by Heather Long
Friendship Before Love
Frankie
Joe and Hank walked ahead of us. We’d ended up going to the lake and eating at one of the little cottage restaurants overlooking the water. It was laid back and relaxed. The seafood had been a great choice. Ian and Archie followed behind, while I walked with Sara. I’d kind of hoped Rachel and her family would join us, but the huge noisy crowd had made plans of their own.
Rachel and I were getting together later in the week for a girls’ day before she jetted off to Europe for her summer vacay. I refused to be envious, while at the same time, I was wild with jealousy. She planned to hit several art centers in Europe, backpacking for parts of it, but basically photographing her way across the continent.
“Come with,” she’d invited. “I’m pretty sure we can work it out for you to come along. I’m staying in a lot of hostels and stuff, so it’s not like we even have to worry about reservations.”
Beyond tempted, I still said no. I’d promised the summer to the guys. I’d taken last summer away, so we hadn’t had our last high school summer blowout together. Though, they’d certainly done their best to make it a summer to remember. This year was about us and Ian’s birthday and really living it up between high school and college.
In all likelihood, Archie had planned something. He loved planning, and the guys were his more than willing accomplices.
“Fine,” Rachel huffed. “But next summer, we do a couple of weeks somewhere. Just us girls where we go and explore the history and the art.”
That, I agreed with. I just had to find a way to break it to the guys that Rachel and I were going to run away together for two weeks of fun.
Sara bumped my shoulder. The sun had dropped in the west, and though we were walking slowly along the boardwalk toward the cars, the breeze off the lake had turned the day beautiful and cool. “How are you feeling, sweetheart? I really haven’t had a chance to talk to you alone.”
While we weren’t totally alone right now, we did have some privacy. “Better than I could have imagined,” I admitted. “I like Hank. I like him a lot. I’m still stunned he came all this way. I loved that Lyssa and Marsha came to graduation, and all of you. Thanks for the cheering, by the way.”
She chuckled. “Of course, we told you, you will always have a mom when you need one.”
My heart squeezed. She, Alicia, and Carly had all made that clear. They would be there for me whenever I needed a mom. The fact I had earned such a crappy one, but somehow found three fantastic ones, left me a little teary.
“And I like Hank too, and I think Joe does. He’s stopped interrogating him, and now they are just arguing sports.” She rolled her eyes playfully and squeezed my arm. “You’ve grown up to be such an amazing young lady. I’m glad he has gone out of his way to meet you, so he can get to know you too.”
Hank had rolled with all of it. The moms. The dads. The questions. Even Maddy. He’d handled her like a champ. Once we were back at the cars, I got a hug from both Joe and Sara. Ian was coming back with us, but he promised to see his parents later. We had family dinner coming up.
The drive back to the apartment was almost silent. Ian drove, and Archie offered Hank the passenger seat. He’d given Archie an amused look before he accepted. When Archie wrapped an arm around me, I tucked my head against his shoulder. It had been a long day, but it had also been a good one.
I had so many photos on my phone now. Photos of all of us. Of Hank—my dad.
My dad.
My. Dad.
At the apartment, he didn’t intend to come up. “Actually boys, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to talk to Frankie alone for a few.”
Archie studied him for a long moment, then glanced at me. I appreciate the trust and the quiet request in his eyes. I nodded. I got it, he continued to be wary, and I loved him for it. Hank—Hank seemed genuine, and as much as I liked him and hoped I wasn’t wrong about him, trust had to start somewhere.
With a gentle kiss to my temple, Ian murmured, “We’ll go look after the cats. You want us to order anything?”
I considered that because I was kind of hungry… “Maybe pizza and those cinnamon bread sticks?”
He grinned. “You got it.”
Hank and Archie shared a brief handshake before he headed up the stairs, with Ian following him.
“You’re leaving,” were the first two words out of my mouth. I eased my feet out of the heels. I’d managed to wear them all day, and currently, my feet were kind of numb. The warm pavement under them felt great.
Instead of denying it, he just leaned against the hood of his rental car. “If I could, I’d stay the rest of the week. I want to, but I still have a job and I have summer term coming up that I have to prep for.”
“We’ve barely even gotten to talk about that,” I admitted. He was a professor at Harvard. “We were actually up at Harvard a few months ago, on spring break. We kind of gave ourselves a tour and then had a snowball fight.”
Inane as that sounded, he grinned.
“I wish I’d known…” he said, and I lifted my shoulders.
“But we didn’t,” I said. “I mean, I know that we might have had the test results then, but I wasn’t ready.”
“There’s no problem with you waiting until you were ready, Frankie,” he told me. “You’re an amazing young woman, I am so damn honored to have met you and gotten to spend this time with you. Even more, I’m hoping you’ll do more visits? Maybe come up and see Kelly and the kids? I’d love for you to meet them and for them to meet you.”
My stomach bottomed out, both from excitement and a little bit of fear. “They may not want a big sister appearing out of nowhere.”
He snorted. “No, I think whatever minor resentments they could possibly nurse will be utterly outweighed by the cool factor.”
“The cool factor?” What cool factor? However, he just grinned at me.
“Trust me, you’re way cooler than their professor dad and real estate mom.”
Folding my arms, I lifted my shoulders. “If you say so. I think you’re pretty cool. I mean, you’re teaching at my dream school.” How weird would it have been if I’d actually gotten into Harvard, then ended up in his class or something?
“That’s the other part of what I wanted to talk to you about,” Hank said. He glanced toward the apartment, then back to me. “You guys are all going to NYU…”
“That’s the plan. I was wait-listed at Harvard, and it took me a little time to get over it, but I’m good now. The five of us—well six now if you count Rachel—we like the idea of going to the same place. Even before we were dating, the plan was to go to the same school, be roommates, and you know, build a life.”
Even before we were dating. I might as well have said back when I was oblivious to the fact they wanted me, but there were some things that he really didn’t need to know. The fact I had been dense definitely seemed to fall into that category.
“Sounds good, and forgive me if I pull on my dad hat for a moment, but I want you to think about your life as stages and that this is the next stage, not the rest of your life…”
“Hank, we’re not getting married, but they are my life. I get what you’re saying, and none of us are interested, you know, in changing that anytime soon…” Okay, maybe I shouldn’t just assume. “It’s not a topic we’ve discussed. We are focused on building our best lives. Ian and I want to record. Archie and Jake want to build and design. Eventually, Archie will be involved with Standish. I might help with that, I kind of like studying business and focusing on getting a project through from concept to creation to launch. Coop’s gonna be a psychologist. But we’ve kind of known that for years. None of that is going to happen overnight.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “That’s fair and a really good attitude. College is a challenging time. You’re becoming adults, away from home and… Well, I suppose you’ve been away from parental supervision a lot longer than you probably should have been.”
“Probably,
but it means I can handle the day-to-day stuff. Though wrangling Archie and chores is fun and balancing a grocery budget seems like an impossibility. But it’s half the fun too. He loves to do things grander, and the other guys are learning to cook or already do cook.”
“So Archie doesn’t cook?” He cocked his head.
“No,” I mouthed with probably more force than necessary. “He’s brilliant with machines though.” And the worst cook ever.
Hank chuckled softly, then sobered and stared at me with such serious eyes. “Fair, fair. What I wanted to tell you was that if Harvard is still the dream, I can make it happen.”
“I don’t want money to open any doors…”
“It’s not money, kiddo. It’s me. I’m a professor and a tenured one at that. I earned it pretty early, and while Humanities isn’t the full-on sciences, I do have a pretty heavy class load. As my daughter, your admission would be easily handled and your tuition wouldn’t be an issue.”
It was probably the sweetest thing in the world to offer me.
“And selfishly, I’d like it if you were closer. Now that I know you exist, I don’t want you so far away.”
“We’re moving to New York, that’s a lot closer to Boston,” I promised. “And a few months ago, I might have leapt at the offer.” Maybe. I’d had a couple of offers to grease the wheels and get me in, but I still wanted it on my own merit. The nepotism of being a professor’s biological issue didn’t seem any more fair than using money to open the doors. “Thank you so much for thinking of me. But it would still be a no because Coop and Ian didn’t get in there. We want to be together, even if our classes are different and the stuff we chase is different. We want to be in the same place.”
“You really love them.” It wasn’t a question.
“More than I can describe. They really saved my life. They’ve had my back, and even when I didn’t totally understand what they meant to me, they knew what they wanted. It just took us some time to figure it all out.”
“Then I will do my best to support it, but I’m on your side. First and foremost,” he told me, and my heart did this little weird stretch. “Can I… I know we’re working on the friendship thing, but can I give you a hug?”
I didn’t hesitate. Maybe I should be more guarded. But I adored everything about Hank. If I’d dreamed up a dad, he would have been like him. The fierceness in his embrace made tears spark in my eyes.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for letting me get to know you and them. Thank you for letting me come to your graduation and including me in this day.”
I returned the hug with the same ferocity. “Thank you for wanting to know me. Thank you for standing up to Maddy for me.”
He leaned away and met my gaze. “Every day. That’s what a dad does. He’s got your back, and he doesn’t let anyone treat his little girl like crap. So we may still be on the friendship portion, but my goal is to get you to call me Dad and for you to know and trust that the relationship is there for you. Those boys all seem great and I love how they look after you, but one step out of line, and pop…they are going to deal with me.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “They’ll probably have to deal with Rachel too.”
“Oh, good. She’s a lot scarier than I am.” His expression softened into a goofy smile. “You’re an amazing kid, Frankie Curtis. And if you ever want my name, it’s all yours.”
That added to the waterworks, and I let out a shuddery breath. “I have your number, and you have mine. Call me when you’re home? Let me know you got there safely?”
“Deal. Your boys were talking about a trip…”
I pressed a finger to my lips, and he quieted. “It’s a surprise. Though I’m kind of on to them this time, but I’ll call and let you know we’re okay. Then once we’re settled in New York, we can make plans for that visit.”
“Anytime,” he said. “I mean that. The kids are going to want to meet you sooner rather than later, but we’ll take it one day at a time. Deal?”
I grinned and then gave him a hug that he returned with a sigh. “Deal.”
My eyes were still a little damp when he finally climbed into his car—almost an hour later. He kept finding one more thing to mention or share. It seemed so strange that my heart could be so full and aching so much at the same time. I missed him before he was even out of the parking lot.
Only after the red tail lights were gone and a mosquito had bit me did I finally head up to the apartment. The pizza had arrived while we’d been talking, and I grinned when I found Coop sprawled on the floor, while Ian and Archie vied against each other in some game.
“Hey,” he greeted me. “All good with Hank?”
“Yep. He’s got an early flight in the morning, so he’s going to a hotel at the airport so he’s close.” I would have preferred he stay, but it might be easier to say bye now than get up at three or four in the morning and do it.
“You good?” Ian asked as they paused the game, and I smiled.
“I’m great. I’m going to get changed and then come back and eat.”
Coop trailed me into the bedroom and tugged down the zipper for me, but he just fell back on the bed while I slipped out of the dress.
“You sure you’re good?”
Glancing over at him, I reached up to loosen my hair. Oh, my scalp ached as the hair fell free. Well, free was relative since it seemed semi-frozen into the shape of the pony tail. Raking my fingers through it, I loosened it up and wanted to groan at the same time. I forgot how much a tight hairstyle hurt after a few hours. My scalp, like my feet, had gone numb.
“I think I’m great, actually.” I laid the dress over the back of a chair. It would need to go to the cleaners. It was too nice for the washer and dryer. The shoes, I set in the closet, and if they didn’t look so pretty, I might burn them for being the torture devices they were. I unsnapped the bra and slid it off before shimmying out of my panties.
Coop groaned. “Are you torturing me on purpose?”
Laughter bubbled up as I discarded both items into the dirty clothes bin and padded over to the dresser. “No, I just need to change. I’ve been in all of that all day and I need to find a brush for my hair and maybe some Tylenol for the rest of me.” I pulled out his old boxers and dangled them at him before I stepped into them and snagged one of Archie’s shirts. The guys preferred me in their clothes at night. Or out of them. They weren’t that fussy.
“I’ll brush your hair,” he volunteered, and I smiled ’cause I wouldn’t say no to that. “But I wanted to make sure that after Maddy…”
I held up my hand, and he hushed.
“She was a speed bump in an otherwise perfect day. I’d rather talk about how cool it was that Hank stood up for me or that your mom is a badass or that Jake’s dad showed up.”
With a smile, he shoved off the bed and looped his arms around me. “Have I mentioned how awesome you are today?”
I made a big show of thinking about it. “No, I don’t think so…pretty sure I’d remember that.”
With gentle hands, he traced up my arms to my neck, then into my scalp. At the first stroke of his fingertips to my abused scalp, I wanted to melt. I did groan.
“You’re amazing, Frankie Curtis. The best bestie a guy could have and the best girlfriend to boot.” He brushed a kiss to my lips. “Today was awesome because we were all together.”
I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
When he increased the pressure of his scalp massage, I really did moan, and he let out a soft chuckle. “Could I convince you to make really profound moaning noises while they’re stuck out there?”
“Like they haven’t heard us having sex before?” I pinched him gently.
“True, that’s a great idea. Let’s do that.” Then he flipped me onto the bed, and I landed with a bounce and burst out laughing. Instead of following me down, he caught one of my feet and began to massage it.
Holy crap.
I
groaned, loud and long.
“That’s my beautiful girl,” Coop said with a wicked grin. “Let them hear how good this feels.” Fuck, when he hit that spot in my arch, I didn’t even have to pretend. My moan came out more a little shriek because it hurt so good. The sound of thuds from the other room just barely registered as Coop worked my foot flat and then curved again.
He gave the best foot massages. “Just keep doing that,” I said with a sigh. “More.”
“Fuck me,” Jake said from the doorway with a laugh. “I was all set to player three your ass, and you’re massaging her fucking foot.”
I slit my eyes open and lifted my other foot. “I have two, feel free to join the game, player three, you might even earn enough XP to escalate to the next level.”
“I’m in.”
“Hey,” Archie protested as Jake joined us on the bed, but the moment he took possession of my other foot, I stopped paying attention. This was amazing. “I thought you wanted pizza.”
“I can want more than one thing,” I murmured. “I’m complicated like that.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough. Bring this party out to the living room. We can all take turns making her purr.”
Oh, that sounded amazing.
“And it’s not even my birthday…”
The swat Jake delivered to my ass made me laugh, but so did the fact that he let me climb on his back and he piggybacked me out to the living room. True to his word, Coop brought out the brush and ran it through my hair. The guys took turns giving me foot rubs in between games, and I got pizza.
“We’re done,” I murmured a little later while we debated a movie. Currently I was curled up in Ian’s lap and had zero intention of going anywhere. I was a boneless wonder, and he was warm and cuddly.
“Yep,” Ian answered. “But only with high school, we leveled up. Achievement unlocked.”
I let out a contented sigh. The guys were still arguing about a movie. They were going to put in the action film.
It was always action.
Honestly, I had no idea which one they ended up choosing. I was asleep before the opening logo played.
