Page 11 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell (Rock Canyon, Idaho 7)

“Nosy people are so irritating, don’t you think? Oh, wait…HA!” - Miss Know-It-All’s Gossip Column.

Gracie usually alternated Thanksgiving and Christmas with her parents, and since this Thanksgiving she was on her own, she volunteered to deliver meals to families in need in their community. Afterwards, she usually went to Travis and Gemma’s, but after a week of listening to Gemma bitch about being on bed rest, she needed a break. She’d bought a precooked meal at Hall’s Market yesterday and had made a couple of pies for her own enjoyment. Maybe it was overkill, but at least she could make the desserts she wanted to eat, instead of the ones her mother always chose.

She’d actually been a little relieved that Darrin hadn’t asked her to go to his parents’. He’d come over the night of Gemma’s baby shower, and they’d watched a movie on the couch. Well, she’d watched; he’d kept trying to stick his hands down her pants while he’d slobbered on her neck. She just hadn’t been feeling it and had finally said she was feeling sick to her stomach. He’d been out the door faster than she could say indigestion.

It was obvious she just wasn’t that into him, but she needed him, at least until her parents left. It might have been wrong to use the guy, but if it was between stringing him along another month or having to experience the weight of disappointment in her mother’s eyes, she’d play him like a fiddle.

She was down to her last meal delivery a little after two and walked up the steps to little duplex’s door. She knocked a couple of times, and nobody answered. She had just turned around to leave when the door creaked open behind her.

She looked down into the dirty face of a little girl, just a toddler. She was wearing a short-sleeved night dress with Ariel on the front, and her hair was a tangled mess around her head. Her thumb was shoved into her mouth, and her big blue eyes stared up at Gracie apprehensively.

“Hey, sweetie. Is your mom home?”

The little girl shook her head slowly, and Gracie’s stomach knotted up. “Are you sure?”

To her surprise, the child took Gracie’s empty hand, and Gracie hesitantly followed her inside. The first thing that hit her was the smell; her eyes immediately started watering, and as she looked around the living room and tiny kitchen, she saw dirty dishes piled up, soiled diapers thrown across the floor, and the trash was overflowing.

Gracie set the food boxes on the counter and knelt down. She touched the little girl’s feet with her free hand and said in a high, singsongy voice, “My, your feet are cold! Do you have socks and boots you can wear?”

She tugged Gracie’s hand again, and it occurred to her that she was too trusting of strangers. If she had answered the door for the wrong person…

Gracie walked into the child’s room and her stomach sank. A dirty mattress sat on the barren, filthy floor with only a single blanket and pillow. There was a plastic tub filled with clothes in the corner and more diapers thrown about.

Gracie pulled her phone out, smiling reassuringly into the thin face. She might be younger than Gracie originally thought, just skinny. “Can you find some socks and pants?”

The little girl went to the basket and Gracie stared at her bony arms and legs. After dialing the Rock Canyon Police Department, she waited for someone to answer.

“Rock Canyon Police Department, how may I assist you?”

Gracie recognized Sam’s deep voice and spoke softly, “Sam, this is Gracie McAllister.”

“Hey, Gracie, Happy Thanksgiving.”

“You too.” When the little girl handed her a pair of sweats, worn boots and mismatched socks, she knelt down to help. “Hey, I’m at 4113 Thistle, and I found a toddler home alone. The place is a mess, and she’s filthy. Can you send someone?”

“Yeah, I’ll call in backup and be there in two shakes.”

“Thanks.”

She set the phone down, and once the socks were in place, she smiled warmly. “I think you should put on the pants next, don’t you?”

The little girl smiled around her thumb.

Ten minutes later, the girl was bundled up as bes

t Gracie could get her. The jacket she had was a joke, and Gracie ended up zipping her into her own coat. Although the little sweetheart didn’t exactly smell like a rose, Gracie forgot all about the order as she felt the bones of the child’s shoulder’s poking out. Her eyes pricked as the girl snuggled into her chest, realizing that someone had been starving her.

“Can you tell me your name?” Gracie whispered.

She didn’t answer.

“Don’t you have a name, pipsqueak?”

Gracie stepped outside just as two patrol cars pulled up in front of the house, and Gracie walked down the steps carrying her. The little girl still didn’t answer, and as Sam approached, the tiny body started to tremble.

“Hey, are you okay? That’s just Officer Sam. He’s really nice.”

Sam stopped a few feet away and smiled that wide, good old boy grin. He had a black beanie pulled over his thinning hair and a heavy police coat on. His breath fogged in front of him as he said, “Hey, Pumpkin. You don’t gotta be scared of me. I’m just a big kitty cat. Meow.”

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