Chapter 32 #2
“Because last time, you were alone. This time, you have me. And this time Yaya’s not grieving the loss of a son. And your brothers aren’t little boys, they’re men. You’re not handling this alone. You’ve got backup.”
She let his words settle in. It was an intoxicating thought, the idea of being supported, of not having to carry it all on her own.
But a lifetime of self-reliance had trained her to spot loopholes in any safety net.
“I know, and as much as I appreciate that you’ll always be here for me, you live three thousand miles away. ”
He leaned in, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Not anymore.”
“Stop.” She wasn’t in the mood for him to be joking around about that.
Zee leaned back, arms spread in a mock-angelic pose. “If you’re staying in Hope Falls, then I am, too. I have already sublet my place. My entire life fits in a shipping container. My camera needs a new backdrop, anyway.”
She stared at him, waiting for the punchline. When none materialized, she said, “Don’t. It’s not funny. I’m barely holding it together, and I really don’t have the emotional bandwidth for that joke right now.”
He looked her straight in the eye, expression open and serious. “I have never been less funny in my entire life. This is not a drill.”
Frankie opened her mouth, then closed it again. Tears formed in her eyes as she searched his face. “You’re going to move across the country? For me? Why?”
The corners of his lips curled softly as he tilted his head.
“I grew up straddling two worlds—countries, languages, cultures. Three months in the UK, three months in Nigeria, that’s not counting when my mother moved to Japan, Peru, Sweden, Russia, Italy.
My entire life I adjusted, ingratiated, been welcomed, but never home.
I was made to feel accepted, but never made to feel like I belonged, which is a very distinct difference.
When I was a child, I couldn’t articulate that, I couldn’t express the feeling of being on the outside looking in.
Of constantly being the guest at a party to everyone else’s lives.
“That changed the first day I met you. The second you extended your arms when we were paired to do the trust fall and I could practically hear the “Eye of the Tiger” song playing as your eyes burned with determination, I knew you were special. When you dropped me, which I do see the irony of, and we broke the table, I knew you were going to be in my life forever. The second I looked at you and we cracked up laughing, it was the first time my soul finally exhaled because I found my forever home. So even though we’re never going to be married or share any DNA, you are my soulmate, you are my sister, and you are stuck with me, because if you move to California, then the state just gained two new residents. ”
Tears poured down her cheeks, as relief and gratitude all tangled together in her wide-open heart.
She wrapped her arms around Zee, squeezing him tighter than she’d ever squeezed anything before.
She was still clinging to Zee when she heard footsteps pattering down the hall, then a voice calling her name with urgent, almost frantic energy.
“Frankie!” She turned and saw Poppy rushing down towards them in scrubs. “I just heard. Are you okay? Is Liam okay?”
“I haven’t heard from him or seen him since we got here.” Frankie shook her head as she wiped her cheeks and stood up. “He’s not answering anyone’s texts or calls.”
“He’s not with you guys?” Poppy’s brow furrowed.
“No.”
“Oh.” Poppy’s confusion was intensifying by the second.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just—I checked the observation suite, where Zeta said he was going, and he’s not there. He hasn’t been there for hours from the log-in times. I just assumed he was with you guys.”
Frankie didn’t like this feeling. It was déjà vu. If Liam wasn’t in the hospital and he wasn’t answering his calls, had he left? Had he just taken off again? No. Surely not. Not after all they’d shared.
“Can you look for him?” Frankie tried to ignore the growing pit in her stomach. “Can you ask around?”
Poppy nodded and turned.
“Oh, and do you have any idea where AJ is?”
Poppy spun back on her heels, her expression deer-in-headlights-frozen, like she was a teenager sneaking up the stairs hours after curfew and a parent turned on the light and asked her if she knew what time it was. “What? No. Why? Why? Why would I? Why would you ask that?”
“I just…” Her reaction threw Frankie off. “You were at the wedding and Niko mentioned something about seeing you two dancing, so I thought maybe…I don’t know maybe you saw where he went. No one can get ahold of him. He wasn’t at his cabin.”
“Ohhh.” She shrugged her shoulders nearly up to her ears and lifted her arms, palms facing the ceiling. “Well, I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll, um, yeah, I’m sure he’ll turn up.”
With that, she spun on her heels and power-walked away from them.
Frankie looked up at Zee.
“They totally fucked,” he stated aloud what they were both thinking.
“Right?!” Frankie agreed.
“Mouse!” her mom called out from the waiting area. “Where’s Frankie?”
Frankie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steeling herself for another round. When she opened them, Zee held out his arm for her to take. “Shall we, my dear?”
“We shall.” She wrapped her fingers around his bicep, and he escorted her back to the waiting area.
Frankie braced herself as she stepped back into the waiting area, summoning all the emotional stability she had left for her mother’s benefit, though inside she was a tsunami of anxiety and exhaustion.
The second her mom saw her, she shot up out of her chair, the temporary relief of seeing her daughter quickly replaced by worry. “Did you find him? Did you find Liam?” she asked, her voice growing hoarse.
Frankie shook her head. “He’s still not answering, but I ran into Poppy, and she said she’d look for him.”
“Where is he? Why would he just leave and not come back?!” Her mom gestured wildly.
Frankie tried to think of anything she could say to soothe her mom’s nerves, but her brain was fried. “Maybe he just needed a minute,” she offered a lame excuse for his extended absence. “I’m sure he’ll show up soon.”
Cora looked unconvinced. She gazed at the swinging double doors he’d disappeared behind, face pinched and pale. “Niko, have you tried your brother again?”
Niko fished his phone from his pocket and dialed. “He’s still not answering,” he reported after a moment, voice flat. “I’ll keep trying.”
Frankie’s stomach sank a little further.
Even though she’d told herself not to overreact, the feeling that something was off gnawed at her.
AJ never missed a crisis, not ever. And Liam—well, she could believe he’d disappear, but after last night, and with so much at stake, and how he felt about her mom.
She was about to try AJ on her phone when, as if on cue, the sliding doors opened, and AJ walked in.
Her mom rushed towards him and launched herself into his arms.
“Where were you?” she asked, her words muffled against his shoulder. “We couldn’t get ahold of you.”
Frankie was all ears. This would be interesting. AJ never lied, part of his neurological makeup made him practically incapable of lying. She wondered how he’d handle this situation.
“I’m here now.” AJ hugged his mom back, his expression unreadable, before guiding her over to the chairs and getting her settled next to him.
She glanced at Zee to see if he was as disappointed as she was at her brother’s answer. He looked impressed by the way AJ swerved his mom’s question without lying.
As the time ticked by, Frankie watched the group that had assembled, Tristan was talking to Niko.
Her mom was holding onto AJ’s arm for dear life.
Yaya was multi-tasking as she scolded Emmanuelle about her bad sleep habits and not drinking enough water while simultaneously teaching both the supermodel and Zee how to knit.
It was a motley crew, but Frankie was happy it was hers.
It hit her, Zee was right, as per usual, no matter what happened with Dr. Sterling, she had support now.
She wasn’t a child. Yaya hadn’t just lost a son, so she wasn’t in the throes of grief.
AJ and Niko weren’t adolescent boys, they were men.
She had her main support system in Zee. And if Liam had gone AWOL again and things didn’t work out, which she hoped and wished on every star in the sky that wouldn’t be the case, she’d still be okay.
That thought had no sooner flashed across her mind than the double doors from the ER he’d disappeared behind hours earlier opened and Liam walked out. He looked…tired. Beat down. Everyone stood, except Yaya, who was balancing four balls of yarn on her lap.
“He’s okay,” Liam announced as he approached Frankie’s mom and Tristan. “He’s out of surgery and awake. He’s going into recovery. You can see him in about twenty minutes. He still has a hard road ahead, but he’s tough, and he’s going to be okay.”
In an instant, the room’s atmosphere shifted.
Frankie’s mom propelled herself across the room like she’d been shot from a cannon, throwing her arms around Liam and clinging to him like a cat on a screen door, even he seemed rattled by the ferocity.
She choked out a sob that was equal parts gratitude, relief, and hours of raw terror.
Tears streaked her cheeks as she pressed her face into Liam’s shoulder, muttering thank you over and over in a staccato rhythm that made it sound like a mantra or prayer.