Free Saving Gracie by Kristen Ethridge Page B

conversation.”
    Gloria’s ability to sniff out details kept her midwifery patients healthy and safe during pregnancy and labor.
    At present, though, it pushed her younger sister into the danger zone. Long ago, Gracie and Gloria promised not to keep secrets from each other. She couldn’t break that promise, even now.
    But would she really have to tell everything? She could still be truthful and not...well...almost-kiss-and-tell, right?
    “You’re tapping your pen, Gracie. What are you hiding?”
    “Nothing, really. We stopped at the beach for a few minutes while we were on the way to his house.” She pulled a bill out of the stack and started to write a check. If she was using the pen, she couldn’t very well tap it and tip off the sibling investigation squad any further.
    Besides, by watching what she was doing, she didn’t have to look at Gloria.
    “Mmm-hmm. So on your way to fix your broken-down car, you stop at the beach, where your business rival tells you he has to shut down your school or lose his job.” Gloria walked across the room as she spoke, coming to stand just across the desk from her sister.
    Gracie gripped the pen tightly and reached for another bill.
    “More or less.”
    The phone began to ring, cutting off Gracie’s fight not to incriminate herself any further. After a quick glance at the caller ID, however, she decided not to answer.
    “Aren’t you going to get that?” Gloria asked.
    “No.” The only person she wanted to say less to than Gloria was on the other end of the line.
    Gloria stretched to read the caller ID screen, then with one quick motion, punched the speakerphone button. “Hello.”
    “Hey, it’s Jake. I’m on my way over to your school. We need to talk. I know that moment on the beach complicated things...”
    “Graciela Garcia de Piedra! Eres loca? Did you kiss him?” Gloria’s outburst probably blasted out the speaker on Jake’s cell phone.
    “Gloria, I’m not crazy. Now hush.” Gracie shot a stern look at her sister and picked up the receiver. She would say as little as possible while in the company of her shocked sibling. “Okay, Jake. I’m just here doing some paperwork.”
    “Your sister’s there? Do you need me to wait?”
    “She was just headed to Surfside Beach.” Gracie tried to force confidence into her voice, but barely trusted herself around Jake after last night.
    “Okay, I’m on Gulfview. I’ll see you in about five minutes.”
    She laid the handset softly in the cradle, hoping Gloria would be as gentle with her.
    No such luck. “Graciela, what do you mean that you’re not crazy? After church you said you didn’t want to talk to him—but somehow, a few minutes later, you find yourself on the beach, having a ‘moment’? Explica, por favor. ”
    “I didn’t kiss him. I promise. I don’t know how to explain it, Gloria. It just happened.”
    “Gracie, nothing ever ‘just happens’ to you. You’re the most deliberate planner I know. It drives you crazy to assist me with births because you can’t organize labor.”
    Gloria didn’t realize how perfectly her reminder fit the situation. Just as the natural process of childbirth seemed to take over Gloria’s clients, being there on the beach last night with Jake felt organic. Gracie could no more have held back from being attracted to Jake than a mother could keep from pushing on a contraction.
    “I know, Gloria. We’ll talk it through when he gets here. It’s not going to happen again.” Gracie tapped her pen on the desk in a quick rat-a-tat.
    Gloria quirked an eyebrow at the display of nervous energy. “Sure it won’t.”
    “I’m serious, Gloria. I know now he doesn’t have any help to offer me, regardless of what the City Council expects. I’m just going to tell him I understand that and I’ll find a solution on my own. I should hear about that grant any day, and once I get that funding, it’ll be tough, but I’ll rearrange some priorities and do what it takes to keep