by Heather Long
“Grandpa, I’m fine.” Weirdly enough, that was true. Sure, it sucked back then, but… “Everything that happened, their wars and arguing, it’s what brought me here and what let me meet her. Meet my friends. Fall for Frankie. I don’t want to be anywhere else. We’re lining up school for next year, and we’re going to get a place together, all of us. And I’m going to take care of her.”
He gave me a small smile. “Are you planning on marrying Frankie?”
“If I was?” I dared him to tell me I had to wait until after college. Not that I was in a raging hurry. I didn’t need some piece of paper to tell me what I already knew. Hell, I’d told Muriel just to test her.
“I’d ask you to wait until both of you were settled and sure, but I won’t forbid it. She’s a good girl. Smart. Capable. I’ve heard about her work at Standish. I’ve seen her grades. I even had a talk with Harvard about her.”
I blinked.
“If she wants that school still, I think we can secure her a spot.”
Fuck me.
“Grandpa.”
“No, what good are connections and nepotism if you can’t use it to make someone you love happy?”
I laughed. It sounded like the same kind of argument I would use. Had used. “I do love spoiling her.”
“Then you let me know what she wants, Sprout. We’ll take care of it.”
A half-laugh escaped me, and I sagged in the seat as he gripped my shoulder tighter. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Somehow, Grandpa got it. It took me a few minutes and the steak was cold when I got back to it, but I managed to finish the whole thing. When we were done, we walked out together. He had a car waiting for him, and the valet went to fetch my Ferrari.
“Next time, bring your girl. I think we should look at having family meals, maybe once a month? I know you kids are going to be busy.”
“I’d like that, and I did promise to take her golfing with us one day.”
“You said she liked that mini-golf.” Humor flared in his eyes. “Your nana was pretty good at it too.”
Yeah, she was. “She loves it. A lot like Nana did.”
He nodded. “Then we’ll see how she likes the greens. Give you a break.”
When he offered me a hug, I took it, and he gripped me tight before kissing my cheek.
“Love you, Sprout. It’s going to be all right.”
“Love you too.” I couldn’t pretend my voice wasn’t tight. As much as I’d needed to hear it from him, knowing he was part of the reason a lot of this happened the way it did still ached. He meant well. But the road to hell was paved with good intentions.
After promising to keep in touch and to get him my proxy, I waited until he drove off before I headed to my car.
Inside it, I checked my phone, and there was a single message from Frankie on it.
Frankie: I love you. Come back to the apartment tonight if you’re not staying over with your grandpa somewhere?
Me: Just finished dinner and coming home. Kick out whoever is sleeping on your right. That’s my spot tonight.
Frankie: Coop’s just waiting for you to get here. Promised he’d ‘fuck off’ after. His words, not mine.
I laughed.
Me: I’m surprised he doesn’t want to watch.
My phone buzzed.
Coop: Of course I want to watch, but I’m not an asshole. Besides, be hard to beat your performance the other night.
The laughter that escaped me was sharp but real, and it knocked some of the jagged bits loose. I fired off a middle finger emoji to him.
Me: Just for that, you’re definitely not invited.
Coop: Shit, there was a chance before?
I smirked.
Me: You’ll never know, huh?
His middle finger emoji followed by a couple of crying ones made me laugh harder. I wiped the hint of tears from the corners of my eyes and then called Jake as I backed out. I needed to let him know I was heading to Frankie’s and see where we were. We had time, but we also wanted to make sure it was perfect.
Something to Talk About
“Anger at your mother is normal,” Erin said. “You’ve been working on expressing that in these sessions.”
“Yeah well,” I admitted as I leaned back in the chair, fingers interlocked over my stomach, “I have no problems expressing it at the moment.” How long had I defended her? “I just can’t even begin to understand what the hell she thinks she gets out of lying about who my biological father is.”
“Do you want to understand it?”
I stared at Erin and then went back to tugging at a loose string on my ripped jeans. “I’m not sure there’s a point in understanding it. At the same time…” I’d been talking in circles on this for the last few days since we got the test results back. Honestly, though, I’d talked about it even before. “I don’t know what to do with it all.”
“All right, let’s put a pin in that piece for a moment and come at this from a different angle, shall we?”
One of the things I liked about Erin, she didn’t always push, even when she did push. She made it sound like I had an option. I hadn’t really pushed back, not since the first couple of sessions. Weirdly, even when I wasn’t sure if talking helped, it helped to get it off my chest. I could and had talked to the guys, but this was different. Coop was right—she was unbiased, and what I told her didn’t hurt her or fill her with the need to fix it for me.
She wanted me to fix me.
“Frankie?”
Blinking, I tugged at the thread. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”
“You okay to try and take this from a different angle?”
“Are you handling me with kid gloves today for a reason?” I frowned.
“Not kid gloves. In a very short period, you’ve been hit with a lot of information. A great deal of it has been emotionally challenging. Processing that is going to take time.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong about that. “What angle do you want to tackle this from then?”
“Do you want to know who your father is?”
Chapter Ten
This Could Get Awkward
Ian
“Thank you,” I said into the phone as I walked around the far edge of the pool. Mom and Dad had added a heater to it a couple of years earlier so we could keep the pool open in winter for me to train. After days of on and off drizzle and icy rain, I’d just left the cover on. “I can forward the email with the PDF files over to you.”
“All right,” Mr. Wittaker said. “According to young Mr. Standish, this contract would also be for Miss Curtis as well?”
“Yes, sir, and she knows I submitted the recordings and the demos. If I’m reading the information correctly, it’s for both of us, but there was something about nullifying if one or the other of us decided to quit. I don’t want her to be bound by something if I am. I know this is kind of pushing her out of her comfort zone. There was also some stuff about band work and we’re not a band, just a pair of singers.”
“I understand, Mr. Rhys. Entertainment law is not my specialty, however, contracts are. I will review this contract and reach out to a colleague if I believe you would be better matched with someone who specializes in these types of negotiations. That is one thing you need to remember, this is not the final offer. This is the first offer, the opening gambit. No matter how promising, you never take the first offer.”
That’s part of why I asked Archie about the contract. The email had been a shock. The attachment and the subsequent follow-up phone call had all been a lot. The one thing I hadn’t done though was agree to anything. As tempting as it had been, I wouldn’t sign anything without verifying every sentence, punctuation mark, and legally binding clause.
They’d included Frankie in the offer, but since I was the point of contact, they’d also asked for her information. Right. They’d get that when we were ready to give it to them and not a minute before. She had enough on her plate between the paternity drama and trying to hold it together for Archie.
My angel needed good news only, and while I fully intended to tell her, I also intended to control this particular flow of information. I refused to get her hopes up and watch them be dashed again.
By anyone.
“How soon were they expecting an answer?”
“I asked for a week.” Not just to think about it, but we were still trying to get through the latest bombshell, and I wanted Frankie to have time to bounce back from that.
“Excellent. I should be back in touch within forty-eight hours. If I do refer you to a secondary attorney, I will sit in on that meeting with you to help address any concerns you or Miss Curtis have.”
After going over a couple more details, we ended the call and I forwarded the email. The backdoor opened, and I glanced over as my mother stepped outside. Arms folded against the growing chill, she frowned. “Why are you hiding out here?”
“Not hiding,” I told her as I made sure the email and attachment sent before firing a message off to Arch thanking him and another to check on Frankie. Coop was hanging out with her tonight because Mom and Dad wanted to have dinner and we were still “discussing” my choices. “Just making use of some privacy. Dinner ready? Or did you need help?”
“No, it’s fine. Your dad is on his way home from the office. He ran late with a patient, so I have everything warm in the oven.”
Uh huh.
“No Frankie tonight?”
“No,” I said. “I want us all to be on the same page the next time she comes over for dinner.”
“Ian,” Mom sighed. “We’ve had this discussion. Your father and I aren’t going to treat her differently or badly.”
“You say that now,” I told her as I pocketed my phone and narrowed the distance. “But neither of you are happy with the decisions we’re making.”
“You’re all so young,” she said, and I could practically hear the words she didn’t tack on.
“I know,” I told her as I kissed her cheek and then motioned to the door. She didn’t have a coat on and was shivering. “You’ve told me several times.”
Scoffing, she slapped my arm but hurried inside. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” I agreed as I walked over to the sink to wash my hands. “I have listened to every objection and point you’ve made.”
“And none of them are changing your mind.”
I glanced at her reflection in the window over the sink. “I love her, Mom.” It was that simple.
“Sweetheart, I know you do. You’ve loved her for a long time.”
Done with washing my hands, I dried them on the small hand towel and turned to face her. “But…?”
“But you’re young. Both of you. All of you. While I’m not necessarily a fan of unconventional relationships, there are enough challenges when there are only two people, much less five. This is too young to be making life altering decisions.”
“What exactly do you think we’re deciding to do?”
“Choosing your colleges, for one thing,” she said. “I know that you changed up your applications, and I even understand it. Your father and I both do, but have you told them you’ve been offered a full ride right here in Texas?”
“Nope,” I said with a shrug. I’d been offered a couple of them. But they were football scholarships, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to concentrate on football in college. More and more, I leaned on no. I wanted to work on my music. I wanted to be with Frankie. I wanted to work on us. “The plan has always been for the five of us to target the same schools or at least the same area so we could share a place.”
Mom huffed out a sigh, but the sound of the garage opening quelled her for the moment. Without her asking, I grabbed the oven mitts and started pulling the food out to take to the table. Family dinners always involved us sitting around the table, no phones, no work, no television, just the three of us talking.
“Sorry I’m late,” Dad called as he let himself in from the garage. “Smells good.”
“It’s fine,” Mom told him.
“No Frankie?”
I almost snorted as I set the bowl of pasta on the table and then the bread followed by the sauce. Spaghetti was one of Frankie’s favorites, and Mom had definitely made more than enough.
“Apparently, our son doesn’t trust us with his girlfriend.” The sharp bite in Mom’s words made me turn.
“I didn’t say I didn’t trust you,” I corrected gently. “Frankie has just had enough on her plate. She adores both of you, and your approval or lack thereof would mean something to her. I don’t want her hurt. So until I’ve answered all your questions satisfactorily, I’m not bringing her over here.”
Dad met my gaze and pursed his lips a moment before he nodded once. “Let me wash up, and then we can eat and discuss this. I have a feeling this is my fault.”
“I never said it was,” I answered—because it wasn’t—as I pulled out Mom’s chair. She paused to study me for a moment as Dad washed his hands at the sink.
“You know we love her, right?”
Glancing down, I smiled. “I do, Mom. Just like I know she loves you.”
“And you still want to protect her from me?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Mom, I want to protect her from everything.” After the last few months, I wanted to do it more than ever.
Dad waited until after we’d all settled on helpings before he dove in. “This is because I warned you about pursuing something with her when she was already on emotionally unstable ground.”
“Partially,” I admitted. “But not wholly. I understand a lot of what you ‘saw’ as an issue, but I don’t agree. Not anymore.”
Studying me for a moment, Dad nodded. “I’m not going to offer you some platitude or insult you by saying sex clouds things.”
“Thanks.”
“But sex clouds things,” Mom added into the conversation. “It’s human that it clouds things. When your father and I started having sex, it complicated a lot of things. He had his duties, I had classes…”
“Sara,” Dad said with a chuckle, “Ian doesn’t want to discuss our sex life.”
“I’m aware,” she said without an ounce of shyness. My parents had never been the type to shy away from a subject. “And I don’t even object to you and Frankie having sex, I’m sure you’re both sensible.”
I downed a full glass of water before I started shoveling the pasta in my mouth. If I kept my mouth full, maybe I wouldn’t have to keep up my part of this. Mom liked to embarrass me into talking about myself. It was a very effective technique and I had to admire her, but not going to let it work tonight.
“That said,” Mom continued as she broke apart the bread, “a poly relationship with four boys and one girl is bound to lead to some strife.” She paused, almost considering. “Ian, the fact you would need to balance not only your needs, wants, and desires but theirs… She’s not even eighteen yet—”
“She’s more mature than all four of us put together,” I told her flatly. “And she’ll be eighteen in a few weeks. Age isn’t the issue, Mom. If it was, then the fact I’ll be nineteen in the not too far distant future would have some impact.”
Dad chuckled. “He has you there.”
“I thought you agreed with me on this,” she argued, focusing on him. “You expressed reservations from the beginning, particularly with the boys fighting so much.”
Yeah. The fight with Jake. The fight at the party. The fact Jake slugged the asshole who ‘slut-sneezed.’ Hell, Mitch’s family had actually tried to sue us. It had gone absolutely nowhere, and I’d kept that part to myself. The pending criminal charges helped.
I’d break more bones in him if he ever came anywhere near her again.
“I do agree with you, but I also know the harder we push, the harder that he’ll push back,” Dad said with a nod toward me, and I almost snorted. “He’s your son, Sara. He got all of your stubbornness.”
“Ugh,” she scoffed and then shook her head. “I just want you to be happy.”
&n
bsp; “I am happy,” I promised her. “I’m right where I want to be. I made mistakes, Mom. I made mistakes, and I almost lost her. I’m not risking that again.”
“But one person cannot be responsible for the happiness of another,” she stressed.
“I get that. It’s why we’re all working together. We talk, we communicate, we coordinate. The guys are my best friends, I trust them with her and they trust me. She trusts us all. I know it’s not conventional.”
“Well, it’s less about conventions than the fact that age and circumstances can often dictate relationships as much as anything at your age,” Dad told me.
“We know. It’s why we are even more firmly committed to no long-distance relationships. Jake did the math.” I didn’t quite smile when I said that, but Mom had to smother one, even as her eyes danced. “Like I said, we wanted that, even before we were dating.”
“Fair,” Dad conceded, but he pinned me with a look. “Now tell me it wasn’t because all of you were still hoping for a chance with her.”
“I won’t lie,” I told him as I straightened in my seat. “But Frankie is more than just some girl to date. She’s always been more than that. She’s our friend, I’d count her as one of my best friends. I’m lucky, I got four of them. But she’s also the girl we love. And yes, Dad, I said we, because I’m not the only one in love with her. Truth is, we all have been for years.”
I’d finished enough of my food that I set my fork down and focused on them.
“Look, you’re worried I’m going to make a decision I regret someday. Right now, the only decision I’d regret is if I didn’t choose to be in this relationship. I’m not fooling myself. I know she is in a relationship with the other guys. We’re all very up front about it, and when we went to Colorado for Christmas, I got a firsthand taste of what it would be like with just the five of us without the stress and the trauma of the last few months.”
