Page 51 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell

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 tomydaughter? 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.

---