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“She’s asleep,” Jake said in a low voice.
“I’m not,” Frankie countered from the living room. A yawn followed her words, and I toed off my wet shoes before setting my backpack down and stripping out of the damp shirt and socks before following Jake and a similarly stripped Bubba into the living room.
Jeremy had dropped off more clothes for me, so I had stuff to change into. As Jake had said earlier, Frankie was curled up against Coop, but they were both sitting, even if it looked like they’d been lying down.
The traces of tear tracks on her face renewed my earlier aggravation. The first thing her idiot mother should have done was ask her how she was and maybe spent more than thirty seconds on what happened rather than immediately escalate into demands.
“Got you coffee,” I told her, and she gave me a wan smile.
“’Cause you’re the best.”
“I am the best,” I agreed, and the corner of her mouth tipped up. “Have your coffee. I’m gonna change, and then we can figure out what’s next, yeah?”
“I’d like that,” she said, and Bubba carried her coffee over to her and handed out the others.
“I’ll be back.”
In her bedroom, I glanced around and shook my head. Jeremy really couldn’t help himself. It had all been straightened, the bed stripped and remade with fresh sheets and a brand new comforter. Frankie was gonna be irked.
But I got it, Jeremy cared.
My bag sat at the foot of the bed, new clothes laid out at the top, all the laundry from the basket in the corner was gone, and there were other stacks for Jake, Coop, and Bubba.
“Yeah,” Jake said as he slid into the room. “I noticed this when we got home and I came in here to get her a blanket. Jeremy?”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling on a clean t-shirt. “I’m guessing the kitchen is spotless and the fridge is fully stocked?”
“So is the pantry, there’s also a baked ham in the oven and hot veggies in trays on the stove along with some stuffing.”
I’d smelled that when we came in, but I’d been more interested in Frankie than the food.
“I’ll thank him.” I should have known he’d go overboard with the offer.
“Dude, there’s chocolate pudding in the fridge.”
I stripped out of the damp jeans and pulled on sweatpants. “Of course there is.” Frankie loved chocolate pudding.
Honestly, she loved food. It was one of the great things about her.
“How are you doing?”
Okay, I’d already gotten it from Bubba, so I met Jake’s concerned gaze. “I’m fine. More concerned we might have to deal with her mother again this week. She’s not giving up, but how she’s going about this doesn’t make sense to me.”
It made even less sense when I considered Edward’s choices.
Folding his arms, Jake said, “Maybe she feels guilty about abandoning her.”
I met his gaze and raised my brows. “Did you see real guilt on her face?” I had, there at the very end, a brief flicker of it along with indecision. But Jake and Frankie had been long gone by then.
“No,” Jake said with an aggrieved rake of his hand through his hair. “I didn’t. Frankie was pretty sure they wouldn’t follow. Said it would mean her mother cared if she did, and she highly doubted that was the case.” Anger rolled off him waves, like heat shimmering off of pavement. “Why the fuck did they just show up today? It’s been aweek.”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “But we dealt with it, and she’s safe and sound here, so I say we don’t worry about them and we focus on her. Did you notice anyone giving her shit today?”
“Outside of the crap with Cheryl? No,” Jake said with a short shake of his head. “They’re keeping their distance. But they’re talking.”
“Yeah, we can’t stop that. But we stick close. The hardest periods are third and sixth.” It hadn’t escaped my notice that her mother showed up during the one class we weren’t with her.
Then again, that might have just been dumb luck on their part.
