But it didn’t take long for the story to get around town that she and Gray were, in fact, an item, and it certainly didn’t take long for all the rumors to start flying because of it. The worst part was that the story fit so perfectly together, and that the lies rolled off Gray’s tongue so easily.
In days, the entire town, including his family and her own, thoroughly believed that she and Gray had been a couple for months and that they had been doing the whole long-distance thing while she was in Chicago. Suddenly, she didn’t have to explain to anyone that she’d lost her dream job in the city because everyone she met on the street or in the grocery store just assumed that she’d moved back to town in order to be with Gray now that they were engaged.
Neither she nor Gray told anyone any different.
Thankfully, Gray was a bit of a workaholic and he wasn’t around much throughout the days. He worked through his lunch hours and didn’t tend to come home until the sun had already almost fully set in the autumn sky. That gave him little time to see Allie when he did get home, and Gray utilized that time to its full capacity. Once Gray arrived home each night, the first thing he did was give his daughter a quick kiss on the forehead, then head into his bedroom to shower in the en-suite bathroom and change out of his oil-stained, smelly work clothes into jogging pants and a worn t-shirt.
He barely paid Terra any mind, and she was glad for it, because when he did, his jerkish ways came out in full force.
“Sure you don’t want me to screw that scowl off your face tonight, sweetheart?” he asked her once after a hard evening with Allie and her dislike of watching anything but the same Chipmunks movie over and over again, or “Supper on the table when I get home and a sweet ass to grab, too; how did I ever get so lucky, wifey?” If he’d have grabbed her ass, Terra would have kicked him in the nuts. Gray, however, found her distaste of his suggestive comments amusing, and her dagger-like glares and muttered insults under her breath only fueled the fire.
The man was lucky he looked so damn good, or else she wouldn’t have been able to find any redeeming qualities in him whatsoever.
Until tonight, anyway. She’d been busy refilling the dishwasher when she picked up on the mumbled sounds of Gray’s deep voice mixed with Allie’s high-pitched one. She knew they were down the hall. Terra had already said her goodnights to the little girl, promising to be there first thing in the morning to help her get ready for school. It had become her routine for the past week and a half. To say that Allie and all her tumultuous energy and vibrant spirit had grown on her would be an understatement.
It was none of Terra’s business, but she rounded the corner of the kitchen that led into the hallway and listened from there.
“Terra’s gonna take me to the park tomorrow,” Allie told Gray in a sl
eepy voice.
“That’ll be fun, huh?”
The little girl giggled, and though Terra couldn’t see her, she figured Gray must have been tickling her. “Lots of fun. We do lots of fun things.”
“You and Terra?” Gray sounded surprised, which made Terra’s mouth curl up at the corners. Take that, she thought. I’m a damn good nanny.
“Yup,” Allie replied. “We made a list of fun things we wanna do.”
“That sounds pretty cool, pumpkin. It really does.”
“It is!” she exclaimed, making Terra cover her mouth to hold in her laughter. “You should ask her if you can come with us, Daddy.”
“Maybe I will,” he replied jokingly. “But I can take you to the park, too, pumpkin. We’ll go on the weekend.”
“Can Terra come?”
Terra pressed her hand over her mouth harder.
“We’ll iron the details out later. For now, you’d better get some sleep, my girl. Sounds like you got a big day tomorrow.” The rustling of covers being pulled up around his daughter could be heard, and Terra decided she’d better not get caught eavesdropping. She didn’t know how Gray would take that.
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you more, pumpkin.” The light that cascaded down the hall from the bedroom went out. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
By the time Gray appeared in the kitchen, Terra was bent over the opened dishwasher, placing the last two plates in the bottom rack.
“You’ve made quite the impression, wifey.” He leaned against the doorframe as he smirked at her, then pushed away from it and went to the fridge, pulling a beer from inside.
“I could say the same about you.”
Gray chuckled, the bottle still against his lips. He took a long pull before speaking. “I meant with Allie.”
She closed the dishwasher and turned it on. “Yeah, well, I didn’t.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Enlighten me. What kind of impression have I made on you?”
“You pretend to be this raging asshole, but I don’t think that’s really who you are.”