48 JAMIE
I don't know how long we stay tangled up together but I actually doze off.
When I open my eyes, Frankie is curled against my side and Christian is sitting on the edge of the bed typing something on his phone. Always working.
I shift and she wakes up, stretching and pressing a quick kiss to my chest. Then she sees Christian, abandoning me completely, and crawls over to him.
Traitor.
Christian smiles when she wraps herself around him.
“You done being useless?” he asks, looking down at her.
“Rude,” she says.
“Accurate.”
Frankie laughs.
“Come on,” Christian says, standing. “We still have half a duplex to finish.”
I groan and throw an arm over my face.
“I've changed my mind. Let's just burn the place down.”
“Pretty sure that’s illegal,” Frankie says. I lift my arm and look at her with an eyebrow raised.
“You said you’re done with illegal things, so no arson!”
“Sometimes you gotta break the rules,” I say with a grin.
Unfortunately, neither of them takes my suggestion seriously.
A few hours later, Christian is at the hardware store picking up paint. Ryan’s still at work, leaving me alone with Frankie, supervising her work.
She’s insistent that she can do ‘all the things’, which means I’ve been spending a lot of time fixing her fixes.
She's currently standing on a stepladder patching holes while I paint baseboards.
“Okay,” I announce, standing up to stretch my back. “I've decided. We can't ever move again. This sucks.”
She glances down at me and laughs.
“It does suck. But Ryan will be home soon. Christian will be back and I’m almost done with these patches.”
I look up at her and point at the wall.
“That hole is the size of my thumb.”
“No one will notice.”
She climbs down the ladder and brushes past me. “And I'm sleeping with the landlord. Pretty sure I can get him to waive the damage fees.”
I laugh.
“I don't know. I hear he's a real asshole.”
She rolls her eyes and drops her tools onto the tarp.
“So what's it actually like working for Christian?”
The question catches me off guard.
I shrug. “I mean, it's basically a pity job.”
She immediately frowns. “No it isn't.”
“It kind of is.”
I gesture around us. “Plumbing. Electrical. Repairs. This stuff. Anybody could do it.”
She points at the wall behind her. “Clearly not.”
I laugh despite myself. “I don't know,” I admit, staring down at the paintbrush in my hand.
“I worked for my dad because he told me to.
Now I work for Christian because he felt bad for me and gave me a job.
It's good work. I like it. I just...” I trail off, trying to find the words.
“It feels like I've never actually decided what I wanted.”
Frankie goes quiet.
“Like, one day I woke up and realized my life was something that was happening to me, not something I was living.”
She nods.
“I get it.”
I cross the room and pull her into my arms.
“But, babe, good news.”
She laughs. “What?”
“We get a do-over. Fresh start and all that shit. So what do you want?”
She looks up at me, and there’s a flicker of nerves in her eyes.“So…” she says carefully. “I want to get my GED.”
“Okay.”
She blinks. “That’s it? Just… okay?”
I shrug. “Yeah. If that’s what you want, do it. There’s nothing holding you back.”
She looks down, worrying her lip.
“What?”
“It’s stupid,” she says. “I’m just… scared. I’ve looked into it so many times, and it always feels kind of sad. Doing it alone.”
I think about it for maybe half a second. “Then don’t do it alone.”
She looks up. “What?”
I shrug again. “I dropped out too. If you’re doing it, I’ll do it with you. We can be study buddies.”
She stares at me for a long moment. “But…you hated school.”
“Still do.”
That gets a laugh out of her.
“Then why would you do it?”
I look at her for a second. Doesn’t she get it? I mean, it’s fucking obvious. To me at least.
“Because it's not really about school.”
I reach up and tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“I'd do just about anything for you, Frankie. Don't you know that by now?”
Her eyes immediately start shining.
“I've done a lot of dumb things in my life,” I continue. “Made bad decisions. Screwed up more times than I can count. But loving you wasn't one of them. Choosing you wasn't one of them.”
My thumb brushes her cheek.
“Making you my purpose, my goal, my everything? That's probably the only thing I've ever gotten completely right.”
A tear slips down her face.
“If doing this is something that'll make you happy, then yeah. I'll do it. I'll be right there beside you.”
She throws her arms around my neck.
“Thank you.”
My arms tighten around her automatically.
“Don't thank me yet.”
She pulls back.
“Why?”
A grin tugs at my mouth.
“I'm terrible at math.”
She laughs.
“That's okay. I'm really good at math.”
“Show off.”
She smiles and buries her face against my chest.
“I love you, Jamie.”
“I love you, Frankie. I told you that night, years ago. You are the only thing that matters. As long as I’m by your side, I’ll be happy. Anywhere, doing anything.”
She pulls back takes a deep breath.
“Then you’ll be happy to finish patching the holes, right?”
I bark out a laugh. “That is a real abuse of my heartfelt declaration.”
She laughs.
“Sounds like a yes.”
“As long as I'm by your side...” I mutter, climbing the stepladder. “Anything, babe.”