My lips twitched in amusement and I shrugged. “That depends. You gonna help?”
Derek laughed and shook his head. “I gave up on that thankless task years and years ago. Not much goes on in a town like this, which is good. Except for when you’re the person who has an interesting life. Before we were famous, me and my brothers were often the topic of gossip. Too often. Try to fight it, and you become the next target. Not maliciously, but people start to wonder why your panties are in a twist about something they’ve been doing forever.”
“Makes me grateful I grew up in a big city where no one gave a damn what I did.”
“That’s the trade-off. Everyone cared and stepped in before any of us kids could get into any real trouble, but then you just have to put up with them talking about it until something more interesting comes along.”
“Thanks for the tip.” I loved living in Carson Creek today, but I’m glad my adolescent shenanigans were mostly anonymous and no longer remembered.
“It is too bad about Margot though.” Derek shook his head, and it surprised me that he seemed sincere, which only triggered another thought.
“What’s wrong with Margot?” She hadn’t been into the bar for a few days, but I figured my expert cold shoulder routine had left her too embarrassed to risk coming in for a while.
Derek blinked. “Grady, you own a bar. The only bar in town I might add, so how in the hell are you so behind on town gossip? I live on a farm on the outer edges of town and even I’ve heard about her pregnancy. How did you manage to stay ignorant?”
Each of Derek’s words hit me like a ham-fisted blow to the chest. All week I’ve griped about listening to the gossip and sympathized with the poor middle-aged mom-to-be, and it turned out it was Margot the whole damn time.
“You all right Grady? You’re looking a little green, man.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I told him absently even though the words felt like sawdust on my tongue. Margot was pregnant, and everyone knew. Except me.
Was she ever going to tell me? How did she think she would be able to hide it from me?
And then another thought came to me. Had she used me that night to make her greatest wish come true?
Thankfully Derek’s order arrived before he could witness the inevitable emotional spiral about to take place.
Chapter 11
Margot
I stayed away from Grady’s Bar for a full week, because I felt guilty enough keeping this huge secret from him, and because I didn’t want to see that disdainful look he’d perfected when he looked at me.
But a week was long enough to deprive myself of those heavenly nachos. I was pregnant and middle-aged dammit, and if short rib nachos are what would make me feel better about the gossip that flew around town, then I would have them, even if it meant staring down the intimidating owner of the establishment that sold them.
I stood behind my desk and stared out at the well maintained pond that provided a perfect spot for wedding photos, and sighed. “Time to hike up my big girl panties and go get what I want.” And what I wanted was food, specifically those incredible nachos. Not Grady.
Absolutely not Grady.
Sure he’d snuck into my dreams over the past few nights, but that’s only because he’d been the one to break my man-fast, and no other reason. The sex had been good, incredible really, and I had been replaying it in my mind ever since. But that didn’t change anything as far as I was concerned. Good sex was just good sex, but now I was having a baby, and I had no clue if he wanted a baby now, or ever. That was a thought and a conversation for another time.
Now it was time for nachos.
I don’t know how long I stood just outside Grady’s Bar with my hand on the oversized brass handle, but eventually I gripped the handle and pulled it open, and I walked inside with my head held high. I wouldn’t let myself shrink in the face of Grady’s steely gaze. I refused to do anything but sit at the bar to ward off any unwanted conversation and have my lunch in peace.
I grabbed a menu from the end of the bar and smiled. Even though I gave Grady so much grief about his grubby bar, I never once put my hands on a sticky or greasy menu here. It was a bitchy response to my attraction to him, I knew that, but it was a necessary evil to keep my distance.
If only I had kept my distance that night in May.
A shadow crossed over me and I didn’t need to look up to know it was Grady. He was here more than he wasn’t. But when I looked up into his angry and disapproving blue eyes, I bit back a sigh.