Page 131 of An Engagement for Erica

“I did notice it there,” his mother said. “Good riddance to that place.”

He laughed. “I thought the same thing. I should fill you in on something that happened a few weeks ago.”

“Is everything okay with you and Erica? I know TC has figured out the engagement is fake.”

He ground his teeth. “He told you that?”

“He called me last week. He’s worried. He appreciates and even understands why you did it, but thinks you should come clean to Erica about it.”

“I can handle things with our relationship myself,” he said.

“Tucker,” his mother asked. “Why would you hold onto that? What are you trying to gain? Unless you think she might not stay with you if she thought that ruse wasn’t in place? You know how silly that sounds, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Silly and stupid. Drop it.”

But it wasn’t so stupid because in the back of his mind, he did have this tiny worry that she might do that and he couldn’t get out of the hole now no matter how many ladders were within reach.

The longer he kept it a secret that his grandfather was aware, the harder it was to explain why he didn’t say anything.

The fake engagement hadn’t even come up since the last time she saw his grandfather.

To him, it didn’t even feel as if it was a thing.

And if that was the case, then why wasn’t he just telling her?

Because he was an idiot and was afraid.

“I’m not going to get in the middle of your relationship,” his mother said.

“That’s funny considering you just tried to do it,” he argued.

“My bad,” his mother said stiffly. “I’ll mind my own business.”

Which meant he hurt her feelings and didn’t like that he did that either.

“I’m sorry. Things are crazy and I’ve got a lot on my mind. One of the things I needed to tell you too.”

“What’s going on?” his mother asked. “Something with work?”

“No,” he said. “Not really. Just that Dad is making trouble from the grave.”

His mother snorted. “If anyone can do it, it’s him. What did he do?”

“Some hooker, which is pretty much what this woman was, showed up two weeks ago at the office demanding to see Dad.”

“She didn’t know he had died?”

“Nope. But she put up a stink to see me and I went down to talk to her. I recorded the conversation because I didn’t want witnesses. I had no idea what she was going to say.”

“Is she claiming she’s pregnant with his kid?” his mother asked.

“Why did you guess that right away?” he asked, throwing his hand up. Obviously, he shouldn’t be shocked by this and didn’t know why he still was.

“Because it’s not the first time your father couldn’t keep his dick in his pants or cover it up.”

“When you were married this happened?”

He’d dig the grave up just to dump more dirt and shit on it again for doing that to his mother on top of everything else he put her through.

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