Rumor Has It Read online

  “How many days left?”

  “Four.”

  Her dad tossed a Chinese, an Italian, and a Mexican menu onto the counter. “Don’t you think you’ve wasted enough of your life raising me? Come on, Kate, it’s your turn to fly.”

  “Dad, we both know I can’t go anywhere. Not until you can be the parent again.”

  He turned off the oven and waved the oven mitts around to dissipate the smoke. “I am being the parent, Kate.”

  “You just about set the house on fire. Again.”

  “Don’t be silly,” he said. “The fire alarm didn’t even go off.”

  That’s when the fire alarm went off.

  This was followed by a solid twenty minutes of insanity. First Tommy came racing into the kitchen and straight out the back door, where he grabbed the garden hose, cranked it on, and then tried to reenter the kitchen to be the hero.

  Then Ashley made a dramatic entry, coughing and waving a hand in front of her face. “I just washed my hair! Do you know how bad smoke sticks to freshly washed hair?” she shrieked over the fire alarm.

  Kate climbed up onto the cabinets and waved a magazine at the fire alarm until it stopped.

  Her father called the fire department to ward off the emergency run.

  Much later, after they’d ordered Chinese, cleaned up the kitchen, gone through some of Ashley’s homework, and dealt with an algebra crisis, Kate sat next to her father on the couch.

  He stroked a hand over her hair in silent apology for the night. With a sigh she set her head on his shoulder.

  “I want you to go to UCSD,” he said quietly.

  She was still reeling from her last conversation with Griffin. He’d accused her of being afraid to go for the master’s program.

  And then there’d been his other bomb. The not leaving bomb . . .

  But did that change anything? Her heart said oh hell yes. Her brain said absolutely not. His staying couldn’t, shouldn’t, change a thing. She’d gotten what she’d wanted from him. A good time. A great time. The end. Right? “I want me to go, too,” she told her dad. “But—”

  “No buts,” he said. “I know you’re afraid we’ll fall apart, and who can blame you? But we’re going to be okay, Kate. You’ve spoiled us long enough.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He sighed. “You’ve been a steady rock for the family when I couldn’t be, always showing how important and valuable each of us is. But it’s okay to move on with your life. We’re ready to try things on our own for a bit.”

  “But Ashley’s college and Tommy—”

  “Honey, taking care of people isn’t doing everything for them. That’s enabling. We’ll manage. We’ll miss you,” he said, his voice a little thick now. “So much. But you have to go. For all of us.”

  She swallowed hard. “You’re sure.”

  “No.” He gave a low laugh. “You know we’ll call you too much. We’ll drive you crazy from afar. But you need to go.” He hugged her. “I’m proud of you. And I love you, Kate. So much.”

  “Love you, too, Dad.”

  Tommy came into the room as Superman complete with red cape and turned on the TV. Then Ashley stuck her head in the room. “Kate, where’s my cheerleading uniform?”

  “Again?” Kate asked. “You lost it again?”

  Her dad put his hand on Kate’s knee. “I’ve got this,” he said. “I did laundry this morning. It’s been washed and is all ready for practice tomorrow.”

  “Impressive,” Kate murmured.

  He smiled and pointed to his phone. “I downloaded a homemaker app. It gives me daily lists.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes and vanished.

  “In five seconds she’ll be yelling thank you,” her dad said. “Five, four, three, two—”

  “Noooo!” came a bloodcurdling scream from the direction of the laundry room.

  Tommy turned up the TV.

  Ashley reappeared in the doorway with her cheerleading uniform—which had been shrunk to the size of a small child.

  “Shit,” her dad said.

  “Shit,” Tommy said.

  * * *

  Later that night, Kate stood at her kitchen counter eating ice cream, having a stare down contest with the scholarship letter lying on the tile.

  Was she afraid? Hell yes. But anyone would be, she told herself.

  Four more days . . .

  The question was: Could she do it in spite of her fears? Could she really walk away? For a year?

  Not walk away, she corrected. She’d still be a part of her family’s life, a part of Sunshine. She’d always have that.

  Wouldn’t she?

  The late-night knock surprised her. Moving through her townhouse, she pulled the front door open a crack and squeaked in surprise when Griffin pushed his way in.

  “You didn’t look to see who it was,” he said, not sounding at all happy about that.

  She shut the door behind him. “Well, hello to you, too.”

  He turned to face her, hands on hips, brow arched, and she sighed. “Okay, so I assumed it’d be Ashley with another homework emergency,” she admitted. “Or my dad demanding to know where I’d hid his stash. Or—”

  “Stash?” Grif’s frown deepened. “I thought he’s sober.”

  “He is. I meant his potato chips.” She shook her head. “And not that I’m not happy to see you, but what brings you here?”

  His gaze caught on the scholarship letter on the counter and nudged it. “You accept yet?”

  She went back to her ice cream. “You’re starting to sound like my dad and Ryan.”

  “You should do it, Kate.”

  Yes, but I don’t know if I can walk away from you for a year. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She licked her spoon clean and then felt Griffin come close, so that their toes touched. Well, her toes, his work boots. Tipping her head up, she met his gaze.

  “You should do it,” he said again, softly.

  She took him in, from his hair—way longer than a military cut now—to the healing scar, to his firm-but-oh-so-giving mouth. Her heart sped up a little as she let her biggest fear escape. “I’ll be gone a year.”

  “So what?”

  She sucked in a breath at that. “So what?” she repeated. Ouch . . .

  His hands gripped her arms. “I’m saying I don’t care how long it takes, Kate. I’m saying so what. It’s something you want, and I’m one hundred percent in favor of you doing anything you want.”

  “But . . .” She held his gaze. “This. Are you saying you don’t want . . . this?”

  “No. I’m saying this isn’t going to hold you back.”

  “It’s a year, Griffin.”

  He put his hands on her hips and lifted her to the counter, then stepped between her legs and cupped her face. “All my life,” he said, “people have been waiting on me. My sister. My dad. Any woman in my life.” He paused and let that sink in. “I think I can do the waiting for a change.”

  She stared at him, her hands slack as he took the ice cream from them. “You okay?” he murmured.

  “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I really didn’t see you coming.”

  “Back at you.” He slid one hand up her back and into her hair, the other arm wrapping low on her hips so that he could lift her up.

  She wrapped her legs around him and cupped his face as he carried her into the bedroom. “You’re good for me,” she said. “I hope you know that.”

  Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead to hers. She clutched at him. “So good,” she whispered. And she spent the dark hours of the night showing him so, over and over . . .

  * * *

  The next day Griffin sat in the ranch office staring at the computer screen until the numbers blurred. Holly and Adam were spending the day looking at houses, and Grif was supposedly holding down the fort.

  His mind wasn’t on the task. Instead it was on a certain strawberry blond second-grade teacher who’d blown his mind—and other parts—all night long.