Page 4 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell

He shot her a challenging look. “All my friends are wearing diapers that may or may not have fake poo in them on their shirts.”

Gracie juggled the plastic cake container into her arms, shaking her head. “It’s a game. Two of the diapers have a brown circle in them, and if you have one of them, you get a prize. How is winning ever a bad thing?”

Eric closed the hatch for her. “This kind of thing is just not meant for men. You ladies would have more fun sitting around giggling, and oohing and awing over baby clothes without us.”

“Oh my God, how sexist are you? We don’t all do that.”

They walked into the house to find Gemma showing the ladies who were already there some of the things she’d bought for the baby. When she held up a matching set of white shoes, the whole room erupted with cooing sounds.

Eric turned to face her with a grin. “You were saying?”

Chapter Two

“Apparently, Gemma and Travis Bowers’s baby shower was the place to be on Saturday. Amid the adorable owl decorations, there was drama…drama…and oh, yes…MORE DRAMA!” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.

Gracie sat on the couch with a pad of paper and a pen, writing down all the baby gifts and the giver’s name for thank-you notes. It was a little embarrassing that Eric had been spot-on about all the excitement over the teeny-tiny baby items. Normally, Gracie would have been doing the same thing, except she was very much aware of Eric leaning against the wall off to her side. She’d caught him smirking at her a few times, and she was determined to show him that not all women were simpering simpletons when it came to baby items.

Also, she was trying not to look at him anyway. Just a few weeks ago, she’d almost convinced herself that she might have feelings for the bearded oaf. And after their history too.

It was no secret that the two of them had been fighting since Eric kicked her out of Buck’s at eighteen for using a fake ID. She’d had the biggest crush on him and wanted the chance to get close to him. He thought she was only flirting with him to stay for Travis’s gig. Either way, the two of them had been fighting ever since.

And kissing. There’d definitely been some hot and heavy moments over the last few years, and when they’d finally called a truce, things had been good. Really good.

Then at the Halloween Ball, they’d been talking and he’d been acting so sweet. And for a split second, she’d thought,maybe.

But he’d gone home with Kirsten Winters that night and she’d met Darrin. So, she’d pushed the maybe back down and it had just seemed easier to keep him at arm’s length.

Still, she had to admit to herself, even if she never said it out loud, that she liked the beard. With his shaved head and snapping dark eyes, he reminded her of a sexy mountain man, all muscly and waiting to carry her off to his cabin in the woods, where he would hold her captive and do all kinds of naughty things to her body…

She was so distracted by her fantasy, she let her guard down.

And then, Gemma lifted two identical onesies, soft white with autumn leaves and adorable gray owls with big eyes.

“Awww!” Gracie clapped her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. She’d been foiled by adorableness.

When she glanced over at Eric, he was chuckling. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Thank you, Katie,” Gemma said, giving Katie Trepasso a soft smile.

Gracie saw that the other woman was rubbing her own swollen abdomen. “You’re welcome.”

Gracie wrote down the gift, ignoring the voice in her head that reminded her that all her friends were either married or in serious, committed relationships. She was the last single girl in her circle of friends, and now that several of them were having kids, she was starting to get this sense of urgency. She’d be thirty-two next year, and although she knew that was young, society was constantly bombarding her with statistics and facts to make her aware that her biological clock was ticking like her grandmother’s cuckoo clock.

Yes, women nowadays were having kids later, but Gracie didn’t want to be raising kids into her sixties, and she definitely wanted more than one child. Growing up by herself had been pretty lonely.

Plus, if she turned out exactly like her mother, having multiple children might make them less neurotic, because she’d spread her focus across all of them and not just a single offspring on which to pin her hopes and dreams.

Travis opened the next package from Mrs. Andrews. Gracie was actually surprised the old bat had come, as she tended to hold most of the citizens of Rock Canyon in disdain. For some reason, though, Mrs. Andrews had a soft spot for Gemma.

Travis pulled out his pocket knife to slice open the shipping box beneath the silver wrapping paper.

“Now, don’t you cut too deep, Travis, or I’ll be mighty put out,” Mrs. Andrews said from across the room.

Travis’s blue eyes narrowed slightly, but Gemma’s hand on his arm seemed to soothe him somewhat. Gracie wondered briefly what it was like to know someone so well that a simple, silent touch could calm them.

When he managed to get the top open, he pulled back the flaps. Travis’s jaw dropped and Gemma leaned over, stretching her neck to see. Curiosity was eating Gracie alive until Travis finally lifted two beautiful handmade quilts out of the box.

The whole room gasped. Mrs. Andrews’s quilts were award-winning, and she only made them for family.

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