Chapter 13 #2
She was about to give up when she heard the faint sound of a meow.
It took her a while, but she finally saw that the sound was coming from the top of Frankenstein.
She knew she couldn’t leave Rascal up there.
So, she set the flashlight down and rubbed her palms on her jeans to dry them because she was so scared and her hands were wet.
She took a deep breath and put one foot and hand in front of the other.
She didn’t look down, she just kept going up.
Finally, she got to Rascal, who was about a third of the way to the top of the tree.
As soon as she reached for him, he flicked his tail and jumped from one branch to another all the way down to the ground.
Once she looked down, she became instantly paralyzed with fear.
She sat straddling a branch and hugging the trunk for what felt like hours but was probably ten or fifteen minutes before she heard her name.
She opened her mouth, but the problem was, she couldn’t scream. Her vocal cords were no longer working.
Thankfully, her flashlight lying at the base of the tree served as an IRL location pin.
Not long after she heard someone calling her name, she heard branches rustling and a voice telling her that everything was going to be okay.
The next thing she knew, she felt a strong arm wrap around her.
She looked down and saw the same hand that had smoothed the Band-Aid down on her knee was on her stomach.
“Hey Mouse, what ya doin’?” Liam’s voice sounded in her ear, but it was like she was underwater. “Come on, don’t leaf me hangin’.”
She felt herself smile at the pun.
“I was… Rascal was up here. I came to get him, and then he jumped down.”
“What a rascal. I guess he is living up to his name,” Liam teased, and this time he didn’t sound a million miles away.
Frankie wasn’t sure how long it took for Liam to get her down the tree.
She had no concept of time. But he stayed with her, keeping his arm around her at all times, so she knew she would not fall.
When she got to the lowest branch, he hopped to the ground, lifted his arms, and told her to jump.
She looked down at his hands reaching up for her and he told her he would catch her.
She closed her eyes and jumped, because she knew he would. And he did.
One of those hands was just inches away from hers now. She kept having the strongest urge to thread her fingers through his. It was like there was a magnetic force pulling her hand to his.
She tried to distract herself and think about the party.
It had been so much different than she’d expected, not because she’d ended up working it, but because of the way she’d kept catching Liam looking at her.
Even his sisters had noticed. When she was changing out of the Elsa costume, they were asking what the deal was between them.
She didn’t know what to say or not to say, so she kept it vague.
She said they knew each other as kids. Phoebe said it was obvious that Liam was a “smitten kitten.” Pippa chimed in that he was clearly “in lurve.” And Lina added that she’d never seen him walking around with “cartoon hearts floating around his head.”
She also learned the reason they were all so concerned about her being “Poppy’s Frankie” was because they had a running bet on which sister would introduce Liam to “his person.” Every time one of the sisters set Liam up with someone, even if it was just for a casual coffee or an introduction, the other three sisters put twenty into ‘the pot.’ They started the bet five years ago, it was now over four grand, meaning he’d been set up or introduced to over sixty women in the past five years.
If she was “Poppy’s Frankie,” Poppy would have won the money, because they thought Liam wanted to be with her.
But they didn’t know their history. Liam cared about her.
She knew that. She could even believe that he loved her.
But what they were talking about was different.
The first time anything physical happened between them, he disappeared and didn’t speak to her for over a decade.
The second time, when she’d been drunk and kissed him, he recoiled in horror.
So, yeah, the track record wasn’t great.
Still, she had to admit the vibe tonight was different between them. Something had shifted. She just didn’t know what.
Once they passed the shuttered bait shop, which looked infinitely more sinister at night, and then turned onto Main Street, where the last of the shop windows glowed gold and inviting against the gloom, she knew that their time together was drawing to a close.
The silence between them wasn’t awkward, it was heavy and expectant, like the moment before a curtain rises.
Frankie felt the aftereffects of the birthday party settling between her ribs, the sweetness of cake on her tongue, the warmth of Liam’s niece’s laughter, and the way her chest had gone soft and aching when Liam pulled her into his arms and hugged her to thank her for “saving the day.” She didn’t know what to do with that feeling.
“What?” he asked.
“What, what?” she repeated the four-letter word back to him, maybe a little more defensively than she should have.
“What is that smile for?”
Shit. She couldn’t actually tell him what had caused that smile. She couldn’t say that she was smiling the way she was because she was remembering the way she’d felt when she’d been in his arms.
“Just…today was fun.” That wasn’t technically a lie. She was smiling because of today. “Your nieces, nephews, your sisters, your whole family are all great.”
Liam didn’t respond. He was quiet as they pulled up to a four-way that he needed to turn right at to take her home.
When he didn’t turn, she glanced over at him and found him staring at her.
His eyes were narrowed at the edges, the way they did when he was making a decision, assessing something.
Did he not believe her that that was what she was smiling about?
Was he going to call her out? She had always secretly wondered if he could read her mind. Could he?
Now it was her turn to question him. “What?”
This time she was sure her what came out as a seven on the defensive scale.
“Did you say that Yaya is settled for the night?”
Yes, she had mentioned that she’d been alerted that Yaya was in bed for the night by his Mission Impossible fancy-schmancy sensors, but what did Yaya have to do with him believing her or not?
She nodded slowly, unsure of what that had to do with anything.
Without saying another word, Liam turned his attention back to the road, checked his side mirror, and turned left instead of right, which meant he wasn’t taking her back home to Yaya’s house.
Butterflies flitted low in her belly. Actually, they were a little lower than that. The fluttering sensation was located between her upper thighs.
“Where are we going?” she breathed.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Seriously?!” she said.
“Yep.”
For some reason, she was even more nervous about this surprise.
“This is your house?” Frankie leaned forward, looking out the windshield, her mouth wide open as he pulled up the driveway. “Wow.”
Liam came to a stop, cut the engine, and turned to Frankie. “You are the first person to see it.”
She turned to him, her eyes searching his. “What about your sisters, your family?”
“I’ve been busy.” The truth was, he hadn’t wanted to show it to anyone else before now.
He started to get out, but she stopped him, putting her hand on his.
“Wait.”
He looked down at where their hands were touching and then back up at her. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The gold flecks floating in the amber honey. As beautiful as they looked, he could tell she was nervous.
“Do you want to go? I can take you hom—"
“Shut up!” Her arm flew up, and her hand covered his mouth. “I have to tell you something, and you have to promise not to speak until I’m done. No matter how bad you want to say something or how mad you get. Not a word. Got it?”
He stared at her, loving the feeling of her palm against his lips.
That was how crazy she made him. Just the sensation of her hand against his was enough to make him go insane.
He barely heard the words she’d said. He knew that it was something about him not speaking, even if he didn’t like what she said.
“Nod if you understand,” she instructed.
He did as she asked.
She lowered her hand. Her cheek hollowed, which meant she was biting it. She only did that when she was scared.
“Whatever it is, you can tell m—”
Her palm slapped over his mouth, hard, as she spun around to face him. “Seriously?! You couldn’t stay quiet for two seconds?! Where is this man who everyone talks about that never says anything? I can’t get you to shut up.”
That’s because I love you.
It was the first time he’d admitted his feelings, even to himself. That he’d thought those exact words, that plainly. He’d agreed to Ramesh making that statement, but he’d never actually allowed himself to say it, even silently, in his head. It was too scary, but it was true.
“New rule. I’m going to tell you what I have to tell you. You can’t ask any follow-up questions. You are not even allowed to have any opinions on it. Capiche?”
He nodded.
She shook her head as she lowered her hand.
Before it reached the console, she turned it back and pointed her finger in his face.
“Oh, and once I tell you, you can not treat me any differently. Deal?” She held out her hands, crossing her forearms to indicate a double shake.
Crossing his arms he took her hands and shook with a silent nod.