Chapter Fourteen
“Men and women can totally be friends…in theory.” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.
Eric got up early on Monday and drove to Chloe’s Book Nook, figuring Gracie was still helping out in there. It had taken him a day to cool down, and after some careful consideration, he saw her point about trusting her. Despite her boy-crazy reputation, Gracie was loyal to a fault. And even though this wasn’t real, he knew she wouldn’t break her word.
He still wasn’t happy about the comfortable physicality her friendship with Mike seemed used to, but that was a temporary annoyance. There was no reason getting bent out of shape over something that wasn’t going to affect him two months from now.
When he walked through the door, Travis was sitting behind the counter, watching his iPad. The big orange cat Gemma let wander around the shop gave him a rumbling meow, and Travis glanced up from the screen and grinned.
“Hey, man, how have you been?”
“Pretty good. How’s Gemma?” Eric asked, feeling a little guilty for not swinging by to check on them.
“She’s good. She doesn’t like sitting still, but I’ve got Charlie keeping an eye on her. Let him have a new video game if he agreed to be her slave this week.”
“Poor kid. So, Gracie’s back next door?”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Figured she’d watched the store long enough, and to be honest, I needed a little break from being home. Why are you asking?”
“I just need to talk to her, is all.” Eric cleared his throat, trying to be cool. “So, when do you go back out on tour?”
Travis was one of the top-selling country music stars in the world, but he’d slowed things down since he’d married Gemma.
“Not until the summer.” Travis set his iPad down and stood up, looking him in the eye. “Wait a second. Are you telling me that column this morning wasn’t all bullshit? You’re actually dating Gracie McAllister?”
Eric had to admit his pride was a little stung by everyone’s disbelief, including his little brother Grant, who just kept saying “ bullshit! ”
“Jesus, is it really that crazy?” Eric asked.
“Mostly, yeah. You two can hardly be in the same room without wanting to kill each other.”
And after last night, that is obviously still true.
“Well, things sort of changed, especially after Gemma went to the hospital. We bonded.”
Travis nodded and suddenly looked very serious. “Okay. Just be careful with her. If you break her heart, Gemma’s going to pissed, and despite your sometimes-surly demeanor, we’ve been friends a long time. I’d hate to kick your ass to appease my wife.”
“Of the two of us, Gracie is the one who leave hearts cracked and bleeding in her wake,” Eric said.
“Still, be cool.”
“Sure,” Eric said. “I’ll see you later.”
Eric left the shop and headed next door. When he walked inside, he spotted Gracie right away, handing a cup of coffee to a couple of high school boys, giving them that million-watt smile of hers. Her blonde hair was swept back in a bun, with a small brim hat perched on her head. Her apron skirt was ruffled donut fabric on the bottom, and plain black on top with hot pink wording.
The boys finally got out of his way and his gaze dipped to her chest to read it.
“ Melt in your mouth sweet, just like me. ” He shook his head. “You and your dirty aprons.”
She shrugged. “They annoy the matrons and make everyone else laugh.”
“Yeah, I know.” He ran his hand over his beard, clearing his throat. “Can we go outside and talk?”
“No, I’m busy. You got something to say, say it or order something.”
Eric scowled. “Seriously?”
“What?”
His jaw clenched at her innocent stare. She knew everyone in the place was hyper focused on them.
“Fine. Gracie Lou, I am sorry for being a jealous asshat,” he whispered.
“And?” she prodded.
“And what?”
She started to walk away, and he reached across the counter to grab her wrist. When her gaze met hers, he said sincerely, “I will try to trust you in the future, all right?”
Gracie beamed at him. “Fine. Apology accepted.”
He tugged her until she was right up on the counter. “Now you?”
“Now me what?”
He gave her a warning look, and she sighed. “I will try to curb my natural inclination to be friendly.”
He grunted. “I guess that’s the best I’m gonna get.”
Then he leaned over the counter, enjoying her surprised cry as his hand cupped her bun. “Now, time to kiss and make up.”
His mouth moved over hers, and she opened to him. Even though he knew it wasn’t real, he couldn’t help noticing it felt more and more natural every time they kissed. In fact, he was thinking that if they were doing this, he might as well take advantage of kissing Gracie any time he wanted.
In public, of course. He had to abide by the rules after all.
* * *
Gracie went by Gemma’s after work to bring her a strawberry spinach salad and check in. She’d already gotten a text message from her about the Miss Know-It-All column this morning, but she hadn’t answered her about it. It was better to have the conversation in person, although, she really didn’t feel right lying to her best friend.
The minute she walked into her bedroom with the to-go container and cup of iced tea, Gemma sat up and pointed a finger at her.
“You sneaky bastard! How could you not tell me?”
Gracie sat down on the bed, giving her a pointed look. “I seem to remember you keeping a secret or two from me.”
Gemma at least lowered her finger. “If you’re referring to me and Travis in Vegas, touché. Still, considering how invested Ryan and I have been in the Eric-and-Gracie saga, you’d think we’d get the memo first.”
“Yeah, Ryan already came into the Bean and gave me a ration of shit.”
“Doesn’t mean you aren’t getting it from me too.”
Gracie set the salad on Gemma’s lap and put her drink on the bedside table. “If it will make you feel better, go ahead.”
Gemma seemed to be weighing her options, and finally opened her salad with a sigh. “No, I don’t want to torment you. I just want to know how it happened.”
Gracie had decided to keep their hookup story as honest as possible. Which reminded her to talk to Eric so he didn’t start making up shit.
“Well, after Viola picked up Pip, I was pretty torn up, you know?”
Gemma took her hand, sympathy heavy in her eyes. “Have you heard anything?”
Gracie shook her head. “I called Viola twice last week and this morning. She says that Pip is fine. She just needs time to adjust.”
“You don’t believe her?” Gemma asked.
“No, I mean, I’m sure she’s right. I just miss her.”
“I know, babe.”
Gracie wiped at her cheeks when she realized they were wet. “Damn it, I did not want to talk about this.”
Gemma let her hand go and went about spreading dressing all over her salad. “Okay, back to Eric.”
“He texted me to see if I was okay, and when I said I wasn’t, he showed up with brownies and alcohol. It was sweet.” It had been, which really had surprised her. Eric had his moments when he shocked the hell out of her. “Anyway, I didn’t want to be alone, so I asked him to stay, and one thing led to another…it just all sort of fell into place.”
Gemma actually looked dreamy. “I just love that. After so many years of wondering, you two finally connected at the right time. So romantic.”
Gracie rolled her eyes. “He’s still a Neanderthal, although he did apologize for it.”
“What did he do?”
“He was all irritated and jealous that Mike has a key to my place, and walked in while he was there. Oh, and that Mike had his arm around me at Buck’s on Saturday night.”
Gemma was quiet for a minute, which never boded well.
“What?” Gracie said.
“Nothing. I just remember when Travis came back to town and saw how close Mike and I were. Even though it was platonic, on my side at least, he wasn’t happy about it.”
“Yeah, but he’d been away a long time and he’s fine now. I warned Eric it wasn’t going to work if he didn’t trust me.”
Gemma set her salad on her dresser and without warning, hit Gracie with one of her pillows.
Gracie wrestled it away from her, ready to whack her back. “Hey, what was that for?”
“You! Sometimes, you can be so ‘my way or the highway’! It makes me crazy. I agree that Eric should trust you, but sometimes it isn’t about trust, but perception. Mike and you have a closeness that you and Eric haven’t achieved yet. It’s intimidating, and probably a little hurtful, although I doubt he’d ever admit that. My point is, think of how you would feel coming into a new relationship and he had this close friend. An attractive friend who had keys to his place.”
“Hey, I already told him I was sorry and I understood where he was coming from,” Gracie said defensively.
“But, did you mean it? ‘Cause that’s important too. You’ve never been with anyone where you actually let your guard down enough to know them. I don’t know if Eric will be any different, but you should at least try to give him a real chance. Lord knows you two have waited long enough.”
This conversation about her fake relationship was making her feel pretty crappy about all of her real ones.
“I know that I have issues with commitment, but no matter what happens with Eric and me, I promise that I will be more open from now on. Does this make you happy?”
Gemma pulled her salad back onto her lap and took a large, obnoxious bite.
“Yes. Yes, it does.”