Chapter 22 #2
She sighed. “Mmkay.” Dropping her block, she turned, and her big eyes eventually found him.
Sometimes he wondered what she recognized in him that was unique to who he was.
It had taken until she was three before she could pick him out in a room without him guiding her with his voice, and he wondered if he’d be able to ask her someday.
For now, it didn’t matter. She adjusted her feet in her little braces, then leapt, and he caught her, tugging her against his chest to get his evening kisses.
“Was it a good day with Lucas?”
“He’s my…best friend,” she said slowly. Her speech therapy was helping with the clarity. He was really starting to notice.
Lucas leaned over and tugged at the ruffle on her collar. “I’m an amazing best friend. You can even ask Gage. His life was changed when he met me.”
“He’s not the only one,” Frankie said softly.
Lucas elbowed him. “Don’t make me want to kiss your whole face off in front of the toddler. I will not be responsible for therapy bills.”
Frankie laughed, but he didn’t kiss Lucas the way he wanted to. Instead, he slid Elodie off his lap and put her back to her toy as he stood up. “Dinner?”
“I cooked,” Lucas said. “I made that baked garlic parm chicken you’re so in love with.”
Frankie groaned and turned, bracing his hand on the couch behind Lucas’s head. “Oh my god marry mmm—mmmhmmm. Um…” Shit. He’d gone too far.
Lucas’s ears were burning red. “Marry you?”
Frankie tried to swallow his own tongue but failed. “Well…”
“Maybe,” Lucas said, very slowly, as he reached up. It took him a moment to find Frankie’s face, but he did, and he palmed Frankie’s cheek. “Ask me after you meet my parents? And the rest of my family?”
Frankie felt something zing up his spine. He’d been so fucking sure he would never do that again. Marriage would never be on the table after everything he went through with Eddie. A relationship would have to be enough.
Now, he didn’t care how fast it was. How soon it was. He wanted to see a ring on Lucas’s finger with a desperation he didn’t know he could feel. He closed his eyes and simply felt the heat of Lucas in front of him and the weight of his love.
“We can revisit that idea soon. Once things are…settled. If you’re okay that a lot comes with me. My baggage is extensive.”
“And mine is designer,” Lucas said. He surged up and followed his fingers to place a kiss right on Frankie’s lips. “As long as we match, I don’t care.”
Frankie laughed. “Okay. So, when do I meet your dads?”
“Maybe next weekend. If you don’t cancel on them again.”
Frankie froze mid-step and turned back to look at Lucas. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Don’t give me that look,” Lucas said. Frankie almost asked how he knew, but that was a terrible question. It was very evident in his tone.
“I don’t understand, princess. When did I cancel on your dads?”
“A few weeks ago. Stuff came up at work or…I don’t remember. I was going to cook for us.”
Frankie felt like his entire soul had abandoned his body. “I canceled on your dads? That’s what that dinner was for?”
Lucas frowned and said slowly, almost as if it was a question, “Yes?”
“You didn’t tell me that!” Frankie said, taking a step back toward him. “I didn’t know that I was meeting them.”
Lucas’s cheeks pinked. “Yes, you did. I told you. I told you that night. I—I was going to cook for everyone. You said you were nervous.”
Frankie opened his mouth to argue, and then suddenly, it hit him. Lucas had told him the night before. It was short notice, and Frankie had been so damn tired, and then everything felt like it was going sideways. He had to cancel and…and fuck. He’d forgotten.
His shoulders sagged. “Oh my god, baby. I am so sorry. Do they hate me?”
Lucas stood up and carefully made his way around Elodie before holding his hand out. “Find me?”
Frankie took three steps closer and took his hand, and Lucas traced a touch up his arm, resting his hand against the side of his neck where his pulse was pounding. They stood there a moment, still with each other in ways Frankie had never been still with anyone.
“They don’t know,” Lucas eventually said. “They came over, and we had dinner and talked about my work and how I was feeling better about being back in the truck, and how I wanted to start looking at loans to start my café.”
Frankie had known about that too—vaguely. But he’d been so distracted lately. He felt like the world’s shittiest boyfriend, and here he’d been about to impromptu propose. “I’m going to be better at listening.”
“Sighted people aren’t the best at it, but I won’t hold it against you,” Lucas said with a grin.
His hand trailed down Frankie’s back and squeezed his ass once, playfully, laughing under his breath.
“It’s okay. Nothing is ruined. We’re going to try again, and I’m telling you now when you’re not all—” He leaned into his ear to whisper, “—fucked out and distracted.”
Frankie took him by the jaw and kissed him. Hard. “You can get me fucked out and distracted after Elodie is in bed. Deal?”
“Mm. Deal. For now, go eat the meal I worked hard on and unwind. I’m going to read to Elodie and then help her with her bath.”
It hit Frankie like a damn freight train how domestic this all was. How very much it reflected the truth when he told Lucas that he was his home. Because this was it. “Can Ells come to dinner too?”
Lucas scoffed as he sat back down on the couch. “Like I would have dinner without my favorite bug?”
Elodie lifted her head. “I want chicken nuggets!”
Lucas leaned forward and squished her in a hug. “Chicken nuggets it is.” He was kissed for that answer too.