Chapter Seven
Katrina
Frankie hadn’t stopped talking about Cami from the minute we left the diner. The entire ride home, all I heard was, ‘Cami did this last summer...’ and ‘Cami said we can do this...’ in different variations of activities and seasons.
My girl had made a friend. Someone she connected with on her level. An age-appropriate peer whom I tried desperately not to be jealous of because I knew that the more Frankie spoke with Cami, the less she would confide in me.
“Someone had a good time,” Slyce commented as soon as we walked in the door. The way she’d been acting, I almost expected her to be gone. Maybe leaving a note telling us goodbye if we were lucky.
“Oh my God, Slyce, she’s just as awesome in person as she was on the phone.
We have so much in common. She said I can come out to the orchard, and we can pick apples and her sister Maggie will teach us how to make applesauce, and we can make apple pies, and she likes the same music I do and the same movies—”
“Whoa, slow down, Six,” Slyce said, waving her hands in the air.
“Six?” Frankie asked, giving Slyce a strange look.
“Long time ago, before your time. Hell, she was before my time, but I found this show from the 90s called Blossom and her best friend’s name was Six. She talked faster than an auctioneer.”
Frankie was still giving Slyce that look, and I laughed. “I’ll look it up later and show it to you. Go get ready for bed,” I told Frankie.
My daughter launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Thank you, Mom. I love Diamond Creek.” She ran down the hall to her bedroom, and I stared after her.
“You decided to stay?” Slyce asked quietly.
With a deep breath, I answered, “I don’t have a choice.”
“You know this means you need to make an effort now, right? To acclimate to the town.”
I flashed a look of irritation her way and walked to the kitchen. “I really don’t. If Frankie makes more friends, I’ll get to know their parents, but I’m fine on my own.”
“Kat—”
“Don’t, Slyce,” I said, flattening my hands on the kitchen island.
Slyce was quiet behind me, and the tension in the room made the air stifling, only to become suffocating when she said, “I called the clubhouse about the hole in the siding. King said he’d send someone over tomorrow.”
I spun around, not trying to hide my anger. “Why did you do that?” I hissed. “He’ll send that man, and he’ll break my daughter’s heart again.”
“That man has a name. And it’s his job. The damage is outside; you don’t even have to let him in.”
“Well, you can deal with him.”
“I’m leaving in the morning,” she said, blindsiding me for the second time in a matter of moments.
“What? Were you even going to tell us or just disappear in the middle of the night?”
“Stop being so dramatic, Kat. I got the call while you were gone, and I told you as soon as you came home. I planned on making some popcorn and watching a movie with Frankie and telling her then.”
I wasn’t dramatic; I was cautious. Slyce’s exit from our lives would devastate Frankie when she found out. Combine that with that man coming here tomorrow, and tonight’s agenda would be damage control to protect my daughter’s heart.
“You know you can’t protect her from everything, right?”
“Obviously,” I muttered as I pulled the popcorn kernels from the cabinet. The oil was under the cabinet with the pan, and I set it down on the stove a little too loudly.
Slyce wrapped her arms around me from behind and whispered, “You’re gonna be alright, Kat. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I can’t bear to see her heart broken.”
“I know, but it’s a part of life. It’s how we grow.”
Slyce was right. I couldn’t shelter Frankie from every bout of pain, emotional or physical. But wasn’t that every mother’s dream? That their child didn’t have to suffer the way they did? That we could somehow find the magic solution to make our children’s lives better than ours was?
“What about the person who was looking for us?” I asked.
Slyce stepped back and assured me, “You don’t need to worry about them.”
“Slyce—”
“Kat, I promise. You are safe here. You can live your life without looking over your shoulder.”
“Richard—”
“Richard married that bitch who soured you on friendships. Just know she is way more miserable than you are.”
“But her girls...” My eyes pleaded with Slyce to give me something that let me know they were safe.
“He hasn’t done anything that I know of. But on my way to my next assignment, I will stop and check on them.”
“Thank you.” I peered down the hall and asked, “And her mother?”
“Don’t worry about her.”
I nodded. What else could I do? Slyce seemed to think Frankie’s mother wouldn’t be an issue, but Marsha Wade was out there somewhere.
As far as I knew, she didn’t know who I was or where we lived.
But there was a constant niggling in the back of my mind that kept me up at night wondering when she would knock on our front door.
And what I would do if she did.
Slyce and Frankie watched movies and ate snacks well into the night. Frankie was sad Slyce was leaving, but she understood there were other moms and daughters that needed her help.
My daughter handled her emotions better than I did.
When Slyce rolled out at six a.m., I lay back down in my bed and cried.
I might have been upset with her for keeping information from me, but I counted her a friend.
She assured me I could call her anytime, just to talk, and especially if we needed her help.
Frankie was still asleep when someone pounded on the front door. Well, not someone—him. I straightened my shoulders and inhaled deeply as I swung the door open, ready to tell him we didn’t need him.
Only, it wasn’t him.
It was a member of the club. I ignored the disappointment in my chest and tried not to let it show. My eyes dropped to his leather, and I read the name.
Zero.
He was tall with wide shoulders. Of course, every member of the club I’d met so far was tall with wide shoulders. Except for Mimic. He was tall but lean. His muscles were well-defined, but he was still young.
The man standing on my front porch looked to be about my age. He was handsome in an intense sort of way. He wasn’t smiling, but his features were soft. His dark hair brushed his collar, and despite the pain I saw in his eyes, it gave him a boyish look.
“Can I help you?” I asked, holding the door and trying not to pull it in front of me. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I wasn’t comfortable either. I’d had enough of bikers to last me a lifetime.
“King asked me to come by and fix the siding. Just wanted you to know who was out here in case you heard me banging around.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded, but he lingered in the doorway a moment longer before moving back down the steps to the truck in the driveway. I closed the door and leaned against it. Frankie appeared, rubbing her eyes.
“Who’s here?”
“Someone fixing the hole in the siding from the doorknob,” I answered, and her eyes lit up.
“Is it Derek?” she asked, shuffling her feet toward the door.
“No, it’s one of the guys from the club.”
Her shoulders slumped, and I struggled to understand her fascination with him. She’d met him once, and sure, he’d answered her questions about what he was doing, but they didn’t talk aside from the work he was doing.
She pulled the curtain aside and peeked out the window. When she reached for the door, I called out, “Young lady, you need to get dressed.”
Frankie looked down at her pajamas and blushed. “Right.” She spun around and rushed to her room, coming back out a few minutes later in leggings and a hoodie.
“I’m going to go say hello.”
“Frankie,” I called, but she was already gone. How had I missed how starved she was for a father figure in her life? She acclimated to Clay and our trailer at the club quickly, but Clay wasn’t a threat. I didn’t know the man outside, so I quickly grabbed my coffee and opened the door.
“How come you’re here and not Derek?” Frankie asked.
Zero’s eyes blazed; his voice was tight when he answered, “King sent me.”
“But why didn’t he send Derek?”
“I don’t know; you’d have to ask King.”
“Can I have his number so I can call him?” Frankie asked, and Zero looked up at her.
“What’s the fascination with Derek?”
Frankie shrugged. “He does construction. Do you know what you’re doing?”
I had to give Zero credit; Frankie wouldn’t let up with the questions and the comparisons to Derek, and I understood. I’d been secretly doing the same thing since I opened the door.
Zero’s hair was longer than Derek’s, and he wore a henley instead of a flannel shirt. He didn’t fill out his jeans quite as well as Derek did, but that could be personal preference. The truth was, I was attracted to Derek even though I didn’t want to be.
I felt nothing for Zero.
“Frankie, let the man do his work.”
Frankie stomped back inside, slamming the door behind her. I bit my lip, and when I looked back at Zero, he was studying me.
“I’m sorry about my daughter. Derek’s the first guy she’s met in a long time that didn’t terrify her, so she kind of latched on to him.”
Zero scoffed and muttered something I couldn’t understand.
“What?” I asked, wanting him to repeat himself.
“Derek is someone your daughter should be afraid of,” Zero said. “I would advise you to steer clear of him.”
“Why?” I asked, stepping closer. My uneasiness around this man forgotten as I focused on his disdain for Derek. “What did he do?”
“It’s not really my place to say, but he’s not someone I would leave my sister alone with.”
My hands tightened around my coffee cup, and my blood chilled at his words. There was only one reason you didn’t leave women alone with a man. And he had been in my house.
“All finished.”
“What?” I asked, looking up. My mind had been running through every possible reason why you wouldn’t leave a man alone with a woman. Looking for one that didn’t make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I hadn’t gotten that vibe from him when he came to fix the sink.
But then, I hadn’t gotten that vibe from Richard either. I’d believed my husband was a good man. I’d believed Clay was a good man. My track record with men spoke for itself.
“I’m all finished.”
I looked at the side of the house, and the hole was gone. The only evidence was the slightly brighter piece of siding used to replace the busted one. “Thank you. I’ll try to be more careful.”
“These things happen.” He shrugged as he packed up his tools. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t think he was paying any attention to me until he asked, “Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“What?” I blinked at him, unsure I heard what he said.
“I’d like to take you to dinner,” he repeated.
“Oh, um, I can’t leave Frankie home alone,” I answered, trying to let him down easily, until he offered to let her come too.
“It’s just dinner, Katrina.”
My eyes snapped to his. I’d grown accustomed to being called by a nickname; Richard and Clay had both called me Trina. When I told Slyce how much I hated it, she switched to Kat. Hearing a man say my full name was the only reason I could come up with for being caught off guard and saying yes.