Page 55 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell (Rock Canyon, Idaho 7)

“Honestly, it’s like Monday night dinner with my family. And while I appreciate the invitation, I have to work, sir.”

“Maybe we’ll postpone it till you can join us, then.” Her dad came into the kitchen, and kissed Gracie’s cheek. “Good night, baby.”

Still thrown by her father’s shouting, she could only whisper, “Night, Dad.”

Lastly, he kissed his wife briefly, then headed into Gracie’s room, shutting the door behind him.

Her mother shot her a bitter look before she hissed, “Now, look! You’ve upset your father!”

Gracie was about to lose her shit. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she reached out and hugged her mother. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’ll talk.”

She pulled away and headed to where Eric was now standing by the door.

“Don’t you need to pack a bag?” her mother asked.

Gracie pulled the door open and gave her mother a smirk. “Naw, I’ll wash my clothes at his place. We sleep naked anyway.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Just remember folks…all those romance novels that tell you your body warms up just being around someone you like? It’s all bullsquirt.” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.

Gracie and Eric took separate cars, but both stopped at Hall’s Market so Gracie could grab a toothbrush. Sure, she might have bit her nose off to spite her face by not at least grabbing a change of clothes, but it was the principle of the thing, and her mother had pissed her off beyond rational thought.

It seemed that no matter how old she got, she reverted to a sullen teenager in the presence of her mother.

As they stood in the checkout line, Gracie felt eyes on them and turned to find Jenny Andrews and Ellie Willis with a cart full of junk food, watching them. Once their eyes met hers, there wasn’t any way she could pretend she hadn’t noticed them, so she greeted them with a smile.

“Hello, girls.”

“Hey, Gracie,” they said together.

They seemed to be glancing between her and Eric, and since they were supposed to be a couple for all to see, Gracie slid her freehand into Eric’s. He didn’t look at her, just squeezed her hand, and she smiled. Despite the shit storm with her parents, she had to admit that having Eric in her corner wasn’t such a bad thing. It had actually been nice hearing him defend her.

Hope Weathers, who was checking, did a double take at their clasped hands. “Are you together? I mean, your purchases.”

“Yeah, we’re together,” Eric said, setting his items on the belt and then grabbing Gracie’s toothbrush.

She had no idea if it was his words or the way her pink toothbrush looked sitting on top of his nacho cheese and chips, but she shivered.

Hope gave her a meaningful look, and Gracie knew she was going to get a call or a text from her friend demanding some answers. It seemed not everyone had believed the gossip in this town without visual proof.

They walked out of the store hand in hand, and she liked it. More than she should for something that would be over in just a few short weeks.

When the cold air hit her face like a wake-up call, she sucked in a breath and dropped his hand to cover her nose. “Man, did it drop twenty degrees while we were inside?”

“I think so.” He unlocked his passenger-side door and put their grocery bag in the front seat of his car. Then he turned and, to her surprise, pulled her into his body. Her feet slid a bit as they hit a patch of ice, which only made her lean harder against his muscular from.

Well, that’s one way to heat things up.

“What do you say we drop your car at my place and go on an adventure?” he murmured.

The seductive tone made her heart skip, and she tried to hide how affected she was by him. “But you didn’t win the bet!”

He smirked at her in the parking lot light. “So? Aren’t you at all curious what I have planned?”

Actually, she was more than curious. She was practically tingling with excitement.

“Fine. Let’s go out. It’s not as though I’m tired after all the stress anyway.”