Chapter 17
On Friday, about the time Frankie was supposed to leave for Ansley and Link’s place, worry hit hard. Keel found her in the hall, staring at the carpet.
“Hey, Frankie, you okay?”
She lifted her gaze to his, blinking rapidly. “What if they don’t like me?”
He moved closer and held her face in his hands. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. These women aren’t like that.”
“What if they do something?”
“Something? They aren’t going to do anything to you. They are good people and just want to be friendly.”
Panic rose. “How do you know they won’t do anything?”
His lips ticked up on one side. “Well, I’ve known them for a while, and I know my guys. They wouldn’t bring women into their lives who weren’t good people.”
She shook her head. “I’m not good people.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Frankie, you are good. Don’t believe what Forest told you.
He was an abusive guy who manipulated you.
” He held her at arm’s length and stared into her eyes.
“You have your phone. Call me if you need anything. Link and the guys are coming over here. If you need anything at all, I’ll be there in less than a minute. ”
A part of her wanted to go see what movie night would be like, but fear had a way of worming its way in and not letting go.
Forest had done everything he could to make sure she didn’t have any close friends.
She’d been through so much, and she knew most of it was because of the way he’d manipulated her, but the fear still held on, making it hard to believe she could enjoy life.
“Trust me, it will be fine.”
She stared into his eyes, not wanting to disappoint him. “Okay, I’ll go.”
“I promise you they will be nice to you.”
She blew out a breath, hoping Keel was right. The walk over to Ansley’s house only took a short minute, and then she was standing next to Keel as Ansley opened the door.
“Hey, come in. It’s so good to see you.” Ansley took her hand and pulled her in. “I want you to meet Garnet.”
A woman with very red hair and pale skin stood in the kitchen wearing an orange dress that made her hair look like fire. She was able to pull it off so well that it was amazing. Frankie doubted she would ever look good next to the woman.
Garnet came out from the kitchen and moved to her, her arms open wide. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you. We live two houses down from you. Like Ansley said, I’m Garnet, and I’m so glad to meet you.”
Frankie chuckled nervously. “Oh, thank you. I’m—” She glanced back at Keel, and he winked. She turned back to Garnet and tried for a smile. “Sorry, I’m nervous.”
“I totally understand. Joining a friend group can be intimidating. But I swear we aren’t like that.”
She worried that she’d offended them, but neither of the women seemed bothered by her being reserved. They were very warm, even after the guys took off. When she said she no longer drank alcohol, they offered her something else to drink without any fuss.
“I’ve been working on making mocktails,” Garnett said. “I do drink, but when guests come over, I want to be able to make interesting drinks that have no alcohol.”
“What is your best one?” Ansley asked.
“There is the traditional Shirley Temple, but I do make a nice strawberry basil lemonade.”
“That sounds delicious,” Ansley said.
Garnet flashed a big smile. “I brought over the ingredients.”
For a moment, Frankie thought maybe Keel had said something about her not drinking. She didn’t want special treatment. Standing out hadn’t been a good thing when she’d been with Forest.
“The drink is good without the alcohol, but you can add alcohol if you need to.”
Ansley chuckled. “I don’t need it. I drank a lot in the Marines. But everyone did. It was part of the culture. But I don’t need alcohol to be happy.”
“Well, I’m a geek. Since I graduated from university before I was twenty, I didn’t start drinking until much later in life.”
Frankie stared at her open-mouthed, shock pulsing through her. “You graduated from college before you turned twenty?”
Garnet’s cheeks turned pink. “I had my bachelor’s by fifteen, then I got my first post-graduate degree. Like I said, I’m a geek.”
“Wow, that’s impressive. I thought just graduating was impressive.”
“It is,” Garnet said. “I love my life, but there are times I look at what I did and what other people experience, and I can see the difference. I don’t regret it, but it would have been nice to have some normal life experiences.”
Frankie drew in a deep breath. How much did these women know about her? She had screwed up so much. Would they think she was an awful person?
“So how did you meet Keel?” Garnet asked.
“My grandmother’s condo is next to Link’s place. I was there while I hid from my ex.”
“Oh, that’s a nice place,” Garnet said.
Ansley nodded. “I love it.”
“So did you run into each other at the pool?” Garnet giggled.
She shook her head. “No, my jerk of an ex showed up then pulled a gun on Keel.”
Garnet gasped and made a face. “Oh God, that was stupid. And your ex is still alive?”
Frankie couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes. The idiot did it twice. Honestly, I was surprised Keel didn’t kill him. He just took the gun and did something so it didn’t have bullets in it and tossed it away. He’s kind of impressive.”
Ansley nodded. “They are intense.”
Garnet started making the drinks, not adding alcohol to any of them.
“When I met Brady—” Garnet glanced up and met her gaze.
“I call him Brady because Bean seems weird to me, but everyone else calls him Bean. But when I met him, I was so impressed with how strong he was. Most of the guys in tech aren’t like him. ”
“Not many guys, even in the military, are like them,” Ansley said.
Garnet poured their drinks and handed them over. Frankie took a sip and smiled. “Wow, not too sweet. I like it.”
Garnet nodded, a smile wide on her lips. “It’s a delicate balance of making the drink taste good, but not so sweet you can’t drink two.”
“I’ll put the pizzas in the oven,” Ansley said. “How about we start the movie?”
“Sounds good.”
Frankie couldn’t believe how nice these two women were. It had been years since she’d had any kind of relationship with other women.
Keel was so different from Forest, and maybe with his help, she could move past the problems from her past. She needed to find a therapist and keep working on journaling. And maybe, she needed these two women as friends.