35
Frankie
“You can’t come in here,”I said, blocking the door.
My sister rolled her eyes. “Come on, Frowny Frankie. I’m your sister.”
Those large sunglasses covered half her face, and she couldn’t stand still. She glanced over her shoulder and back at me, lower lip pouting.
That old familiar tug wanted to just give in, knowing that it would be easier.
But no. This wasn’t about her or me. This was about her messing with Collette’s head, and we were done with that.
I used my body to block her path as she tried to push past me. She was frail and easily bounced off. “If you want to be like that, I’ll just call the cops, and they will give me my daughter.”
Two weeks. Less than. Only a few more days she had to be a deadbeat, and she wouldn’t have an ounce of power.
My fingers balled into fists. “I told you last time that there was no coming back.”
“Well, you aren’t the fucking boss of me, are you?”
I stepped out, shutting the door behind me. “Just tell me what it is you want.”
She scoffed and paced the porch.
I sat in a rocking chair, leaning forward with my palms flat together, squeezing them between my knees as she ranted so quickly I could hardly follow. She was even thinner now, and I knew she likely wouldn’t take off her glasses because they hid bloodshot eyes.
Had I caused this? Had I pushed her back into her addiction? She told me often enough I didn’t support her—
No. I told that voice. I thought instead of Harrison’s words about addicts. Words I knew all too well to be true. I wasn’t responsible for her actions. I wouldn’t take this on.
“I hated the company I was touring with anyway. They honestly were so jealous of me they kept doing things to fuck me over. It’s fine. I’ve been living with some cool people down in LA. I thought about saying hi to Harrison while I was in town but hadn’t gotten around to it.”
She’d been ranting for twenty minutes, explaining her absence and delays in getting the paperwork to me.
I didn’t care for her story. I cut her off. “I will not let you take Collette,” I said firmly, not when she was clearly back in an unstable place.
She scoffed. “She’s my daughter, and you really don’t have a choice.”
I stood up and balled my fists at my hips. “You lost your rights to her last time. I’ve been trying to find you for child abandonment and get custody like you promised I could have when you left.”
“Now, you don’t have to worry.” She gnawed at a nail already chewed to the quick. “And anyway, I’m not taking Collette. I know I’m shit at being a mom, okay? Calm down.”
Tension melted out of me. She wasn’t taking her. Maybe she just wanted money. I would scrounge whatever I’d earned. I would give her whatever it took to keep her away.
“I found her a family,” she said.
I stumbled back. This was so much worse. “What?”
Just shy of six months, and she was back. Just shy of deciding what I wanted, the choice was ripped from my grasp so that all my stupid mistakes became clearer.
“No.” I shook my head. “No. I-I want to keep her. Let me have her, please. I’m family.”
Joey sneered at my breaking heart with disgust. “You’re as much of a mother as I am.”
I placed a hand on my heart. “No.” I focused on Harrison and our life that we built. Thought of how he comforted me and told me I was enough. I loved her, and that was enough. “I amhere.I love her,” I said.
Joey shook her head and shrugged. “Yeah. And? You don’t think I do? I literally made her. I birthed her. And it sucked.” She turned her head away and swallowed, a flush spreading up her neck. “I love her enough to know that she deserves better, okay?”
