“Too hungry.” He reaches around her and dodges a second swat as he grabs another piece.
“Better get these animals fed,” Dad says, reaching for his own slice.
Mom stops him with a look. “We’ve got company, and we’re eating outside where it’s cool and we can show off our sunset.”
“Company?” Hayes walks out of the mudroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Look who I found.” He points his thumb over his shoulder at Cassidy.
“We have company?” Cassidy strides after Hayes, passing him with her much longer legs. She got Dad’s height. Hayes got Mom’s grit.
“Yes!” Mom barks. “Quit wandering around in a towel, Hayes, before she walks in here.”
Hayes stops mid-reach for watermelon. “She? Is she pretty?”
His smirk makes me want to punch him.
“She’s Cal’s friend. Now go take a shower,” Mom orders.
Hayes grabs a watermelon wedge and grins around it. “A friend? Does she have a name?”
I almost say Frankie, that’s how familiar that name is to me now after only a week, but I stop myself. “Fran.”
“The one who works for Flo?” Bennett asks, and I nod.
“Auntie Cass!” Junie calls from down the hallway, and the pattering of her feet follows.
“Hayes! Get yourself into the shower immediately!” Mom yells, before moving into action, pushing him toward the mudroom bathroom like he’s a cow trying to break from the herd.
Junie wraps herself around Cassidy’s waist, Mom shoves Hayes into the bathroom, then Frankie appears. Everyone goes quiet, and I wonder how I didn’t realize she was famous thefirst time I met her. I recognized something special in her that day, even if I didn’t recognize her.
Frankie’s a star in any room she enters. The center of the universe. The sun that warms everything she touches. Now, her cheeks grow pink with the heat of everyone’s eyes on her, but not from embarrassment. She soaks up all the attention and glows with it.
I scratch the back of my neck, not sure how to introduce her when everyone has to see what I’m seeing. This isn’t some ordinary waitress from a diner.
“Everyone, this is…Fran. Fran…this is my family.” I point to each member one by one. “My older brother Wes. Ben’s next in line after me. You just missed my youngest brother, Hayes—be grateful about that. My sister Cassidy. You know Junie and my mom. And that’s my dad, Joe.”
Frankie delivers a shining smile to each one of them but stops on Mom and Dad. Mom leans into Dad, not quite touching him, just drawn to him.
“Jo and Joey?” Frankie asks.
Dad grins and pulls Mom closer. “Or Jo-Joe. That’s what Junie calls us.”
Frankie’s face brightens to something more natural and unpracticed. “I wondered why Junie called Joanne that when we got here! If that’s what she’s dubbed you, then I reckon that’s what I’d better call you.”
“Hold on…” Cassidy unwinds Junie’s arms from her waist and steps closer to Frankie. “Are we all going to pretend we don’t know this is Frankie Forsythe?” she says with a laugh before looking at the rest of us for confirmation.
Frankie’s cheeks turn a darker shade of pink. “Sorry?” Her lips stretch wider, but there’s nothing natural about her smile.
“You’re Frankie Forsythe,” Cassidy repeats.
I ease into the space between Cassidy and Frankie. “We’retrying to keep that under wraps. That’s why she’s here. She’s got fans trying to out her.”
I’m not going to lie to my sister. Not when she obviously knows the truth. But she doesn’t need to knowexactlywho we’re hiding Frankie from. That’s Frankie’s story to tell.
Cassidy laughs again. “Cal, I don’t care that she’s Frankie fromSurf City High.” She looks around me, directly at Frankie. “She’s FrankieForsythe.Her dad is Malcolm Forsythe.”
I glance at Frankie who’s gone cold as stone, including the way she stares at Cassidy. She doesn’t say anything. She’s built a wall to defend herself.
“Who’s Malcolm Forsythe?” I ask Cassidy at the same time Mom urges her a few steps backward.
