Grace’s palms became a little bit sweaty at the too-innocent expressions on the female Malones’ faces. Had the welcome-to-the-family routine been an act? Was she about to get grilled?
She couldn’t even answer her own questions about what she was doing here. How was she supposed to answer to his family?
“So, Grace,” Jamie said the second the door was closed. “Jake’s always made us swear never to read his stuff. Says there’s nothing we could possibly need to know about shaving or his sex life, or how to wow her with a frittata the next morning.”
“I hope he credited his mother with that one,” Nancy mumbled.
“He’s right,” Jessica said. “We don’t need to know any of that.”
Her twin nudged a tray of pigs in a blanket toward Grace, who dutifully plucked one off the plate.
“Let me guess,” she said with a wary glance around the kitchen. “You read everything anyway.”
“Every last article, guest post, and interview,” Jill said with glee. There wasn’t an ounce of guilt on her face, or any of her sisters’ faces. Even Nancy looked completely unperturbed by their blatant dismissal of Jake’s request.
Yup. This was family, all right.
To their credit, none of them pried. They all sat there patiently with kind you-can-confide-in-us expressions.
There was no escape, and Grace knew it. “So … I’m guessing you’ve seen the website?”
Five heads nodded eagerly. “We couldn’t believe it when he said he was bringing a woman home. We really couldn’t believe when we heard the woman’s name. We talk about you all the time.”
“I’ve been rooting for you,” Jennifer said quietly.
“For which we’ve nearly disowned her,” Jessica said with a glare. “Siding against her only brother …”
“Who’s being a complete tool half the time. That stunt with their first date … I mean, it was clear she was into him, and he totally strung her along and then stabbed her in the back.”
Grace gave a rueful smile. “It wasn’t quite like that.” Although it had felt like that. Just a little. “I’ve done plenty of manipulating of my own,” she went on. “We both knew the rules of the game when we agreed to do this, even if we weren’t exactly expecting it to become an online phenomenon …”
“So are we going to be featured?” Jamie asked excitedly. “This is some sort of meet-the-family test, isn’t it?”
“No!” Nancy said, sounding scandalized. “My boy wouldn’t fly a woman to visit his mother for a game. He likes this girl. I could tell the second I laid eyes on her.”
“Mom, that only tells us that you like her.”
“Well, okay, I like her. But I also saw the way that Jakey looked at her. And he likes her too.”
Jill topped off Grace’s wine. Smart woman, Grace thought. “Is it true? Does he like you?”
Grace might not have sisters, but she knew a trap when she heard one. “I’m pretty sure that’s a question for him.”
“But you’re a relationship expert. I’ve been reading Stiletto forever, and I can’t tell you how many crappy relationships you’ve helped me through. You helped me figure out why one guy wouldn’t call, you helped me figure out that another was being distant because he didn’t like that I bought him clothes. And your article ‘Ten Ways to Tell if He’s Cheating’ pretty much saved my life.”
“Dylan met eight of your warning signs,” Jennifer whispered.
Grace immediately fixed a smile on her face to ignore the stab of embarrassment, although she was glad she’d been able to help Jessica see the light. She just wished she could have seen the light before, well … red panties in her bed.
“Soooooo,” Jamie said, leaning forward. “Do you like him?”
“I …” Crap. “Um.”
Nancy laughed delightedly and slapped her hand on the counter. “I knew it. You do like him.”
“Well, duh, Mom. She came to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for him.”
“Which you told me might have been for the story,” Nancy said with a scowl at her oldest daughter.