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I kind of regretted saying that because her eyes went all shadowed again, and that was killing me. I hated when she was unhappy, and I didn’t hate much. Even when I dreaded dealing with the tension around Mom and Dad, I didn’t hate them or it; I just didn’t want to deal with it. When Frankie was unhappy, the world just seemed like a darker place.
She always had everything so put together. It was the face she showed the world. I was proud of our girl in a way I couldn’t express to the others. More because I knew that face was a mask, but one she could wear because she was so good at what she did.
When she floundered or struggled, so did I, because I wanted to fix it for her, and I wasn’t sure how. We could take on the bullies at school, that wasn’t even an issue. Take her car to the detail place and clean up the obnoxious mess on it? No problem. Hell, Jake punched the one asshole who slut sneezed, and Laura had been suspended for her crap. We could help with that.
But the thing with her mom? I had no idea how to fix that situation. Push too hard where her mom was concerned, and Frankie would shut down. It didn’t seem possible to push back without Frankie trying to defend her.
“The world is already kind of upside down.” She glanced at Archie. “And you still haven’t had anything resembling food.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking after ice cream, we get pizza and pick out some absolutely terrible movies to watch.” He trailed a finger down her arm, and the corner of her mouth tilted up again.
“Actually,” I said. “That’s not a bad idea. Jake mentioned something like that earlier.” Totally making that shit up, I threw a look at Jake.
With a lift of his chin, he caught the toss and said, “Yeah, we can all pile on your bed, eat pizza, drink sodas, watch movies. Whatever you want.”
Her expression turned worried. “I don’t know if they went back there.”
“So?” Bubba actually joined in. “You live there too, and there’s more of us. We can even be quiet.”
“Might make them want to go somewhere else,” Archie said, his tone musing. “Either way, it’s about you. Would that make you feel better? You can keep an eye on your cats and relax in your bed. We’ll hang out, stuff you with pizza, and make you laugh. I volunteer Coop to even take out the trash after.”
I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t argue because the corners of her mouth tipped again. “For what it’s worth, they weren’t there when Jake got me.”
“Thank you for the cat pictures, the tail one was really cute.” Her smile warmed, even as she looked thoughtful. “Though, I don’t know if we’ll all fit on my bed.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Bubba said. “Sitting on the floor never killed anyone. What do you want to do?”
“Not talk about problems, watch movies that make us laugh and groan, and eat pineapple pizza.”
“Cool,” Jake said. “Anyone need to clear it with the ‘rents that we might end up crashing at Frankie’s?”
Archie
Sharing my date night wasn’t high on my list of things I wanted to do, but Frankie needed all of us. Dinner with the parents had been a disaster before we got there. I’d half-expected it to implode—hoped really that Edward would cancel at the last minute because it was what he did—before we even had to make the drive. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that lucky.
The fact he had actually given Ms. Curtis a ring was bad enough, but to continue with the farce of they were getting married? And he planned to move Frankie and her mom into our house? I didn’t mind the idea of Frankie living with me. Quite the opposite, but she wasn’t up for life with Edward Standish and all the bullshit that entailed. Year together or not, his mistresses had a habit of vanishing the moment he got bored.
The fact he bought Frankie a dress bothered me more than I’d told her. I hadn’t been kidding about the fact he bought clothes for the women he dated or kept. Frankie wasn’t going on that list.
Ever.
The very idea was disgusting.
So whatever game he planned to play, I was taking Frankie off the board. The ice cream and the guys helped to lift her mood. Back at her apartment, I was more than grateful to discover a distinct absence of our parents. I was all set to go another round with my dad if I had to. Thankfully, for Frankie’s sake, that proved unnecessary.
We figured out the seating in her room, and it ended up with most of us on the floor on cushions, sprawled around each other, boxes of pizza open—and the TV we stole from the living room set up in the corner.
Frankie leaned against Bubba as we scrolled through the choices on Netflix, and I glanced at my phone. No word from Mom on her sudden French relocation. Jeremy, however, confirmed she’d had her trunks sent.
So at least that much of Edward’s story might be based in fact.
What the hell was he doing?
A toe tapped my leg, and I glanced over to find Frankie watching me. She curled her toes against my thigh, and I put my hand over her foot and grinned. She mouthedyou okay?and I nodded. I was okay. Surrounded by my best friends and allowed to kiss her the way I’d always wanted to?
I was more than okay.
Everything else, we’d figure out later.
