Page 52 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell (Rock Canyon, Idaho 7)

“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 b

aby 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.”