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They had been so different growing up, and with Sofia often having to help Ma with the younger kids, she had felt more like a little parent to Frankie. Frankie had hated that and had rebelled by becoming her oldest brother Gabe's little shadow. He'd never said she couldn't tag along on his adventures, and she'd never made him regret that, always pushing to keep up with the guys, always quick with a joke. He'd given her all the skills to succeed as a woman in construction. She'd just never anticipated she'd be doing it without him.
Frankie tried not to make comparisons between her life and her sister's, but it was hard. She was struggling, while Sofia had her dream job, a gorgeous fiancé, and a baby on the way. Frankie’s job was literally a joke, Buster was the leading man in her life, and she could potentially be bankrupt a year from now. It was hard to keep her chin up when the calculus slapped at her.
But at least one of those things was about to change. She just had to make this show a success.
“So these are the finishes for the main house, and these are for the event space.” Sofia turned her monitor so Frankie could see the details. “We should go with rustic stonework or stucco for the main building, with at least one big arched doorway, since Dad wants it to remind Ma of Italy. And I think that should carry over to the barns as well.”
She clicked open a picture of a stucco-plastered building that vaguely resembled the shape of a barn with a travertine-tiled pavilion out front.
Barn, my ass.Frankie’s jaw dropped. “Jesus, Fi, that’s the barn? What the hell are you going to do to the house?” Frankie eyed the 100 Grand bar melting in her hand, wishing it was actually worth that much, and wondered how on earth she was going to keep to her contract.
“We’ll get to that. This is a sound investment, Frankie. It will be a gorgeous backdrop for pictures, and it will be a completely multipurpose space. We can get married in the courtyard, move everyone inside for the meal, and then clear the patio for the dance floor. It’ll be perfect.”
Frankie caught theweslip and the stars in her sister’s eyes. She wasn’t building an event space. She was building her sister’s wedding venue. To spec.
“When do you need it ready?” Frankie asked.
“Well, the baby comes in April. We were thinking October?”
Frankie let out a deep breath. That was going to be tight, but she would move mountains to give her sister the wedding of her dreams. “I may have to make a few tweaks, but I’ll have it ready. I promise. Lay out the details for me.”
While Sofia pitched the relative merits of marble vs. quartz countertops and complementary flooring options, Frankie mentally tallied price per square foot and installation man-hours. Between the barn and the house, Sofia was on track to spend over a million on the decor alone. When she clicked over to the picture of the walk-down wine cellar concealed beneath the kitchen cabinets, Frankie raised a hand.
“Fi, how are we going to afford all of this?”
“Frankie, this place has to knock Ma’s socks off. We need to go all out.”
“Yes, but Dad isn’t made of money. I can’t go over budget on this.”
“You’ll figure something out. Maybe you can work some of your Frankie magic on Jake and get him to up the budget.”
As the baby of the family, she had developed a magic formula to get people to do what she wanted with a cute smile and circular logic. “I doubt Jake is susceptible to my magic.” Which made the fact that she couldn't stop noticing his forearms inconvenient.
“I'd pay good money to see Jake Ryland wrapped around your little finger." It was no secret that Sofia barely tolerated the man's meddling. If he'd gotten between her and Adrian, Frankie doubted he'd have all of his limbs intact. Luckily, all of Jake's maneuvering had only thrown them closer together, but clearly Fi wouldn't mind seeing him get a taste of his own medicine. "It's a shame he can be such a jerk, or I'd tell you to flirt like hell."
Frankie stared at Sofia. Had she sprouted a second head or started speaking Latin? Both would have made more sense than the words she’d just said. “Hello? Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Frankie gestured to her nonexistent curves. "He'd laugh in my face."
"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about. I'm just saying you are the only person I know who could beat him at his own game. And it wouldn't exactly be a hardship."
"What are you talking about?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that our showrunner is smoking hot.” Sofia opened the chocolate drawer again, dropping her gaze from Frankie's while she rifled through her stash.
“Sure, he’s handsome, but…” Frankie was at a loss for words. For the last year, she’d heard nothing but shade from her sister about their tricky dick-rector.
Snapping the drawer closed without choosing one, Fi looked back up and laughed at Frankie's slack-jawed astonishment. “Hey, I’m pregnant, not dead.”
“I think those hormones have warped your brain, sis. What are you looking for?”
“Twizzlers. Either the baby or my heartburn doesn't like chocolate."
"First coffee, now chocolate? Inconceivable! Does this baby not know who it's messing with?"
"I know!"
Frankie was glad her sister could laugh about this, since the pregnancy had been unexpected. She was going to be a great mother, but Frankie knew Fi was struggling with all of the changes coming so fast.
When Fi leaned forward in her chair and whispered, "Want to know a secret?” Frankie was pretty sure she was about to hear about another horror of pregnancy.
