Page 5 of Good Girls Don't Kiss and Tell (Rock Canyon, Idaho 7)

Then at the Halloween Ball, they’d been talking and he’d been acting so sweet. And for a split second, she’d thought, maybe.

But he’d gone home with Kirsten Winters that night and she’d met Darrin. So, she’d pushed the maybe back down and it had just seemed easier to keep him at arm’s length.

Still, she had to admit to herself, even if she never said it out loud, that she liked the beard. With his shaved head and snapping dark eyes, he reminded her of a sexy mountain man, all muscly and waiting to carry her off to his cabin in the woods, where he would hold her captive and do all kinds of naughty things to her body…

She was so distracted by her fantasy, she let her guard down.

And then, Gemma lifted two identical onesies, soft white with autumn leaves and adorable gray owls with big eyes.

“Awww!” Gracie clapped her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. She’d been foiled by adorableness.

When she glanced over at Eric, he was chuckling. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Thank you, Katie,” Gemma said, giving Katie Trepasso a soft smile.

Gracie saw that the other woman was rubbing her own swollen abdomen. “You’re welcome.”

Gracie wrote down the gift, ignoring the voice in her head that reminded her that all her friends were either married or in serious, committed relationships. She was the last single girl in her circle of friends, and now that several of them were having kids, she was starting to get this sense of urgency. She’d be thirty-two next year, and although she knew that was young, society was constantly bombarding her with statistics and facts to make her aware that her biological clock was ticking like her grandmother’s cuckoo clock.

Yes, women nowadays were having kids later, but Gracie didn’t want to be raising kids into her sixties, and she definitely wanted more than one child. Growing up by herself had been pretty lonely.

Plus, if she turned out exactly like her mother, having multiple children might make them less neurotic, because she’d spread her focus across all of them and not just a single offspring on which to pin her hopes and dreams.

Travis opened the next package from Mrs. Andrews. Gracie was actually surprised the old bat had come, as she tended to hold most of the citizens of Rock Canyon in disdain. For some reason, though, Mrs. Andrews had a soft spot for Gemma.

Travis pulled out his pocket knife to slice open the shipping box beneath the silver wrapping paper.

“Now, don’t you cut too deep, Travis, or I’ll be mighty put out,” Mrs. Andrews said from across the room.

Travis’s blue eyes narrowed slightly, but Gemma’s hand on his arm seemed to soothe him somewhat. Gracie wondered briefly what it was like to know someone so well that a simple, silent touch could calm them.

When he managed to get the top open, he pulled back the flaps. Travis’s jaw dropped and Gemma leaned over, stretching her neck to see. Curiosity was eating Gracie alive until Travis finally lifted two beautiful handmade quilts out of the box.

The whole room gasped. Mrs. Andrews’s quilts were award-winning, and she only made them for family.

Gracie watched her best friend take one of the quilts, intricate shapes of purple, blue, and green, and run her hand lovingly over the pattern. When Gemma met Mrs. Andrews’s gaze, something passed between them Gracie didn’t understand.

“These are amazing, Mrs. Andrews. Thank you so much.”

Fat tears rolled down Gemma’s cheeks, and Mrs. Andrews wiped at her own eyes beneath her glasses frames. “You just make sure you use them to keep those babies warm.”

“I will. I promise.”

And then, to the utter shock of Gracie and everyone in the room, Gemma got up slowly and waddled over to give Mrs. Andrews a hug.

Now I’ve seen everything.

Mrs. Andrews stood up and returned the hug. The whole room seemed to be holding their breath, shocked silent to see the Dragon of Rock Canyon behaving like a human being.

The, Mrs. Andrews pulled away with a huff. “Now, none of that. You need to stay off your feet, and you still have a mountain of presents to get through.”

Gemma laughed. “I’m not sure I have feet anymore, just cankles.”

The women in the room tittered, even Gracie. When the last present was finally opened, Gracie got up to grab a bottle of water from the ice chest in the kitchen and set the pad and pen down on the counter. When she turned, Eric was standing right in front of her, so close she could smell his woodsy cologne.

“You know, it is really creepy to lurk behind people.”

“Just coming in to grab a drink.” He leaned over to snatch a beer and popped the top without looking away from her. “So, where’s the boyfriend?”

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