Nathanial grins, the dimples in his cheeks deepen. “You got sucked in by the Connie Foster mom charm. That’s it, darlin, you are officially a part of the family. You are never going to get rid of us now.”
I laugh. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I can guarantee you that my mother is already making a compatibility list to see which one of us she is going to try to set you up with,” he says. He slips his spatula underneath a pancake and flips it into the air, expertly catching it in his pan.
“You aren’t serious!”
“No,” he says, and I release the breath that I didn’t realize I had been holding. “She probably already has it in her mind which one of us she wants you with. I’ll write up directions as soon as I get a chance.”
I nod as I turn to walk towards the door. Curiosity gets the best of me, though, and I stop just as I reach the door and turn around. “Which one of you do you think she is going to try to set me up with?”
Nathanial chuckles, which makes me sort of nervous, like he can see right through me and he knows what I am trying to do. “Well, let’s see, it won’t be Aidan, because he is your boss. It won’t be Liam because she will figure he is too young for you. I would know if it was me, because she questions you, trying to put her feelers out thinking she is being nonchalant when she couldn’t be any more obvious. So, that leaves either Travis or Remy.”
I haven’t met either Remy or Liam yet, though I have seen them in here. It was pretty obvious to tell who they were, because the Foster brothers look exactly alike, with the exception of Travis’s tattoos and piercings.
Just as I walk back through the door, the mid-morning rush starts and I don’t get a chance to talk to Nathanial again until it is time for me to leave. He hands me an index card with the directions written down, along with points of interest to look for a long the way.
“Should I bring something? I feel terrible showing up places I have been invited to empty handed.”
“Trust me, my mom will have a spread that will blow your mind. You are going to think that this was something she planned and not something she threw together at the last minute.” He laughs.
I still feel like I should bring something. Maybe I will stop on my way and pick up a bouquet of flowers or something. I say good-bye to Nathanial, telling him I will see him in a little while before hurrying home to shower and change. I don’t want to show up there smelling like diner food, though Nathanial’s cooking always smells delicious.
An hour later, dressed in a simple belted khaki dress, with my blonde hair hanging in loose waves, and a bouquet of sunflowers in hand, I knock on Connie’s door. I can hear laughter on the other side of the door and my heart warms. It’s been a long time since I have had a home cooked meal with a family.
The door swings open and I find myself staring up into Travis’s steel gray eyes. He looks surprised to see me for a moment and his lips start to curl up into a smile, but then something happens and he snaps out of it. His eyes narrow into two slits and his full lips straighten into a thin line.
“What are you doing here?” he practically spits out, like I am some sort of intrusion.
My hand flies up to my chest. I didn’t think he would actually welcome me with open arms, but I didn’t expect him to be so rude, although, I’m not sure why. Travis is always rude to me. I gulp, trying to find my voice. “I, I was invited for dinner.”
“Seriously?” he asks before muttering. “You have got to be kidding me.”
I can feel the tears well up in my eyes as I stand there staring at him. I can see Connie running up behind Travis and I blink a couple of times, trying my hardest to keep my tears from spilling over. Connie swats Travis in the stomach. “What’s the matter with you? Why are you making the poor girl stand out on the porch?”
Connie pushes past Travis and grabs me by the arm, pulling me inside the house. “I swear I have taught all of these boys manners. I don’t want you to think I raised a bunch of apes.”
“I would never think that!” I exclaim as I hand her the sunflowers. I mean it too, well, maybe with the exception of Travis. Either manners have gone right over his head or he really hates the hell out of me.
“These flowers are gorgeous!” she gushes. “Let’s put these in the kitchen and then I can round everyone up for dinner.”
I feel slightly awkward as I follow her through the house, into the kitchen and then the dining room, which reminds me of what my grandmother’s looked like when I was little. The walls are covered in old fashioned, floral wall paper and the carpet is a dark shade of peach. Along one wall is an elegant china cabinet, filled with fancy matching plates, bowls and mugs that probably only get used once or twice a year. The dark cherry wood of the table matches the wood in the china cabinet. The table is already set for eight and there is enough food on the table to feed a small army, which I guess Connie sort of is considering she has five sons.
She calls everyone into the dining room and they file in one by one.
“Aidan, Nathanial and Travis you already know,” Connie says. “This is my husband, Henry, and my youngest boys, Remy, and Liam. This here is Gracie. She’s new-ish to town and I want you all to make her feel welcome.”
I smile shyly as I glance around the room. My eyes dart from face to face, stopping for a moment as I look at Liam. He is the spitting image of Travis, minus the tattoos and piercings.
“Hello, Gracie,” Aidan says.
I blush. This is so awkward. I don’t really know how to talk to him at work, let alone outside of work.
“Hello, Mr. Foster,” I say.
He lets out a deep from the belly laugh. “Gracie, we’re not on the clock. You can call me Aidan outside of work.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” I say with a smile.
“All right,” Connie claps her hands together, and I swear I can see the wheels inside her head turning. Nathanial hinted that Connie may have a hidden agenda earlier and I think he was right. “Daddy will sit at the end, Aidan, Remy and Liam can sit on this side of the table and Nathanial, Gracie and Travis can sit on the other side.”
She watches as we all sit down. I notice her eyes dart back and forth between me and Travis. “There, now, that is perfect.”
I’d hate to break it to her, but I am pretty sure her son would consider this little seating arrangement to be anything but perfect.
Chapter Seven
Travis
Having Gracie this close to me is pure torture. Every time she moves, I can smell the intoxicating scent of whatever flowery perfume she is wearing. I don’t know how I am going to make it through this dinner. I want to shovel my food into my mouth as fast as I can, but I know mom won’t think twice about smacking me upside the head. She won’t care if we have company or not.
At the same time, I don’t want to be away from her. I want to be close to her, closer than I can be with my family in the room. I want her on top of me, underneath me and wrapped around me. I want to kiss her pouty pink lips, nibble on her neck and hear her call out my name when she comes.
“Travis!”
“Yeah?” My head whips up to see Aidan, Remy and Liam gawking at me.
“I asked you how the paintings are going,” Aidan says.
“Fine,” I say as I grab a piece of garlic bread and pass the bowl to Gracie. I shift the bowl slightly as she goes to take it so that her fingertips graze lightly over mine. She glances up, and for a moment, our eyes lock and we can’t seem to look away from each other. It doesn’t last long, though. The way she makes me feel, like I could actually be worthy of someone like her, catches up to me, and I remind myself that getting involved with her is the last thing I need. My eyes narrow as my lips turn down into a frown. Gracie blushes and she quickly glances away.
“Fine? That’s all of the update you have for me?” Aidan asks.
“What exactly would you like? A brush stroke count?” I growl. “I believe I did fifteen in the color brown and twenty-seven in yellow-gre
en today. Got some other colors done too, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. I’ll try harder tomorrow.”
Aidan shakes his head and snorts out a laugh. “Be sure you do. I want to make sure I’m not paying you to screw around.”
“Tell us about yourself, Gracie,” dad says, speaking loudly over me and Aidan as he tries his hardest to change the subject. “You were Lucy’s granddaughter, right?”
Gracie grabs the white linen napkin sitting next to her plate and dabs it against her mouth. “Yes, Lucy was my grandmother. I’m afraid I didn’t know her as well as I would have liked. My mom didn’t let me see her after they had their falling out. To be honest, I was surprised when I found out she left her house to me.”
“Lucy was a kind woman,” dad says. “No one even realized she and your mom were on the outs. She talked about you all of the time. I remember you coming to visit a couple of times when you were little. Matter of fact, you and Nate here used to go wading to collect tadpoles. Ya remember that?”
Gracie blushes again as she shakes her head. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.”
Dad throws his head back and laughs at the memory. “Lucy and I used to joke that we were watching the love evolve between the future Mr. and Mrs. Foster.”
I cough, nearly choking on my lasagna as dad says that. Great, not only do I have to worry about not being good enough for her, I now have to compete with the childhood love affair that she apparently had with my brother.
“Do you remember that, Nathanial?” mom asks, her eyes round and hopeful. I can see it in her eyes, mom may have had the initial idea to set up me and Gracie, but now that has changed. She’s as captivated by Gracie as I am. She doesn’t care which one of us ends up with her, so long as one of us does. I have an objection to that. The only Foster boy I can stand to see Gracie with is me.
“No, sorry.” Nate chuckles. He turns to Gracie and flashes her a toothy grin. “In my defense, though, I have taken one too many hits to the head playing football and wrestling in the yard with my brothers.”
“It’s okay, I didn’t remember either,” Gracie reminds him.
“That’s a little different, though,” Remy says. “Nate is pretty forgettable.”
“Hahaha.” Nathanial rips off a piece of his garlic bread and tosses it across the table at Remy, who catches it in his hand and crams it in his mouth.
“So, where are you going with the Parker boy tomorrow night?” Mom asks her.
My head whips around. “So, you are going out with him tomorrow night?”
“Yes.”
“Well, isn’t that just fabulous,” I spit out. I am aware that everyone is staring at us right now, just as I am aware that I let my feelings for her known to everyone in the room because I had to go and get jealous.
Gracie licks her lips. “Travis, I asked you if there was any reason as to why I should turn him down and you told me no,” she says quietly, without looking at me.
I lean in close to her. God, she smells so fucking good. “I believe what I said was I don’t give a shit about what you do. If you want to go out with him, which you clearly do, then go.”
“Travis!” my mom exclaims.
I should apologize, I know I should, but I don’t. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Gracie staring down at her plate. Her mouth is turned down, and though I don’t know her very well, I can tell she is trying hard not to cry. A twinge of regret pierces my heart. It was probably awkward enough for her to come here in the first place and I am clearly not making it any easier for her.
Gracie excuses herself to the bathroom. As she walks out of the room, I can see any chance I ever had with her walk out as well. If I even had any chance with her to begin with.
“What the hell is your problem?” Dad asks me as soon as she is out of earshot.
“I don’t have a problem,” I mumble.
“Bullshit.” Remy shakes his head as if to let me know how pathetic he thinks I am. I already know. There’s no reason to press it any farther.
“Remy, your brother may need to mind his manners, but you need to watch your language,” mom says.
Remy holds one of his hands out towards me, his palm facing up towards the ceiling. “He obviously has a thing for her. I’ve never seen anyone act so jealous of Evan ‘jackass’ Parker before.”
“I agree with Rem,” Liam pipes up. “You’re sending her straight into his arms with your crap attitude.”
“Maybe that’s where she belongs,” I say, flashing an annoyed look at the two of them. This is the last thing I want to be talking about when Gracie walks back into the room, though I am probably worrying about nothing. She is probably going to stay in the bathroom for as long as possible before coming out and claiming to be tired so that she can make a hasty getaway.
“Regardless, you need to go apologize,” mom says. She shoos me away with one of her hands. “Go, now. Don’t come back until you do.”
“What is it you want me to do? Camp out outside of the bathroom?”
“If that’s what you need to do. Goodbye, Travis.” With a flick of her hand she dismisses me from the table.
“This is ridiculous,” I mutter. I push my plate away, stand up and storm out of the room.
Part of me wants to leave. Drive home to my own house and sit in the basement with my art and no one to bother me. The other part of me actually does care that I upset her. So, I do what I was told. I walk down the hallway, towards the bathroom, stopping a few doors away to lean against the door frame of the guest room.
I am only standing there for a few moments when the bathroom door opens up and Gracie walks out. She doesn’t even notice that I am standing there until she is only a couple steps away from me. She jumps, startled, when she sees me. Her hand flies up to her chest and she lets out a gasp.
“I, I’m sorry, I…” She trails off as she looks up at me. I noticed the red rimming her beautiful blue eyes right away and I feel like a complete dick.
“Were you crying?” I ask, my tone softer than it was when we were in the dining room.
She hesitates for a moment before answering with a soft, honest, “Yes.”
I want to reach my hand out and brush her soft blonde hair behind her ear. I want to glide my fingertips across her cheeks while I tell her how sorry I am for the way I have been treating her. Tell her that she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, like her feelings aren’t important to me. I want to beg her to cancel her date with Evan and do something with me instead.
She is standing so close to me that I can feel the heat radiating off of her body. It would be so easy to pull her into me or press her up against the wall. I wonder if she would let me or if she would slap me and scream at me to get the hell away from her.
I lean in close to her, stifling a groan at the way my dick jumps to attention just at being in such close proximity to her. A strand of hair falls into her face. Without thinking, I reach out and brush it behind her ear. Her breath hitches as her bright blue eyes find mine. I am completely captivated by her. My fingertips glide along her jawline, coming to a rest below her chin before guiding her face towards mine.
“Gracie,” I whisper.
“Yeah?” she asks breathily.
Something clangs loudly from the other room, tearing my gaze away from her long enough to realize what I am doing. I withdraw my hand from her and run it through my hair as I take a step back. A mixture of hurt and confusion crosses her face as she probably tries to figure out what just happened. I wish I had kissed her but it’s too late now. Whatever was just there between us is gone and I need to get away from her as fast as I possibly can.
“I’m sorry I made you cry, Gracie. I’m sorry I…I can’t. I can’t do this. I have to go.”
With that, I turn around, call good night to my family and run out the door as fast as I possibly can.
Chapter Eight
Gracie
Whiplash.
That is what Travis Foster is giving me right now. How does he go f
rom being an asshole, to apologizing – and almost seeming sincere about it, to running out the door in an obvious attempt to get away from me?
I’m not even sure how I managed to walk back into the dining room, but I did. I tried saying anything that I could come up with to get the hell out of there – I had a headache, I was tired, I had to be up early for work, but Connie is relentless, and nothing worked.
The conversation was a little bit strained at first, I guess I wasn’t the only person that was upset by Travis’s less than hospitable behavior, but after a couple of minutes the atmosphere relaxed. We were talking and joking and having a great time. I stayed long enough to have dessert with them and then I left.
Now it is the day of my big date with Evan. I’m looking forward to going out with him…I think. No, of course I am. He’s polite, funny, good looking and he doesn’t scowl at me whenever I think about looking in his direction. So, why is it that I can’t stop thinking about the guy that does?
Speaking of Mr. Happy, I keep waiting for the doors to open and him to storm up to the counter like he has a problem with everyone in the world, but my shift is just about over, and he has yet to come in.
“Who are you looking for?” Molly asks after I glance at the door for the fiftieth time.
I sigh. “No one.”
“Lies, lies, lies,” she says. “This is a small town, girlfriend, everyone knows everything and I have worked here long enough that I can read just about every face that walks in here. You, my dear, are waiting for someone.”
She sashays over to where I am standing and glances out the door with a mischievous smile on her face. “The question is which one are you hoping walks through the door?”
I glance over at her, my mouth open wide with shock. How does she even know? I haven’t said anything to Molly about my feelings for Travis. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
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