Page 3 of Falling for Grace

Sue tuts. “Brandon does the same thing. You’d think as they got older they would help me out at these events, but nope they are both as useful as a chocolate teapot.

I place my wine glass on the cream countertop. “It’s probably better this way Sue. He managed to burn a pizza last week. A pizza. After having put it in the grill for thirty minutes.”

“Thank goodness for you Gracie. You get on with the salmon and then we can go and join the festivities.

I nod and then turn to the disaster that was Danny’s appetisers.

He really is shit in the kitchen.

“So how are you Grace? Danny tells me you recently got a promotion?"

I smile. Of course Danny has told Sue. He tells Sue everything as soon as he learns it, except of course that he’s gay. That took him a few years to tell her. But when he finally did, she said, and I kid you not, “It’s about bloody time. I’ve been waiting 10 years for you to realise that and now your father owes me a cruise.”

They had bet on it.

A bet on whether he was gay or not. I had been there, so had Ted.

Danny had made this huge thing about how he needed to talk to them, and his mother's reaction was that she already knew, and Ted groaned at the knowledge that he would have to take his wife on a cruise. This is the family of my best friend and my second family. I have spent half of my life here with them.

“Yeah, I need to make sure I keep making a good first impression. It’s only a matter of time before my unprofessionalism shines through and they realise they made a mistake, and that I secretly have no clue what I’m doing, and I’m making it all up as I go along.”

“Oh, nonsense,” she says, taking off her apron, smiling. “Your mum looks well. Is she still spending time in America each year? I haven’t manged to catch up with her properly yet.”

I pick up a piece of the scrunched-up salmon and unravel it. I walk across the kitchen and search for a glass bowl among all the plastic in one of the cupboards, and I smile to myself.

Tupperware. I wonder at what age you start the collection.

“Yes, she wants to move there if I’m honest. I think she’s counting down the days for me to bugger off and move out.”

I’m not sure how I would feel about that. My childhood home being put up for sale. I know that my mum needs to move on, downsize, and she wants to be closer to her family in America. That house holds some dark memories for her. For me too, but it’s also the thing that ties me to the Holders.

“It’s understandable dear,” Sue says, catching my eye. I turn back to the dill, pushing down the memories as I start chopping.

Let’s not kill the party buzz with bringing all that up. Sue knew, of course. I had been on her doorstep enough times in tears for her to understand my past. “So anyway, how’s Brandon?” I say, trying to change the subject.

“Why don’t you ask Brandon yourself?"

My whole body freezes, muscles tightening in response to that voice, and I almost slice my bloody finger off.

Chapter 2

That voice.

That bloody voice.

It covers me, wrapping me in a blanket of silk. I straighten.

I’m going to kill Danny, that lying bastard.

“Ah, there you are darling. Can you check that we have enough ice?” Sue asks.

“We have enough ice, Mum.” I can hear the smile in his deep voice. I take a calming breath and mentally prepare myself before I turn around. He’s standing next to his mother; his back is to me and he’s placing a kiss on her head. His large frame towers over her, making her seem even smaller against his bulk.

So cute.

So hot.

He’s wearing jeans and a long-sleeved tight dark blue top. His waist is small. The navy top is hugging his back muscles, making them look well defined, which I can confirm 100% they are. My eyes take in his long lean legs, and that ass.

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