Chapter 23 Frankie
Frankie
My mind was in a whirl as I met Jillian at the yacht.
She looked absolutely delectable, and when she didn’t object as I took her hand to help her onto the boat, my knees almost buckled with joy.
Was what Mrs. Greenberg said true?
I counted backwards, my fingers trembling as I followed the weeks back back back. To the last time we’d been together.
It was possible. . .just barely. . .
But if I went in with guns blazing, wanting to know the truth. . . Jillian might hate me forever.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you so much for being here. For being willing to hear me out.”
Jillian only made a dismissive gesture and brushed by.
“I’m just here for the food.”
“I want to apologize again for what I did,” I said. “I went to meet Christabelle and I let things go too far, because I was stupid and immature and liked her adoration. It’s stupid and embarrassing, but it’s true.”
“You’re right,” Jillian said as she boarded the boat. “What you did was embarrassing. And the fact that you haven’t let it go.”
“I believed her when she said we had a great love, that I was the sun shining out of everyone’s damn ass.
I was an idiot and I’m sorry. It wasn’t real.
I was chasing that hit of power and flattery, and it cost me everything.
I’m so sorry. But no matter how big of an idiot I was, I have always loved you and you will always be the most important thing to me. ”
“Thanks. Thanks for that, Frankie.”
I didn’t see any sign of relenting in her cool gray eyes.
My heart constricted and I felt jittery as we met my parents on the deck and their Michelin starred private chef gestured to the appetizers already on the table.
Should I say something about what Mrs. Greenberg had hinted at? Was Blue mine? What was the right thing to do?
But how could I stress Jillian out? This whole thing was my fault, and even if it was true, how could I blow up poor Blue’s life like that?
If the heavens opened and Jillian ever forgave me, it wouldn’t matter to me. I was not going to press a DNA test on her. Either way, it didn’t matter to me. My wife had sex with both Cash and I. Either of us could be the father.
But I’d love Blue like she was my own. Either way.
She gurgled and held out chubby arms for Mom.
Blue did have the most beautiful green eyes.
Did anyone else see what I saw?
My skin turned to ice and the regret clawed at me.
I had missed every milestone. Cash was the one who had been in her life. I had no right to barge in and demand tests and rights.
But how many green eyes were there in the world? Especially with that golden lowlight? Not many.
I planned to wait until after dinner to really dig into the situation in Ramshackle Bay, see if there was any way they could help fight what Cash was planning. Maybe they knew those developers? Could persuade them to back out?
Dinner was going well. Not only did Blue have her own mashed bananas in a little golden bowl, but we had escargot, duck confit, apple tart, champagne sorbet. As always with my parents, it was nothing but the best.
My dad had always told me, “Don’t mistake an interest in your money, for you,” but I’d never believed that could be true.
Of course everyone loved me for me. Right?
Wrong. And the mistake and my fat head had cost me everything.
After dinner, Blue was zonked out asleep on my dad’s shoulder and as they were lying her down for a nap in a little side room, I asked Jillian if she wanted to take a walk around the yacht.
“Sure,” she said, and at this one single word, I felt so joyful that I couldn’t resist a tiny click of my heels.
After all, it was the first flicker of hope I’d had in almost two years, that maybe, just maybe, she might forgive me.
“Good waves right now,” she said, nodding out to where the setting sun was sparkling over the shore of Ramshackle Bay, making the water look like liquid gold.
And my heart was so full, so ridiculously full, of the fact that she remembered my love of surfing, all the memories rushing back, the love and care, those lazy slow mornings on the beach, Jillian’s eyes squinting against the sun, messy tangled curls, and I wanted it so badly tears heated the corners of my eyes, leaking down my face as I struggled to speak.
“I haven’t been able to surf since—” I choked out. “You are my heart, Jillian. I love you so much.”
She hesitated, and I pressed my advantage eagerly.
“Please—let me tell you the plans I have to prove how I’ve changed.”
I couldn’t interpret the look on her face, but when she said,
“Let’s hear it,” I pulled open the door to the sitting room with an eager cry.
She was willing to listen!
Then my heart stopped.
Christabelle was there, lounging on the couch, in sparkly six-inch high heels, and wearing nothing else but a tiny thong and string bikini top, her whole body greased up like a piglet at a fair.
“Hello, Franklin,” she said in a low, throaty voice.
The sight of her made the bile rise up in my throat. It wasn’t because anything had changed with her. She looked exactly the same as she had two years ago.
But something had changed in me. What had been so seductive before was the lie she had sold me.
That I was the kind of man who of course any woman would be obsessed with for ten years.
That I was the kind of man any woman would pine away and wait for.
That I was so special and naturally irresistible that our love was destined in the stars.
And it had all been a lie, a ridiculous lie that I had believed because of my massive ego.
And what if Jillian believed Christabelle, that I desired her? Was even sleeping with her, instead of loathed the very sight of her!
As Christabelle pursed her plump lips, frosted with pink lipstick, my stomach suddenly gave a nauseating heave and I threw up all over her feet.
“My shoes!” she shrieked.
She shot up like a rocket and looked down in dismay, where my throw-up was dripping down her thighs and pooling between her toes.
“Damn, I just—I saw you and I felt so sick to my stomach I couldn’t stop,” I said miserably.
“Fine, God, I give up with you, Frankie,” Christabelle screeched. “This is the last straw. We’re through!”
“I don’t want you at all!” I said angrily, wiping my mouth.
“You were such a fucking baby, too, all those weeks. My wife this and my wife that. I’d love for you to meet my wife and I’m sure my wife is going to love you.”
She snorted.
“Then all your guilt. I can’t do this because what about Jillian and blah blah blah. You’re a fucking wimp, Frankie.”
“I should have never done shit with you,” I said angrily. “It’s the biggest regret of my life.”
“Maybe I’ll try your dad instead,” Christabelle spat. “He looks like a virile man, your mom can’t possibly keep up with him.”
Without another word, she stalked out the door, a whiff of vomit trailing behind her.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Jillian warned, but her voice sounded amused.
Hurrying behind her, we headed up to the deck, just as Jillian burst up like a mole rat, dramatically popping her bikini top off in front of my parents.
“Like what you see?”
My father only wrinkled his nose up in disgust, but my mother was closer, and she jumped in surprise.
“The hell—”
With the smooth, practiced instincts of a professional, she swung the paddle and it hit Christabelle right in the ass, sending her over the edge of the yacht and into the water, her breasts swinging desperately in the air.
Jillian choked down a laugh, but I was horrified.
“I’m so sorry. God, I did not know she was going to do that. She is nothing to me. Nothing. Please, you have to believe me!”
“You better fish her out,” Jillian said.
“You’re right, we shouldn’t litter,” Dad said, then he took out a hook and hauled Christabelle out of the waters.
She looked like a drowned rat.
“You’re wasting your breath with me, idiot,” he said shortly. “I think you can cool your heels in the brig.”
“There’s a—brig in this yacht?”
“Of course.”
Then after that there was no time to talk about the impending deal with Beachy Peachy Dreams Corporation.
I was afraid I had muddled up the explanation and now my parents were too busy towing Christabelle to jail to understand the gravity of the situation.
What was I going to do now?
My skin buzzed with anxiety as I stepped into City Hall for the big meeting.
Our town had a very simple charter. Majority ruled. And tonight was the vote for whatever deal Cash had planned.
It was up to me to stop it.
Cash stood up at the podium, gripping both sides of it.
“Welcome, good citizens of Ramshackle Bay,” he said, his white teeth gleaming. “This is a meeting about our town’s future, and I hope you feel like you can trust me to shepherd our town.”
He paused to let this sink in. I craned my head around but didn’t see Jillian.
“This upcoming deal with Beachy Peachy Dreams Corporation is just about revitalizing our economy. Making us stronger and better than ever. Despite what you might have heard from certain. . . loser types who want to keep you stagnating with the horse and buggy, this deal is just about more money flowing into the town.”
I saw a few heads start to nod, and my stomach started to sink. What if I failed?
The way Cash spun the deal, it sounded like this massive corporation just wanted to pour a lot of money into our town out of the goodness of their hearts.
The idea of a hotel he waved away as something far off into the future.
What was important now was just giving Beachy Peachy Dreams access.
For purposes of synergy. And efficiency.
When Cash opened the floor for questions, I was the first in line.
“This deal is a terrible idea. What he’s not telling you is that if we vote for this deal with the Beachy Peachy Dreams Corporation we don’t get a say in what happens next. There’s no guarantee we can keep our businesses or our jobs!”
Earnest pounded his little hammer on the table.
“That’s not a question, Frankie. And by the way, what business? Everyone knows you don’t have a business anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter!” I retorted heatedly. “We can’t just blindly trust Cash! What kind of kickbacks is he getting from this deal? What guarantees do we have?”
“Order!” Earnest yowled. “Order!”
“Silence!” Cash thundered. “Everyone hasn’t forgotten what a jackass you are.”
There was a general rumbling and rustling, and for a moment I thought I’d be the only one objecting.
“When you say money flowing into this town, who is it going to flow to?” Mrs. Greenberg suddenly put in.
“The parameters of this deal are fluid,” Cash said easily, his bright white smile flashing. “But I can promise you I have your best interests at heart. Who are you going to trust, me or that idiot?”
Shit.
I felt my hope sinking.
If he made it between me and him, the town was going to lose. Cash was very popular, while I was a total pariah.
Then, the door opened and Jillian walked in with Blue on her hip.
As always, the irritated rustlings and bustlings turned into general oohing and aahing over how cute Blue was, how nice Jillian was looking, what a pretty picture they made, how shining Jillian’s eyes were, etc.
But her lips were set firmly today.
“I want to keep my business,” Jillian said flatly. “Period. Can this Beachy Peachy Dreams Corporation guarantee that with all their economic development and synergy strategies, that I can keep my coffee shop?”
A total, dampening silence fell onto the assembled crowd, and I could feel their eyes all turn to the front, where Cash stood at the podium.
For a moment, I thought he was going to bluff his way through, but then I saw his big fingers move slowly to his tie, and he adjusted it. Like he was suddenly feeling a bit choked.
“Are you really going to side with Frankie?” he said, and did I detect a jealous note in the big man’s voice?
“Can you guarantee everyone will be able to keep their businesses?” Jillian retorted. “Mrs. Greenberg? Tuppy? Ronnie and Bonnie? Dale of Dale’s Fish ‘n’ Chips? The Pemberley B&B?”
There was another silence.
Was Blue really my baby? She seemed to be looking right at me, staring into my soul.
“No,” Cash finally said. “I can’t.”
There will audible gasps all around me.
“I want to keep Treasured Memories!” Bonnie yelled angrily, while Ronnie said, “Hear, hear!”
Everyone seemed to agree, and I seized the moment.
“Let’s put it to a vote!” I cried as Earnest vainly tried to quiet the crowd.
It didn’t take long for the votes to all go into a wooden lockbox, which was opened and counted by Earnest’s assistant Augustus.
And, no matter how scorching Earnest’s glare was, Augustus counted true.
It wasn’t even close.
There would be no deal with the Beach Peachy Dreams Corporation.
“The votes are in!” I said exultingly. “You have gone down to a resounding defeat, Mr. Mayor.”
Cash smiled, and I could see every one of those gleaming teeth. “Very nice, Frankie. The love you have for this town is. . . quite touching.”
“It’s not about me. Now everyone gets to keep their businesses.”
And Jillian, I thought to myself. That’s the most important thing. That Jillian is happy.
“Not quite. You see, it doesn’t matter. According to Earnest here, all this land can be snapped up by me. I’m claiming eminent domain over all the businesses on Main Street. This deal will go through with or without you.”
“You can’t do that!” Ronnie and Bonnie cried in unison, and Tuppy squared up like he was going to fight Cash.
But the mayor was only looking at Jillian.
“It’s the only way, sweetie,” he said, and there was a pleading note in his voice.
But she was shaking her head. And once Jillian made up her mind, that was it.
“I’m sorry, Cash. It’s over between us.”
Without another word, she turned and left.
“Jillian!” I cried, but Cash saw me watching her go and his face was set grimly as he pointed a big finger at me.
“You still lose, Frankie. And you’ll always lose.”
The townsfolk were all indignantly complaining, several people already had Earnest by the tie, and it looked like he might be getting run out of town on a rail.
But Mrs. Greenberg was advancing on us with her cane.
“Did he really lose? If nothing else, his sperm might have beaten yours.”
And then Tuppy and Dale leaped in between us, and I couldn’t see Cash anymore.