Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
“ T his is fantastic.” Frank forked up another mouthful of Essie’s French onion chicken casserole.
It had been just as easy to make two as it had been to make one, mostly since she’d divided the recipe into two smaller casserole dishes. She’d figured Althea wouldn’t eat that much and there was no point in doing all that work for it to go to waste. Plus, it was one of Frank’s favorites.
She’d made a side salad to go with it, and for Frank, some garlic bread. It wasn’t necessarily the kind of meal that required garlic bread, but that man could eat it with anything. She smiled. “Thank you. How are things going with Italy?”
“Some growing pains, but we’ll get there.” He exhaled. “As much as I’d like to fully retire, I don’t think I can just yet. I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you signed up for when you married me.”
She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “It’s all right. I have plenty to keep me busy these days and I know how important that business is to you. And to Chad.”
Frank nodded. “He’s doing great. Proud of that boy.”
“It’s a shame you can’t get Sophie interested in working for the company.” Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, but Essie had just about had it with that young woman’s little digs.
He frowned. “It’s a shame I can’t get her interested in working at all.”
Essie made a face like she didn’t understand. “She doesn’t have any job?”
“Not by my standards.” Frank stabbed a hunk of lettuce drenched in ranch.
Against her better judgment, Essie decided to play dumb to see if he knew about Sophie’s attempt to be an influencer. “Then how does she pay her bills?”
Frank chewed the lettuce, swallowed, and let out a deep sigh. He gave Essie a quick look. “You know I’ve been helping her out.”
Yes, she had known that. “Right, but I figured she also had a job of some sort. But if she’s unable to work for some reason?—”
“She can work. She says she’s trying to become an influencer. Actually, she says she is an influencer, but she’s trying to grow her brand. Whatever that means.”
“I see. One of my new friends, Paige, the woman who started the book club, she’s an influencer. On TikTok.”
Frank’s brows bent as though this interesting tidbit took him by surprise. “Isn’t she like… our age?”
“She might be a few years older. But apparently there’s a decent market for what she does.”
“Which is what?”
“All kinds of tips and tricks for mature women. Everything from diet and exercise to lifestyle stuff. Paige has something like forty thousand followers. And she gets more every day. How many does Sophie have?”
“I have no idea. I don’t even know where she does this influencing.”
“TikTok,” Essie said without thinking. She quickly added, “I’d imagine. My daughter is on there and she’s about Sophie’s age.”
“Well, wherever she’s doing it, she’s not making enough to support herself.”
“It’s too bad she can’t find a nice young man and settle down. Is she still with her current boyfriend?”
Frank nodded, now chewing another bite of casserole.
He gestured at Essie with his fork. “No, she’s with someone named Ryan now, but that’s exactly what she should be focused on.
Marriage. A family. She’s not getting any younger.
” He sipped his water, then leaned forward.
“Do you think you could talk to her about that? Seems like a better conversation for a woman to have with another woman.”
Essie stared at her husband for a moment. Then, unable to help herself, started to laugh. “Are you being serious?”
He looked utterly confused. “Yes. Why?”
Essie realized she’d reached her breaking point. “How much more do you want her to hate me?”
“What? Sophie doesn’t hate you.”
“Oh, Frank. I love you dearly, but you are blind when it comes to your daughter.” Essie shook her head. “Sophie already hates—” She held up her hands. “Okay, maybe hates is too strong of a word. But she definitely resents me very deeply.”
“I know she didn’t come to the wedding, but that’s just because she had another trip planned already.”
Essie tipped her head to the side. “You don’t think our wedding was more important than her girls trip to wherever they went to dance and drink?”
Frank stared at his plate. “I know,” he said softly. “She’s always been willful. Stacia indulged her. Too much.” He looked up again. “But you don’t really think she hates you, do you?”
“I think— No, I know she resents me.” It was time to come clean and while the thought made Essie nervous, it had to be done.
Maybe she should have mentioned there was peach ice cream for dessert.
It was one of Frank’s favorites. “She thinks I’m out to spend all your money and ruin her hopes for her inheritance. ”
Frank’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “You know that for a fact?”
“I do.”
“How?”
She took a breath. “Like I said, my daughter’s on TikTok. She’s seen some of Sophie’s posts and she’s made me aware of what’s being said.”
“Which is?”
He was angry. Not at her, she understood that, but she didn’t want to get this wrong, either. “Maybe we should just look her up and see for ourselves. I don’t want to misquote her.”
“All right, do that.” He ate the last bite of his salad, then put his empty bowl on top of his plate and took them and his silverware to the kitchen.
While he was putting his things into the dishwasher, she found Sophie’s channel, then made sure her sound was turned up. She put her phone where his plate had been and went back to finishing her dinner.
He sat. “What do I do?”
“Just tap the first rectangle there and you can watch her pinned video or you can tap on any one of them. When it’s done, just swipe to see the next one. You can also tap on the screen to pause a video.” Done with her meal, she took her dishes to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher as well.
Sophie’s voice filled the dining nook.
Essie got the ice cream out and glanced over. Frank was staring at the screen, his jaw set in a way that indicated he wasn’t happy.
Sophie was talking about how her father was loaded and how she never wanted for anything, except a man worthy of her.
That was a new video. Essie turned around quickly to hide her surprised expression.
Sophie was getting bolder. Maybe her followers were responding to that kind of thing, making her think it was time to go harder, as the kids said.
Sophie’s voice stopped.
“I don’t like this at all ,” Frank growled.
“Liliana warned me it wasn’t nice.” Essie turned, ice cream scoop in her hand.
“I can see how she’s dressed in these videos.” Frank shook his head at the screen. “I know she’s a grown woman and she can wear what she likes, but it’s embarrassing. She looks like…like…”
“She doesn’t value herself?” Essie gently offered.
“Yes.” Sparks snapped in Frank’s eyes. “And no good man is going to value her either, looking like that.” He tapped the screen and Sophie’s voice filled the room again.
“So anyway, this is my look today. What do you think?” That was followed by a girlish giggle.
Essie leaned in. Sophie was twirling in a black gingham bra top and a super short pleated black leather skirt that started at her hip bones and didn’t go much further.
“Not a look you-know-who could pull off, am I right? Laters.”
“Unacceptable,” Frank snarled as he looked up. “Do you know who you-know-who is?”
Essie tapped a finger to her chest. “Pretty sure that’s me.”
Frank paled. “That is not okay.” He looked at the screen. “How do I find this on my phone?”
“You need to download the TikTok app.”
“Help me. I need to see the rest of these. I need a complete idea of what’s going on.”
A few minutes later, he was in the other room, in his recliner, watching more of Sophie’s videos, a bowl of ice cream on the table next to his recliner.
Essie had a sinking feeling that whatever came next wasn’t going to be good for her or for Sophie. But there was no way this was going to stay a secret forever.
While he was watching, she sent her daughter a quick text. Frank knows about Sophie’s TT. He’s watching them now. And not happy.
Liliana sent back a gif of a man eating a giant bag of popcorn.
Essie frowned. If you think this isn’t going to make things worse, you’re wrong.
She sighed and stuck her phone in her pocket, then took her ice cream into the living room and settled into her recliner.
All she could do now was pray.