Grumpy Protector: Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Suspense by Lacey Kendrick

Author:Lacey Kendrick [Kendrick, Lacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-10-18T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Allie Riston

“You need to leave my son alone.”

“Excuse me?” I asked as I whipped around, careful not to run my shopping cart into the display of canned goods at the end of the aisle. It had been several days since I met with Eddie to hand over the pieces of jewelry and I knew that sooner, rather than later, Jeff was going to be served with the court documents demanding he submit to a paternity test. But the thought had never crossed my mind that I would run into his mother in the grocery store.

“My son,” Barb Welly snapped. She was pushing a cart of her own. It was full of baby items. From diapers, to wipes, to cans of formula, everything little Charlotte might need was in that cart. She lifted one weathered hand from the cart handle and adjusted her large glasses. “You need to leave him alone.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, keeping my tone just as cool as hers.

She sighed impatiently. “First, you sent that awful person from the courts to his place of work. Now, you’re here in the supermarket.”

I gestured to my own shopping cart that was full of groceries. “I’m here because my son and I needed food. As for the person who served Jeff with his paperwork, I don’t know if he or she was awful or not. It’s not as though I hired the person directly to do the work.”

A woman pushing her own cart lingered near us, so I pushed myself and my groceries to the side of the aisle. I meant to get out of the way, but if I avoided continuing this conversation with Barb Welly, that would be a bonus. Unfortunately, she pursued me, pushing her buggy so that it knocked against mine. “Why would you do this? That’s what I want to know.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong,” I said through gritted teeth. “I had a conversation with Jeff. I told him I thought there was a chance he was not Charlotte’s father. He refused to even acknowledge the possibility.”

“Then you should have just let it all go.” Barb, unlike her son, didn’t flinch as she hissed the words at me. Her eyes bored into mine and her lips clamped together tightly.

“I couldn’t just let this go,” I argued. “Charlotte is my niece. I have to make sure she is being taken care of properly.”

“Oh,” Barb muttered darkly. “I see what this is—you don’t think my boy is taking good enough care of the baby.” She leaned forward on the handlebar of the cart so that there was only a small space separating us. “I’ll have you know that he does everything for that child.”

“Like the shopping?” I asked, pointedly glancing down at her cart.

She scoffed. “He’s at home with the baby right now. He just sent me to pick up a few essentials.”

I took a steadying breath and pictured Marcus.

What would he want me to do right now?

The answer was obvious. He’d tell me to calm down and extricate myself from this situation immediately.

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