Chapter 9 #2
Yaya snuck up behind her, somehow being stealthy in her plastic-soled house slippers, and the next thing she knew, she was wedged between them, ignoring their personal space entirely.
“Liam!” Yaya trilled in a delighted tone reserved for prodigal sons, Greek royals, and the Pope. “You are all grown up. A man now, not skinny little boy with knees like lemons and ears of Dumbo.”
Knees like lemons? Ears of Dumbo?
Yaya patted his cheeks, then pulled him down and kissed him on both. Liam didn’t flinch, he returned the favor, placing a kiss on both of her cheeks.
“You see, I tell you, perfect!” She waved her arm like she was a spokesmodel on The Price is Right and he was a brand-new boat. Yaya took the bag from Liam’s hand and shoved it at Frankie. “When a man brings a woman food, even if it is only American food, perfect! Come in, come in.”
As he was ushered in by her grandma, Liam mouthed the word ‘perfect,’ as if to say, See, I told you.
Well, at least I know I wasn’t projecting, Frankie thought as she shut the door.
“Sit, sit, sit!” Yaya instructed them each to take a place on the couch, then she pointed to the white bag and shouted to Frankie, “Eat!”
Her stomach was still hovering between “may revolt” and “open for business,” but she thought she might as well go for it, it’s not like she could embarrass herself any worse.
And if she were eating, she’d have an excuse not to talk.
Frankie reached in and pulled out the bacon and egg breakfast sandwich and took a bite.
Yaya lowered into the seat of her recliner. “So, Liam, where have you been? Why hiding all these years? What have you been doing with life?”
Frankie chewed, her ears wide open. If there was one thing about Yaya, she was not afraid to ask the tough questions. There was no topic too awkward for her.
“Well, I’m a doctor. I’ve been the attending physician at Pine Ridge General ER for the past seven years.” Garfield jumped onto Liam’s lap, and he began to pet him. “But I’m only going to be there for another week. I’m opening up a family practice here in Hope Falls.”
Frankie took another bite of the sandwich as she absorbed the scene unfolding. It was so strange seeing Liam in this environment. Sitting in Yaya’s front room. Petting Garfield. She felt like she was in an alternate universe.
Yaya’s entire face lit up. “I will know the new town doctor! That will give me street cred, as you kids say, in my canasta group.”
“We don’t say that,” Frankie said, her mouth still filled with food.
“Hush! No one talking to you!” Yaya waved her hand at Frankie.
“Excuse me for following along,” Frankie mumbled under her breath.
“If you need anything, you come to me. I know everyone. And if anyone gives you any trouble, you come to me.” She wagged her finger.
“I know some locals from working at Pine Ridge. And everyone I’ve met has been really friendly, really welcoming. Although, one person did call me a party pooper last night.”
Frankie felt all the blood rush to her cheeks.
“Party pooper?” Yaya laughed and slapped her knee. “Do you tell them that they are the rubber and you are the glue and it bounced off them and they stick to you?”
She almost got it. Sometimes American phrases still mixed her up.
“Did I tell them they stuck to me?” The way Liam said those words had Frankie’s entire body breaking out in goosebumps. “No, but I should have.”
Yaya’s phone buzzed, and she looked down. “I have to go! Renata is picking me up to visit Arthur.”
“I thought I was taking you,” Frankie said as she finished the final bite of the sandwich.
“No, you kids go outside. It is beautiful day.”
“You can’t tell me to go out to play like I’m ten, Yaya,” Frankie protested.
“Actually, I was going to go on a hike to the waterfall.” Liam turned to Frankie. “I don’t know if you wanted to—”
“Yes! Yes, yes, she wants to go!” Yaya started to get out of the recliner but struggled.
Frankie stood, but Liam got to her faster. He easily helped her up and steadied her on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Frankie asked as she stepped beside her.
“I’m fine!” She waved her arms, shooing her away. “Go! Shower!”
“I don’t want to go hike.”
“Yes!” Yaya clapped her hands in Frankie’s face, and that meant she was serious. No one disobeyed Yaya if she clapped her hands in their face unless you wanted the wrath of Yaya, which Frankie did not. “You hike!”
Frankie’s eyes bounced between Yaya and Liam. She felt strange leaving the two of them alone. For one thing, she didn’t want Yaya to tell him that she and Tristan had broken up. If anyone was going to tell him that, it should be her.
As if sensing her hesitation, Liam said, “We’re fine. I actually needed to talk to Yaya about a few things.”
Now she really didn’t want to leave.
“Go!” Yaya shouted.
“Fine, I’m going!” Frankie threw her arms up, mimicking her grandma.
What could Liam have to talk to Yaya about?
What was she going to talk to Liam about all day?
More importantly, what was she going to wear?
Her good butt jeans, obviously.
“What did you have to talk to Yaya about?” Frankie asked for the third time since she’d walked out from getting ready and rendered him speechless.
Frankie Costas was the kind of beautiful that caught a person off guard and made men forget words existed.
She had the sort of face that belonged on angels and princesses, not mortals and common folk.
Her hair was spun gold, wild, falling around her shoulders.
Her eyes, large and golden brown, were so expressive and intense that he could easily lose himself in them.
Her mouth was wide, the top lip with a perfect cupid’s bow, and her lower was so full it was always in a pout.
She was like looking directly at the sun, he couldn’t do it for too long.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Liam opened the passenger door of his SUV and told himself he was absolutely not going to look at Frankie’s ass when she climbed in no matter how good it looked in her faded jeans.
He was going to spend the day with a friend.
A friend who was marrying his brother. That was it.
His eyes were cast down until he heard her gasp.
They flew up, and she was bent over in front of him, her ass on display like a billboard in Times Square, and he stifled a moan of appreciation that rumbled deep in his chest.
“You kept her!” she exclaimed as she perched on her knees, her body twisted so she was bent over the backseat, which had a hammock-style protector and a dog car seat/bed.
“Yep.” He shut the door and came around to the front seat.
Liam had gone a little crazy ordering from , besides the car gear, new collar, leash, harness, beds for three rooms in his house, bowls for four, and a crate, he’d spent about five hundred dollars on other items that he had no idea if she needed or not.
As he climbed in, he got a text calling him in to work.
His first instinct was to say he’d be there in forty-five minutes.
It’s what he’d always done. In all the years he’d worked at Pine Ridge, he’d never not come in when he was paged.
He also hadn’t had any sort of a personal life.
He messaged back that he was unavailable and pressed send.
It felt strange but also liberating. He felt lighter than he had, maybe ever.
The second the driver’s side door shut and he turned on the ignition, the rapid-fire questions began.
“What’s her name?” Frankie turned back around.
“Lucy.” He pulled out of the driveway.
“From ‘I Love Lucy’?” She put her seatbelt on.
“Yes.” He began to drive towards the base of the trail that led to the waterfall.
“Your mom loved that show.”
“I know.” Liam remembered her watching reruns of it all the time.
“Why did you keep her?”
“I took her to the vet before the animal shelter, he said that she had unhealed trauma.”
Normally he only said the bare minimum amount of words because he didn’t like talking to people. That wasn’t the case with Frankie. He was only telling her the basics because he didn’t want to upset her, she was very sensitive.
“Oh wow.” Frankie twisted as far as the belt would let her to pet Lucy’s head. “What does that mean? That sounds bad.”
“It was human-inflicted, so it means people didn’t treat her very nice.” Liam’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, thinking about anyone hurting Lucy. If he ever found out who did it and got his hands on them, they would have human-inflicted, unhealed trauma.
“Oh no, poor baby!” Frankie cooed, and Liam could hear Lucy’s tail going wild against the side of her car seat/bed. “So that’s why you kept her?”
He nodded. There was no way he was going to put her in a shelter where who knows who going to adopt her.
The vet said she was an Irish Setter and was most likely bred to be a hunting dog and when they saw the hitch in her back leg, they ditched her.
He said they needed to keep an eye on it, it could be serious or nothing.
Liam wasn’t going to take the chance of a hunter adopting her and then finding out she had an issue and then discarding her. So now, she lived with him.
Frankie turned back around in her seat, so she was facing forward, took a deep breath and blurted out, “I'm sorry I kissed you.”
Liam sensed the shift in the energy, but he couldn’t help but grin.
She always said the most unexpected things.
It shouldn’t surprise him that they hadn’t been alone for more than a few minutes, and she was addressing the elephant in the room—well, one of the elephants in the room.
At this point, they had a herd, a circus.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.” He shook his head.
“I was drunk, not that that’s an excuse. It’s still sexual harassment and—”
“No, it’s not.” Liam stopped her there. It was one thing to be embarrassed, it was another to feel like she’d done something wrong.
“Yes, it is. It doesn’t matter that I’m a girl, unwanted sexual advances are—”