Chapter 20
Before her first call, Frankie paced around the kitchen about a hundred times. She didn’t want to make the call, but she knew she had to.
It had taken her a few hours to figure out the lawyer’s name who had been in control of her money.
After an intense search, she’d found his name in a sent email.
It was almost like someone had gone through and deleted emails from her inbox.
Forest had access to her emails, and she guessed he would do that. It was on par for him.
Why had she walked away from responsibility and allowed Forest to dictate her life? He’d tried to ruin her and almost succeeded.
After putting off the call for almost an hour, she finally picked up her phone and placed the call.
When the receptionist answered, she had to explain the situation twice.
Then she had to explain it again to someone else, who passed her off to another person, who finally understood what she was talking about.
“Francine Elizabeth Zaleski, is that really you?”
“Yes, sir. I go by Frankie now.”
“The last I heard, you were being taken advantage of by some jerk we had to cut off.”
She sighed. The mistake of being with Forest would stick with her. “Oh, yeah. I left him.”
“Well, we are going to need some extra information. You know, to make sure that man is no longer taking advantage of you. We’ll have to meet with you.”
She almost groaned out loud. “Oh, okay.”
“I’ll send someone to you.”
That seemed easier than having to go to him. But was that what she wanted? She needed the money.
“Okay, I guess that would be fine.”
“Where are you, dear?”
“I’m in North Carolina.” She froze. Maybe it wasn’t right to tell this man where she was. “Actually, I could fly out to see you.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to do that.”
“Well, I don’t really have access to any money or cards or anything to buy a plane ticket.”
“That settles it. We’ll come see you. That way, you don’t have to buy a ticket. Which city are you in?”
“I’m in Fayetteville, or just at the edge of it.”
“Sounds good. I’ll arrange for someone to come this week, and we can get this all sorted. And I’m glad you’re no longer with that man. He wasn’t good for you, or I’d dare say for anyone.”
She shook her head. “No, he wasn’t. I’m sorry I stayed with him for so long.”
“We’ll get you squared away after we’ve figured everything out.”
“Thank you.”
The call ended, and she let go of a heavy breath. She didn’t like the idea of telling anyone where she was, but was that paranoia, or was it a real issue?
A knock sounded at her door, and she let out a scream, but recovered quickly. She moved to the door, almost forgetting to look out the peephole before pulling it open.
Ansley smiled and waved, making Frankie laugh. She pulled open the door, and the alarm started beeping.
“Oh gosh, the alarm.”
She pulled out her phone and clicked through to the alarm application, making the noise stop. Ansley shut the door and locked it, her laughter filling the entryway.
“You know, I forget to turn off my alarm, too. So how are you this morning?”
“Well, I made a call I didn’t want to.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
“Yeah. It was one I needed to make. Do you ever get that way, not doing things you know you should?”
Ansley laughed more. “Sometimes. The Marines taught me to jump on that kind of stuff, though. So I’m much better about it now. I keep up with things like calls I hate doing.”
“This was one I’ve been putting off for a long time, for multiple reasons. They are sending someone out here to check up on me.”
“Oh, really?”
She blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah. It’s a long story.”
“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but I am here if you want to talk.”
Could she tell Ansley what had happened? She was dealing with the mistakes she made, but she was still raw. Poking at the problems caused pain, and talking about it with Ansley would be difficult.
“How about we start lunch? I brought a salad,” Ansley said.
“Nice. I have stuff for sandwiches.”
“Awesome. This is great. I don’t get much of a chance to hang out during the day with friends.”
Frankie nodded. “This is nice. Thank you for hanging out with me.”
“The other night was fun. I hope we can become friends.”
She met Frankie’s gaze and saw only kindness. “It helps when people are decent. I’ve been hanging with the wrong crowd. You and Garnet seem like really nice people.”
“Thank you. You seem really nice, too.”
Frankie shrugged. “I wasn’t always that nice. I did some bad things in my past.”
“We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.”
She blew out a harsh breath. “Mine was really bad.”
Ansley took her hands and squeezed. “I was in the military. So I’ve done some stuff.”
“But that was when you were in the military.”
“Still, it sticks with you.”
Ansley pulled her into a hug, and she went willingly. It felt good to have someone hold her and care about her. She wanted to tell Ansley everything, but she decided to wait until later to tell her about the fire.
They pulled together their food and sat at the table. She took a bite of the salad and moaned. “This is great. I love the dressing.”
“Thank you. It’s just oil and vinegar, but I added some spices.”
“Well, you did a great job.” She took another bite and moaned. “My ex wouldn’t let me have salad dressing. Most lunches, I got three leaves of lettuce and four tomatoes along with some broccoli.”
Ansley’s fork hung in midair. “That’s so wrong. That wouldn’t be enough to survive.”
Frankie chuckled. “Yeah. I was always hungry. One time, I snuck some food, and he chained me to a table and made me watch him eat for two days straight.”
“How did you not kill him?”
She set down her fork and closed her eyes. No question, she had to tell Ansley what she’d done.
She shook her head, not believing how bad she’d screwed up her life. “I messed up big time.”
“I won’t judge you, ever.”
“I was sixteen, and I went downstairs to fix food.”
A shudder ripped through her at the memory of what happened. She relayed the whole story. Ansley moved around the table and hugged her close.
“You didn’t know.”
She shook her head. “My mom had said something was wrong with the oven, but I thought the cooktop was okay.”
“I’m so sorry that happened.”
“I don’t know how I made it through college. When I graduated, I met Forest. He was very rich and love-bombed me. I thought I’d made it. By the time he started controlling me, it was too late. I was too deep and didn’t recognize it for what it was.”
“Sometimes, we just don’t see what’s in front of us.”
“A part of me was addicted to the abuse. I felt that I deserved it because of the fire.”
“You didn’t deserve it. If you knew what would happen, you wouldn’t have started cooking anything.”
She shook her head. “No. But still, I should have known not to leave a stove unattended. If I’d watched the stove, I might have seen the fire start and made it upstairs fast enough to get my parents out.”
“You said they took sleeping pills.”
Frankie nodded. “Their lungs were filled with smoke. The detectives wanted to prosecute me for murder until the autopsy came back.”
“Oh, that’s awful. You lost your parents, and then the police wanted to put you in jail.”
“Yeah, it was pretty bad.”
“So the fire alarm didn’t wake them. You may not have been able to wake them up even if you went upstairs.”
“I’ll never know, and not knowing has screwed me up. I blamed myself for years. I screwed up everything.”
Ansley hugged her close. “Not everything. You’re with Keel, and he’s pretty good.”
Frankie chuckled. “Yeah, he’s good. Probably the best thing that has ever happened in my life.”
“I gotta tell you, I’d be lost without Link. I love him. You may not have that type of relationship with Keel, but he’s a good man.”
She shrugged, trying not to smile too much but failing. “He is cute.”
“Oh yeah. And I’d say it’s more their personality than straight up looks, but yeah, they look great and they are good guys, too.”
“Keel really is a good guy.”
“He is. And you are a good person, too.”
She shook her head. “I’m journaling and doing some work, but it’s hard to change the narrative in my head.”
“You’ll get there. Don’t believe the lies. You are good.”
She didn’t want to believe the words, but with the work she’d been doing, she’d come to realize she wasn’t as bad as she made herself out to be.
She didn’t deserve the hell Forest had put her through.
If she could go back and change that day, she wouldn’t have cooked anything.
She would have pulled out bread and peanut butter instead of heating food on the stovetop.
Ansley helped her clean the kitchen after they finished lunch. They chatted about the weather, the area, and some of the nearby restaurants. After they had the kitchen clean, Ansley took her hands.
“Listen, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“You and Garnet have been so nice to me.”
“That’s how friends should be.”
Frankie chuckled as she thought about saying something sarcastic, but she held back. Ansley was right. It was how friends should be. The people she knew through Forest had never been friends. But Keel and his friends were real. She just hoped she didn’t screw this up.