Steal My Magnolia (Love at First Sight #3) - Karla Sorensen Page 0,37
waited for her to say something.
Her hands covered her face for one moment, then her shoulders relaxed. She dropped her hands and speared me with an unfathomable look.
"You're on your own when you tell Tucker."
"I—" My head tilted. "That's it?"
She pointed a finger at me. "I will keep my mouth shut for twenty-four hours, Grady. Twenty-four hours is all you’ll get from me before I tell him myself, and the only reason I'm giving you that is because he can't come to dinner tonight. I will not lie to the man I love, not even for you."
Gratitude had my chest relaxing on a mountain-sized inhale. "Thank you."
Grace watched my face. She wanted to say something else, but she didn't.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I'm worried for you." She shook her head. "Her father almost ruined Tucker and his dad's business. He can't be happy that she's working for someone else, and if he comes after you, I'll be forced to like ... key his car or something."
I set my hands on her shoulders. "I'll be fine. He won't come after my business, so please don't key anything. I'm pretty sure they'd arrest you, and you look awful in orange."
There was no smile at my joke. She really was worried.
Squeezing my hands, I gave her my most reassuring, older than her by two minutes look. "Gracey B, you are an excellent sister."
"I know," she said dryly.
"You're really okay with this?"
"Okay is not the word I'd choose just yet," she said. "But ... I trust you. And if she's what you need"—she visibly swallowed—"then I trust you."
I wrapped my sister up in a tight hug. "Thank you. I know this is weird."
She laughed into my chest. "The weirdest, brother. But with you? I expect nothing else."
The door to the shop opened, and Pops shook his head. "We hugging on the street now?"
Grace pulled back and smiled. "Yeah. You guys ready for dinner?"
I put my arms around them both as we walked toward where Grace was parked next to me.
One down. One to go.
Chapter 11
Grady
Downtown Green Valley was draped in lights heading into the holidays. As I walked from Donner Bakery, armed with coffee and tea and more pastries than I needed, it was the first day that felt like winter. I'd borrowed some winter gloves from Uncle Robert, and as I walked from the bakery to the law offices Tucker shared with his dad, I was thankful for them. It was still early, so the streets were fairly quiet. I was thankful for that too.
Tucker's absence at dinner the night before had been a small blessing because it allowed me to take the previous evening after we finished a family dinner with Uncle Robert and Aunt Fran to think over how I wanted to approach this.
When I moved to Green Valley, Tucker and I hit it off immediately. Stuck in a job he didn't love, he was one of the first people truly on board with the idea of Valley Adventures, and once he cleared some hurdles with his parents, we started planning for him to help on the side. Eventually, if the business grew to what I thought it could be, he'd slowly transition away from the law offices where he practiced with his dad and join me full-time.
But this ... it held the possibility of changing all that for him.
A truck rumbled down the quiet street, and I lifted my hand in greeting at whoever was driving. He waved back.
The change from LA to Green Valley hadn't been as jarring to me as it had been for Grace, but I also had to admit that a huge reason for that had been because of Tucker. And Magnolia. She came in with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball that was lit on fire, and not by choice.
For the first time since I'd crossed the city limits, I could empathize with my twin sister. The addition of Magnolia to my daily life changed the tenor of how people looked at me. Looked at us for how this would play out.
Even thinking her name had my chest aching. Had me wondering if she was at the office yet, what she'd eaten for breakfast, what her house looked like, what she was afraid of.
Had me wondering all sorts of other things too.
What her lips tasted like.
If she hogged the bed.
If she'd mind if I woke her up in the middle of the night with my hands and mouth.