Page 4 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

“Shopping,” I responded. “I assume that’s the same thing you’re doing here.”

“Yeah!” She bounced in step, her energy filling the atmosphere. “I just came over to pick up some peanut butter for—” Her words cut off, and she bit her lip.

“For?” I inquired.

She waved her hand. “It’s not important. Anyway, what are you doing back in town?”

I thought about it, then gave her the simplest answer. “My mother. She’s not doing well. I’m trying to convince her to get medical care in the city.”

Sympathy crossed her face. “I’m so sorry. I tried to visit her when I first heard about her illness but…erm…I didn’t think she wanted me around.”

That was an understatement. “Hmm.”

My mother had told me about the visit over the phone, including the fact that she ended up asking Allie to leave and never come back. My mother never made it a secret that she blamed Allie for being the reason I had to leave town, no matter how irrational the thought was.

It was never Allie’s fault. It was the rest of them who’d tried to lock me up for a crime I never committed. They’d accused me with spittle flying from their mouths, calling me a murderer when it was pure hatred that glowed in their eyes.

All because of their grudge against my family.

Allie had been one of the few people who’d stuck out their necks for me, and it was something I could never forget.

Of course, she also played a part in my leaving town, but not in the way my mother thought. I left to protect her and to protect my mother as well.

Even after being cleared of the crime, the townspeople still needed someone to dump all their hatred on, and I was a suitable scapegoat.

I didn’t care when they drove me out of their stores and refused to sell to me, but their animosity was starting to bleed over onto the only people who stuck by my side—Allie and my mother. I didn’t want the people I cared about to be hurt, and I didn’t have the money to fight back.

So I decided to leave town entirely. It wasn’t like I had much left here anyway.

But then, here I was again, back for admittedly valid reasons.

What wasn’t valid was why I’d chosen to go to a grocery store in this neighborhood despite knowing there was a chance I would run into Allie.

I knew she lived only a couple of blocks anyway. I’d walked her home enough times to know that.

“So, where have you been all this time?” she asked with her usual exuberance.

“New York,” I answered simply.

“Oh, how nice.” I could tell she didn’t mean that. While she still smiled when she said it, there was a faint trace of displeasure that wrinkled her nose. I nearly smiled at it. Allie was a small-town girl through and through, and she despised big cities like New York. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t my favorite place, either.

She shifted her feet as if feeling a little awkward, like the way she used to sometimes do when she would come over to talk to me.

It began when she started dropping off food at the construction site for the guys who worked nights. She worked the afternoon shift at a buffet-style restaurant across from us and would bring over any leftovers, claiming they would spoil if they were left overnight.

She would always come to me with her bright-eyed smile and friendly conversation, her eyes flitting shyly around whenever I held her gaze for too long.

Her obvious crush was flattering, except she was eleven years younger than me.

Some men might not mind the age gap, but I did. When we’d first started forming a friendship, she’d only been nineteen years old, barely legal.

Sure, she seemed incredibly mature for her age, even with her innocence. She wasn’t doing any of the stuff most girls from her generation were doing. I mistook her for much older at first due to her calming aura and eloquent speech.

By the time I found out how old she was, it was too late.

I was already hooked on her sunny presence and beautiful smile.

I’d decided, at the time, that we couldn’t be anything more than friends, not only due to the age thing but also because I had nothing to offer her. All I had was my shitty construction job, and every spare change went to cover my old man’s debt.

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