Page 60 of Forbidden Kisses
Grace’s stomach was so tense she could barely eat. She’d been holding up the dinner conversation for twenty minutes. All Jack was doing was grunting. And her mother just looked like a guilty dog who’d peed somewhere in the house, head down, eyes large. Along with her tremors, it broke Grace’s heart to see her mom this way.
Maybe this was a mistake.
Jack ate the final bite of his food and laid his fork down. He wiped his mouth hastily and then looked up between Grace and her mother. He wasn’t even attempting to enjoy himself tonight. This was an unyielding, uncaring side of him that Grace hadn’t fully seen before.
“Well, that was good,” he said, scooting back from the table.
Grace frowned. He’d been here less than an hour. “You’re leaving?” she asked.
“Yeah. I have something to do.”
“You didn’t have something to do earlier when you scheduled a date with me,” Grace said, anger rising in her voice.
Jack didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care. “Yeah, well, you didn’t have another guest coming to our date at that point.”
“Are you serious right now? This is my mom. If you were serious about me at all, you’d want to make amends.”
“If you were serious, you wouldn’t be hiding the fact that we’re together from everyone important to you,” Jack shot back.
“My motheris important to me. And tonight I told her about us. I’m really excited about us.”
Jack’s eyes were steely. He looked at her mother and back to her. “I’m nowhere near ready for what you did tonight, Grace. You shouldn’t have done this.”
“This is my fault, you two.” Grace’s mother started to stand on shaky legs. “I’m the one that should leave.”
“No,” both Grace and Jack said.
“I just want to be alone right now, Ms. Donner. You stay, I’ll go.” He headed for the front door.
“Jack,” Grace called after him.
He didn’t stop. When the door had closed behind him, her mother spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
Grace turned to look at her mother. “He didn’t even give you a chance.”
“He did. He actually took that better than I would’ve thought. It’s a start.”
Grace wrapped her arms around her waist, giving herself a much-needed hug. “You think so?” she asked.
“I do. And if it’s important to you, we’ll keep on trying.”
Grace surprised herself by smiling. “It is important to me.”
“You’ve never been one to give up. You’re stubborn, hardheaded.”
“I get it from you.” Grace laughed even though she felt like crying.
“So, chin up. He didn’t hug me tonight, but one day he might.”
Grace swallowed back the thickening in her throat and lifted her chin just slightly. She’d never expected that Jack would hug her mother. Only that he would tolerate her. “Okay. Want me to take you home?”
“Home? You said I could complain as much as I wanted about Mrs. Smith tonight. Don’t make yourself a liar, sweetheart. It’s unflattering.”
Grace plopped into the chair next to her mother at the table. She lifted the rum and Coke she’d made herself to her mouth. “Okay. I’m listening.”
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