Far from the Tree(59)
“Do Maya and Joaquin want to find her, too?” he asked.
“God, no,” Grace said. “They basically said that she abandoned them, so why should they look for her? Especially Joaquin, what with the foster care and everything.”
Rafe was still stuck in the same place, staring at her. “They said that to you?” He gaped. “Even though they know about Peach?”
Grace suddenly wished that she had never brought up the subject in the first place. “Well . . . they don’t actually know about Peach. I haven’t told them yet. I might not tell them at all.”
Rafe closed his eyes, dragging his hand over his face and letting out a low groan. “Okay,” he said, opening his eyes again, and then took Grace’s arm and turned her around. “Cancel sandwiches. This conversation needs french fries.”
“It’s not that bad,” Grace said, but she let herself be led past the fountain anyway.
“Trust me,” Rafe said. “It is.”
“So how long do you think you can keep your biological daughter—who, by the way, you have nicknamed after a fruit—a secret from your biological siblings? Asking for a friend.”
Grace rolled her eyes, then dipped her fry in her side of mayonnaise.
“That’s disgusting, by the way,” Rafe said, gesturing to her french fry with one of his own. “Mayonnaise, it’s the devil’s condiment.”
“More for me, then,” Grace said. She popped it into her mouth and winked at him. She wasn’t as good a winker as Rafe was, but it was a nice effort. “Maya and Joaquin like it, too, just so you know.”
“Must be a recessive gene,” Rafe replied, then pulled the ketchup bottle closer to his plate.
“I like the name Peach,” Grace said, ignoring his question.
“You’re ignoring my question,” he pointed out.
“Everyone likes peaches,” Grace continued. “They’re universally beloved. And she’ll be the same.”
Rafe opened his mouth, then closed it again. “There’s no way to argue that point without insulting your biological child, so I’m not going to try. Well played, by the way.”
Grace shrugged.
“So you’re not going to tell them?”
“You think it’s a bad idea?”
“I think it’s a terrible idea. Secrets always get out.”
“But it doesn’t even affect them.”
“She’s their niece.”
“Not anymore. She has a new family.”
“Okay, forget about Peach then. What about you? They could be supporting you and you’re not even letting them in.”
Grace laughed and signaled the waitress for more mayonnaise. (“Disgusting,” Rafe said under his breath.) “Well, seeing as how they think our mom is basically a demon for giving all of us up, I’d rather not get their opinion on how I did the same thing to Peach.”
“I’m sorry. Why Peach again?” Rafe asked.
“That’s how big she was when I found out I was pregnant with her. When you’re pregnant, they always describe the size of the baby in utero in relation to food. Bean, lime, peach, grapefruit. . . . Peach is what stuck.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I just think that if you tell Maya and Joaquin, they’ll be a lot more understanding. None of you knows why your mom—”
“Bio mom,” Grace interrupted.
“What?”
“My bio mom. I have a mom. She’s back at my house probably wondering why I’m not texting her back.”
“Got it. None of you knows why your bio mom did what she did, but Maya and Joaquin would probably understand why you did it. You should tell them.”
“Maybe it’s none of their business.”
“Well, using that logic, then no one would tell anyone anything about anything.”
“So if you got pregnant, you’d tell your sister?”
Rafe smirked. “If I got pregnant, I’d have a pretty hard time keeping it a secret from anyone, much less my older sister.”
“You know what I mean,” Grace said, shooting him a look.
“I know, I know, I’m just kidding. But yeah, I’d tell my sister. I tell her everything. And you can’t just assume how they’ll react. That’s not fair to them.”
Grace looked at him over their shared trays of french fries and hamburgers. “I just met them, you know? I don’t want them to hate me before they even get a chance to know me.”
“Does it count as knowing you if they don’t know one of the most important things that’s happened to you?”
Grace didn’t have an answer for that.
“So you tell your sister everything?” she asked instead. “Really?” Grace tried to imagine having someone like that in her life.
“Everything,” Rafe said, stealing some of Grace’s fries, pulling them away before she could swat at his hand. “Such an only child,” he chided her. “Not even willing to share.”
Grace smiled despite herself. “And she doesn’t judge you or anything?”
“Are you kidding? She judges the hell out of me sometimes. But she’s still my sister. She’ll still talk to me for an hour about something even if she thinks I’m being stupid about it. Maybe that’s why she talks to me for so long, now that I’m thinking about it.”