As soon as her eyes met mine, warmth spread through my chest. Damn, I loved that feeling.
“Thanks for meeting us.” I wrapped my arms around her, sealing her to me in a hug.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, and gave a small wave to my mom. “Hi again, Mrs. Shaw.”
“Gina,” she corrected.
“I’m feeling fine. Good as new. Think I’ll go mountain biking tomorrow,” I said with a stretch.
“Oliver,” my mother and Frankie hissed in unison.
I chuckled and let them think I was joking. In reality, the possibility of me hitting the trails in the morning was very real.
I held open the door to the cozy family-owned place as the only two women in my life walked through. The aromas of garlic and fresh bread hit us instantly.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want to take her to Marie’s.” Frankie pulled off her coat as we waited for the host to seat us.
“I don’t really like the food there,” I said nonchalantly.
Frankie’s eyebrows furrowed as she gaped at me. “You’ve eaten dinner there like four times a week since you got here.”
“Becauseyouworked there four times a week,” I pointed out.
She blinked a few times. “You—you seriously don’t like the food? Like at all?”
I bent over to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I likeyou.” When I pulled back, I noticed my mom watching our exchange.
We were seated and ordered quickly. My stomach growled in anticipation. I’d only had the shitty hospital food to eat since yesterday.
As we ate our meals and fell into easy conversation, everything about the evening felt warm, like slipping into something comfortable. As I listened to my mom ask Frankie about herself, I couldn’t help but feel at ease—like I could finally breathe again.
When my mom went to the bathroom, Frankie leaned in to whisper, “Things seem better between the two of you.”
“We talked,” I admitted.
“I’m proud of you.” She squeezed my thigh, and all felt right in the world for a moment.
It was easy to trick my brain into thinking this was the firstof many times the three of us would share a meal. That I wasn’t about to say goodbye to her in less than a week’s time. It was hard not to picture Frankie coming home with me for the holidays or spending our next birthdays together. How could this feel so fuckingright?
When she’d asked me about visiting her in New York, it had pained me to say no, but I couldn’t do it. As hard as a clean break would be for the two of us, continuing to talk from opposite sides of the country would be even harder. Letting myself see her knowing it was just for a short visit? That would be too cruel. What we had here was special—once in a lifetime. It was best to leave it at that.
After dinner, we said our goodbyes outside.
I gave Frankie a hug and whispered in her ear, “Can I come pick you up after I walk my mom home?”
She melted into me. “Please.”
I stared as she walked the short block back to Mattie and Giles’s house, not looking away until I saw her turn onto their street.
“She’s great,” my mom said.
“She is.”
“Different than you,” she added, no doubt thinking about how often Frankie had mentioned her new job over dinner. “But that isn’t a bad thing.”
I let out a sound of disbelief as we waited at a crosswalk. “Not a bad thing? You just went over recounting the tales of how disastrous you and Dad were. How I should never let anyone change me.”
“Does shewantto change you?”
