Chapter 4
FRANKIE
Frankie stared at him with wide eyes. What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to come into the office. No one was.
“Frankie.” A smile blossomed on his face. “I thought I would find you in here.”
Letting out a little squeak, Frankie pulled the blanket over her face, her whole body shaking as she sat on the couch. She waited for Dominic to leave, but his footsteps got closer.
No.
This was not happening.
Daddy told her no one would come into his office. No one was supposed to see her at all, yet Dominic was very close.
“Frankie,” he gently said. “You’re okay.”
Where was her phone? She needed to call Daddy and let him know what was happening. But her phone was sitting right next to her, and the only way for her to get it was to show part of her body to Dominic.
“Can I see your face?” he asked.
But Frankie didn’t pull down the blanket. What was she supposed to do?
“I just want to talk to you like we did before,” Dominic continued. “I know your Daddy told everyone to stay away and not see you, but I couldn’t. It must be awfully lonely being in the house with no one else but your Daddy to talk to. I want to be your friend and check in on you.”
He still wanted to be her friend? Dominic was one of the few people who had messaged her regularly to see how she was doing. Frankie always responded but ignored his questions about when she would leave the house.
Never.
And yet here she was, sitting in Daddy’s office, out of the house. But Frankie didn’t like it. She wanted to go back to her safe place, the house, and be calm there.
“Everyone here misses you. They miss you bringing cookies, even though Trent told you he would bake them for you. They miss your singing when you thought no one was listening,” he continued.
“Everyone misses you and wants to see you again. No one cares that you have Essential Tremors. It’s part of who you are, and no one is going to judge you. ”
Frankie felt silly with the blanket pulled over her head, but she was shaking from nerves and her condition.
“Come on, Little bit. It’s just me, Dominic. You know I’ve never cared whether you were shaking or not. I don’t think anything of it. It’s part of who you are, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it,” Dominic gently said. “Can we please talk face-to-face?”
Taking a deep breath, Frankie weighed the pros and cons. Should she actually do this?
“I’m not going to leave until I can see your face and talk to you a little bit,” Dominic added.
Sighing, she pulled down the blanket a little bit, letting her eyes peek above the blanket to see Dominic in the chair right in front of her, a smile on his face.
“There you are.” He relaxed into the chair. “Keep the blanket right there or lower.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. Who was he to tell her what to do?
“I see you still have that little spark, the fire inside of you.” He chuckled. “Good. Everyone was worried you wouldn’t.”
“Wo-worried?” Frankie stuttered.
Dominic nodded. “Everyone is worried about you. You just didn’t show up for work one night, and then a week later, we heard you had quit. Everyone was worried. We still are. They all would love to see you again, but I know you aren’t ready for that.”
She wasn’t ready to see him right now.
“I know I shouldn’t have come in here, but I needed to.
I saw you the day everything changed, and I was scared and worried for you.
I wanted to see you again to see how you were holding up, but your Daddy said you weren’t seeing anyone,” Dominic explained.
“I thought it would only be for the first couple of months since it was traumatic, but then three years went by.”
Frankie remembered Daddy asking her several times if she wanted to see Dominic and talk to him, but each time she said no.
“I see you as a little sister, and I got all protective and worried for you,” Dominic softly said.
“I know I’m explaining a lot, but I need you to know that.
There are a lot of people here who care for you and want to see you again.
They know you have Essential Tremors, but they don’t care.
They don’t care. Your Essential Tremors doesn’t change who you are as a person. ”
“Yo-you do-don’t see me as so-someone who is ge-getting el-electrocuted?” Frankie forced herself to get out.
Dominic’s eyebrows pulled together as he stared at her. “No. No one does. It never crossed our minds.”
Frankie didn’t know whether she should believe him or not. He could just be saying that to ease her concerns, appease her so that she would go out and then tell everyone to laugh and point at her.
No.
She wasn’t going to fall for it.
Dominic sighed. “I know it’s going to take a lot more reassuring you that no one is going to judge you. We are all willing to do that and want to do it if it means we get to see you. We all care about you and consider you family.”
“You don’t know me that well,” she whispered.
“You may have only worked at the club for a couple of months, but you had everyone wrapped around your finger. We all love you and think of you as part of our family,” Dominic replied.
“You mean a lot to everyone here. Maybe sometime soon you could come again and just hang around us. I know Trent would love to have you in the kitchen. Have you help out and try the things he makes. He hasn’t been able to fill that role. But I don’t think he wants to.”
Was he trying to make her feel even more guilty? He was doing an amazing job at it if he was. Frankie didn’t realize how much other people had missed having her around.
Maybe...maybe she could come by the club with Daddy a couple of times a month to see them. If Dominic was telling the truth, they didn’t care if her hands or body shook. But could she actually do it?
“Just think about it. I know there are several Littles who would also love to meet you.” Dominic smiled. “We don’t expect it tomorrow, but maybe sometime soon you could come back to the club. Think about it?”
She nodded, but Frankie didn’t know whether she would actually think about it or not. She hadn’t thought she would come out of the house and see anyone for the rest of her life. She was in shock right now.
“How have you been doing?” Dominic asked.
Frankie opened and closed her mouth several times. “Fine.”
Dominic sighed and gave her a sad smile. “Maybe we can make it better than fine soon. I’ve been kind of talking to someone.”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him.
“She comes to the club with the other Littles. She doesn’t think we should get together since her brother is my best friend, but I think otherwise.
” He chuckled. “I’ve had my eyes on her for years, and one day she decided to come to the club, shocking me.
To say I had a conversation with her was an understatement.
I dragged her to a room. Don’t give me that look.
I shouldn’t have, but I did, and after that, we’ve kind of been talking to each other. ”
“How’s your mother?” she asked.
His face dropped, and Frankie knew. “She died two years ago.”
Tears pooled in Frankie’s eyes, and without thinking, she reached out with her hand and squeezed his. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her throat closing up with all the emotions.
He gave her a small smile back. “It’s okay. I saw it coming, but it didn’t make it any less hard. But she is in a better place now. She didn’t want a funeral, so I respected her wishes.”
That must have been hard.
“But let’s change the subject. What have you been doing recently?” he asked.
“Coloring and playing with Lita,” she mumbled.
That was what her life was now. Staying in the house, coloring, and playing with Lita. Sometimes she would bake, but she didn’t have that passion anymore, not after what happened.
“Frankie!” Daddy yelled as he rushed into his office. “What’s wrong? You weren’t answering my texts.”
She stared at Daddy with wide eyes. She hadn’t even felt her phone go off right next to her as she talked with Dominic.
“Dominic?” Daddy looked at him. “What are you doing here? I told everyone not to stay away.”
Dominic stood. “You can fire me if you want, but I needed to see Frankie with my own eyes and see how she was doing. She’s like a little sister to me, and I knew I was going against what you told everyone, and I would do it again.”
“Frankie?” Daddy’s eyes met hers. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, still keeping the blanket up to her nose. It was almost like it was hiding her tremors from the world, from Dominic. It was in a way, but anyone could see that her hands were still shaking.
“I’ll leave you two be. Sorry for going against your orders, but I’m also not sorry.” Dominic looked at Daddy before glancing back at her. “Frankie, think about what I said.”