talk to my daughter? You’ve been dating all of a couple of weeks, and you think you know her better than us?”
Anger flashed through Eric’s body, and he tried to tamp it down, but damn, it was hard. Even if this was Gracie’s mom, Eric didn’t take shit from anyone.
Which is probably the main reason why parents didn’t like him.
“You didn’t even know how she was spending her Thanksgiving or what she’s been going through the last few weeks. You all moved to Florida and left her here. You see her maybe twice a year? I see her damn near every day, and she has grown and changed a lot. She is amazing. Strong and independent, with a stubborn streak a mile long. Her heart is huge, though, and the way she cares, the way she puts her feelings into all her friends and the two of you is a beautiful sight. You should be proud of her for following her dream. She’s successful, and it makes her happy. You should see the cute aprons she wears to work. They make everyone laugh, and the people in town love her. That place is always hopping. It seems like if you cared more for your daughter and less about what you think she should be doing, you would see that she’s a beautiful, successful businesswoman making it in this economy. That’s amazing in itself.”
“How dare you! We know that about her!” Franny snapped. “Just because she chooses to keep things from us doesn’t give you the right to dictate—”
“Am I interrupting something?” Gracie asked from the doorway.
They all turned toward where she stood, starring at them with flushed cheeks and wide eyes. She must have come in sometime between Franny’s initial attack and his monologue. As it was, Eric’s heart was slamming in aggravation, and before he knew what he was doing, he was on his feet and stalking over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her, claiming her in front of her dad and her disapproving mother, and it might have been a dick move, but he didn’t care.
Not when she tasted of sugar and sweet cream and the warmth of her body was calling to him, calming him in a way only a fifth of whisky ever had.
She had a hold of his biceps when he pulled away and was looking a little dazed, which shot a bolt of white-hot desire right to his groin. Making Gracie dreamy was just about the best feeling in the world.
He realized he was breathing hard when his voice came out raspy. “Nope, you’re just in time to catch your parents up on what you’ve been up to.”
Gracie finally seemed to come out of her stupor and cleared her throat. “Like?”
“Your mother found some of Pip’s things in the bathroom.”
Gracie’s lips thinned. “Great.”
“Yep.”
“So, considering my mother was just yelling at you, Operation Win Parents Over isn’t going so well, huh?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Your dad said he’d like me as long as I make you happy.”
Gracie quirked a perfectly arched brow at him. “And you think you’re succeeding there?”
“What are you two whispering about?” her mother called.
Eric leaned over until his lips brushed her ear. “If we survive this dinner, I have something planned that’s going to make you incredibly happy.”
* * *
Gracie would have laughed out loud at the absurdity of how her plan had backfired if it wasn’t quite so frustrating. She’d thought having a boyfriend would make her mother happy, but it turned out only the right boyfriend would do.
As she gathered up the containers of food after dinner, a dinner during which Eric and her dad had carried the conversation, she debated just coming out and admitting that she and Eric were faking it.
After the kiss he laid on me when I walked in? They’d never believe it, and if they did, they’d be pissed I lied.
She tossed the food into a trash bag, and when she spotted her mother coming her way, decided that a glass of wine was very much needed.
“I think we have a lot to discuss, don’t you?” her mother asked.
“Like?” she called from inside her glassware cupboard. Where in the hell was her giant wineglass? She moved several of her tumblers out of the way and finally discovered it next to the fancy stemware she kept for company.
“Well, for starters, why didn’t you tell me you were a foster mother?”
Gracie set the glasses down on the counter and bit back the groan ready to gurgle up her throat. She did not like talking about this kind of stuff with her mom. Not because she didn’t love or trust her, but because she always had an opinion. She couldn’t just let Gracie talk or vent, she always had to try to fix things.
And there was nothing she could do to make losing Pip better.
Gracie popped the cork on the wine Eric had bought, and filled her giant glass to the Don’t Even Ask line.
“Are you sure you want to have that much after such a greasy meal?” her mother asked.
Gracie took a large gulp in response.
“Fine, fine, I drive you to drink, obviously. I just don’t understand why you would keep something like that from me!”
“Because I knew it was temporary and didn’t want to hear any lectures,” Gracie said.
Her mother scoffed. “Why do you automatically think I would lecture you?”
Gracie topped off her wineglass again. “Um, maybe because it’s all I ever seem to get from you?”
“Pour me some of that,” her mother demanded. “As far as your accusations go, that is just not true, Gracie Louise McAllister. I might not agree with your life choices, but we have always supported you.”
Gracie almost spilled the wine she was pouring onto the counter, she was laughing so hard. “Supported me? Are you nuts? You question every decision I make!” Gracie’s voice grew shrill as she mimicked her mother. “ Gracie, are you sure you want to open up a coffee shop? You could go back to school and get your masters. Really, Gracie, pink lipstick? Why did you break up with your boyfriend this time? ”
“I am not questioning you, I am trying to help you make the best decisions for your future! And it is still no excuse for not telling us that Gemma was having a hard time in her pregnancy.”
“I just figured I’d tell you when you got here!”
“Girls!” her father shouted from the living room, startling them both. Eric and her dad were standing by the TV, and her father’s face was screwed up in a dark scowl. “Now I’m not going to listen to the two of you bicker the whole time we’re here. If you can’t get along, we’ll just get a hotel—”
Gracie cut him off, ready to get the hell out of there. “No, that’s okay, Dad, you guys are welcome here. Eric already offered to let me stay with him, and since we’ve been crashing with each other most nights anyway, I said why not.”
The words were out of her mouth before she even processed what they meant.
And then her parents started talking at once.
“We’re not chasing you out of your house!” her dad exclaimed.
“You are not going to live with a man you’ve barely been dating!” her mother shrieked.
Gracie downed her wine and set her glass next to the sink. “You are not chasing me out, and honestly, Mom, I’ve stayed with guys I’ve known for less time than I’ve known Eric.”
“Not something you had to mention, Gracie Lou,” Eric said, finally chiming in.
She shot him a sour look that he just shrugged off. “Besides, we’d already discussed this before you got here. He’s got plenty of room for me, and you don’t have to worry about the expense of a hotel.” Before either of them protested, she held up her hand, “No. No. I think we’re all tired, and we should just say good night. I have to be at work early, but I’ll be over tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll go grab some dinner and pick out a Christmas tree. Okay?”
Her mother started in again. “No, it’s not okay—”
“Franny, shut up,” her dad said.
Her mother’s mouth dropped open before she squealed, “Ken!”
He ran a hand over his face with a groan. “For God’s sake, woman, I am tired, and our daughter has kindly opened her home to us, given up her bed, and I, for one, am going to take full advantage of it.”
Her dad reached out for Eric’s hand and shook it. “Eric, it was good to see you. You are welcome to join us tomorrow, if you can get over our rudeness tonight.”
“Honestly, it’s like Monday night dinner with my family. And while I appreciate the invitation, I have to work, sir.”
“Maybe we’ll postpone it till you can join us, then.” Her dad came into the kitchen, and kissed Gracie’s cheek. “Good night, baby.”
Still thrown by her father’s shouting, she could only whisper, “Night, Dad.”
Lastly, he kissed his wife briefly, then headed into Gracie’s room, shutting the door behind him.
Her mother shot her a bitter look before she hissed, “Now, look! You’ve upset your father!”
Gracie was about to lose her shit. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she reached out and hugged her mother. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’ll talk.”
She pulled away and headed to where Eric was now standing by the door.
“Don’t you need to pack a bag?” her mother asked.
Gracie pulled the door open and gave her mother a smirk. “Naw, I’ll wash my clothes at his place. We sleep naked anyway.”