Good Girls Don't Date Rock Stars(34)

Which meant she’d have to tell the people she loved before anyone in Rock Canyon started spreading the word. She called Gracie, who, fifteen minutes later, came walking through the door with two salads and two iced teas. While Gracie set up their food in the little storeroom, Gemma put up the OUT TO LUNCH sign and went back to join her. For some reason she felt like she was walking toward her execution.

Gracie had been blessedly quiet, which was terrifying in itself. As Gemma sat down across from her, she waited for her to say something, but instead Gracie just opened her salad and started eating.

Gemma popped the lid off her own salad and offered, “I know you’re probably wondering why I didn’t tell you, and it’s not that I thought I couldn’t trust you, I just didn’t want anyone to know, especially since I thought it was over.” Gracie still said nothing, just chewed on her leafy greens thoughtfully, and Gemma hissed, “Really? Nothing?”

Finally, she stopped, swallowed, and said, “I’m just picturing you having a wild night in Vegas and wondering how you could forget to tell your best friend, the woman who has stood by you and kept all of your secrets since the first time you peed your pants in kindergarten!”

Gemma flushed. “I know you can keep a secret, okay? It was just . . . it wasn’t just a wild night, Gracie.”

“What do you mean? Were you with him for the weekend?” Gracie squealed, her color high. “You hussy!”

“No, I mean, it was just one night, but there’s more to it than just us bumping into each other and—”

“Then bumping uglies?” Gracie said, teasingly.

“Will you knock it off! I’m trying to tell you that I didn’t just sleep with Travis when I was drunk, I married him!”

There. She’d said it.

Gracie’s chin dropped, her mouth flopping like a fish, and this time she jumped up. “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

“No I’m not kidding you—”

“And you didn’t tell me? I could . . . if I wasn’t so damn curious, I would be pissed at you!” Gracie grabbed her chair and scooted it around next to Gemma. “Why wouldn’t you? Have I ever judged you?”

“No. I guess I thought that if I didn’t mention what happened, it wouldn’t be real.”

“Oh, it’s real, honey. All six-foot-five of manly proof is here to back up the fact that you, Gemma Carlson, got married Britney Spears–style.”

Gracie was grinning now, and Gemma’s face twisted into a scowl. “You’re enjoying this.”

“Hell yeah. You’ve been all repressed since you had Charlie, and it’s good to see you take a step out of your little protective bubble once in a while,” Gracie said, then frowned briefly. “Still pissed you were going to take this to the grave, though.”

“I’d say this was more of a flying leap than a step,” Gemma grumbled. Meanwhile, her salad was looking less and less appealing by the minute.

“True. You kind of double backflipped your way out of the bubble, but Gemma, he’s here. He followed you, even after you gave him the brush-off.”

“It wasn’t a brush-off. It was a nice letter setting him free,” Gemma said defensively, adding, “and it’s not like he hasn’t had ten years to get off his ass and come find me or pick up a damn phone. Why now? A piece of paper doesn’t mean crap if you can barely remember the actual marriage ceremony, right?”

“Okay, I get your pissiness, and believe me, I wanted to kick his royal behind for not going all ‘you’re mine, woman’ and coming after you,” Gracie said with a major but face. “But I do have to say, if some guy had dumped me all eighties movie style, crying in the rain, I’d have a hard time swallowing my pride and going after him.”

“There was no rain.”

“Still, I can just picture the drama and the sad ballad in his head as you walked away and one tear fell down his cheek—”

Gemma threw a forkful of salad at Gracie. “You are such a dork.”

“Adorkable, you mean,” Gracie said, flicking a carrot at her.

“He wants to date me,” Gemma said. When Travis had suggested they date, she’d laughed at first, but now she thought it could be helpful. It would give her a chance to get him alone and feel out his ideas on fatherhood. The idea that he’d bolt was still there, but at least if she took the time before Charlie got back to really get to know him, she could decide for sure whether he would be good for Charlie.

“Isn’t that like putting the cart before the horse?” Gracie asked.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t going to go away until I agreed, and I figured it would give me a chance to get to know him with his clothes on and work up my nerve.”

“Nerve for what?” Gracie asked.

“Nerve to tell him about Charlie.”

Gracie paused with a forkful of salad halfway to her mouth.

“I just . . . I was—”

“You were just looking to tie one off before you returned to your self-made nunnery.”

“Rude, but yeah. I figured if I wasn’t going to see him again, it could just be my little secret, and then everything got crazy and he followed me home. Not to mention there are pictures of me out there with Travis, including one of us heading into the chapel,” Gemma said, sucking back the dread as best she could. “What happens if someone puts the pieces together and the media show up here in Rock Canyon? If they start following Charlie to school? Call me Travis’s baby mama or worse?”