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“Dude, I don’t get it. How does a mom do that? I mean…I have issues with my dad, but he still does what he can. Even if what he can ain’t much.” Which was true. Jake had a hate on for his dad. Bubba lucked out as far as all of us were concerned, and while Mr. Rhys was getting kind of intrusive, it was hard to fault him—Frankie was in trouble.
“You know, I’m not even going to try and figure her out. Psych is your thing.” Archie leaned his head back against the wall, and I got the coffee started. No matter what else we did today, I wanted Frankie caffeinated. A caffeinated Frankie was a happy Frankie.
“If I ever go for my doctorate, maybe I’ll use her as a case study.” As jokes went, it fell flat.
“I just want her to stay away. I know it hurts Frankie that she left like that, but the in and out and the toxic nature of the relationship isn’t good for her either.”
“She’s still seventeen.” She was the youngest of all of us. Her birthday was months off.
“Yep, I’m going to send a message to the attorney about seeing if we can file to get her emancipated. Then she will legally be able to sign all her own stuff. But…let’s focus on your birthday today.”
“You already have a plan.”
The water cut off in the other room, and Archie nodded firmly. “I have a plan. The first part of that plan is it’s your birthday. Let the fun and mayhem begin.”
Mayhem.
“Maybe let’s skip that last part,” I called as Archie headed back to the bedroom to finish getting dressed.
When I opened the fridge to look at breakfast possibilities, I glared. It was getting low on a lot of things.
Ugh. I hated her mother.
Putting hate out into the universe was just a bad idea, so I disliked her mother intensely, and I was with Archie—if she wanted to sever ties, make it permanent.
But Frankie didn’t have any other family that I knew of. Not family she talked about.
There had been a grandmother. When we were kids, like even before we met Jake, she’d come to visit. Frankie had been super-excited about it. When my grandmother used to visit, or Sis and I went to her place, we always came back with presents and stories.
Looking back, it was easy to see why Frankie would have been excited. But she’d also said something weird, something I hadn’t ever thought of…
“I didn’t even know Ihada grandmother.”
How does a kid not know? Knowing what I do about her narcissist of a mom? I totally get it now. As for her dad?
“Hey,” Frankie said, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I had to grin. She looked delightful with her damp hair, rosy cheeks from the shower, and dressed in a pair of slim shorts and a tank top.
Man, I almost didn’t want to go to Six Flags. But we all needed it. We needed to get away from this place, from the crap going down here, and just go be somewhere no one knew all of us. Hold her hand, kiss her when we felt like it, and have fun.
That was what I wanted for my birthday. “Hey,” I said, and wrapped my arms around her when she curled into me. She fit perfectly right up against me, and I loved being able to hug her. Honestly, there wasn’t much a Frankie hug couldn’t fix. “Feel better?”
“I was feeling pretty good before,” she teased, and I grinned. “Though you seem to be a little on the stiff side.”
“Oh, I’m a lot on the stiff side.” The sweet weight of her pressed against me just reminded me all over again of how hard I was for her. It wasn’t difficult, every time I kissed her, I got a boner. Sometimes when I was just talking to her. Wanting Frankie was a lot like breathing—vital to my existence.
Tipping her head back, she studied me, and I dropped a kiss on her lips. The traces of tears were gone from her cheeks, and her eyes weren’t so red. They were still a little swollen though.
“Still up for going out on my b-day?” It was a little juvenile to use my birthday to get my way, but I hadn’t been kidding when I said we all needed a break. Her more than the rest of us. She had a crapton of shit landing on her shoulders, and it kept raining down. Unfortunately, our shit kept hitting her, too.
“Yep,” she said, pressing a kiss to my jaw. “Right after I have coffee.”
“Oh, absolutely.” After giving her a gentle squeeze, I turned her around toward the coffee pot. “Already brewed for you.”
The grounds had been low though. We might need to make a grocery run before we came back.
“Jake’s on his way,” Archie said as he wandered back in, shirt tucked in and phone in his hand. “And he’s bringing donuts. I said we might stop somewhere on the way and get real breakfast.”
Sounded good to me.
