Chapter 54
Chapter Fifty-Four
DANNY
A ll I want to do is get Frankie alone, and not for the reason you might expect, given it’s me. I want to hear her say she loves me again, and possibly a hundred more times just to make sure. I want to tell her the same, at least a hundred times, and let her know that I’d do whatever it takes for us to be together. Even give up the TV show, if that’s what she wants. I’m pretty sure she’d never ask that of me, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if it was going to be any kind of barrier. I’d even move to San Diego – it’s not that far from L.A. Three hours’ drive max. And San Diego has the Air and Space Museum. Who doesn’t love an educational science experience?
I want to tell her all this, and so much more, but we’re surrounded by people, all packed in tight around Shelby and Nate’s big kitchen table. Javi’s wife, Valentina, has put on a post-harvest breakfast spread that would fell an army of elephants, and she’s given us all the clear message that if we don’t eat every bite, we’ll feel her wrath. And I thought Javi was scary.
Despite it only being five thirty in the morning, Nate, Lee, and Ava have all come to join us. And, of course, the whole harvest crew immediately blabs to them about Frankie and me being officially enamorado .
Ava’s reaction is, “Amazing. I never thought Danny would fall for a woman with an actual brain.”
“Insult!” I point an accusing finger. “Name in the jar, Ava!”
Before anyone can protest, I fetch it and present it to her along with a slip of paper and a pen.
“How many have I got in here now?” she asks. “Three to your one! Oh dear. Danny can’t even win at insults.”
“That’s four!” I insist. “I am going to have so much fun picking your punishment.”
“You know I’ll get my own back,” says Ava, with an evil grin. “One day, when you least expect it…” She mimes giving me a snake bite arm burn.
“ ?Cállate! ” says Valentina, in a voice that will not be disobeyed. “Your mouths are for eating, not childish bickering!”
I sit back down next to Frankie, whose shoulders are shaking with silent laughter.
“I let Ava get to me again, didn’t I?” I murmur to her.
“It’s like she doesn’t even have to try,” agrees Frankie. “It’s okay. I have siblings, too. If Jackson was here, I’d probably have already thrown an empanada at him.”
“I love you,” I say, quietly. “When can we talk?”
“After breakfast,” she says. “But I might need a quick nap beforehand.”
“We can nap together?” I suggest. “Though perhaps ‘nap’ isn’t the word I’m thinking of…”
Frankie elbows me in the ribs.
My “Ouch!” receives another glare from Valentina. I settle down, drink the coffee that’s tasty but nowhere near as potent as Shelby’s. Mind you, anything more potent and you’d never sleep again.
Finally, breakfast is over. Frankie’s mom and Nate offer to help Valentina clear up but she waves them away. All the harvest crew are drifting out the door now, yawning but still chatting away. Cam wraps his arm around Ava, and they’re gone, too.
“You two should get some rest,” Frankie’s mom says to us. “Would you like some of my herbal tea to help you wind down?”
“No, that’s okay, Mom,” says Frankie, hastily. “I couldn’t honestly eat or drink a thing more.”
Nate’s phone pings. “Shelby,” he says with a smile. “Demanding to know how the harvest went and, more importantly, that I bring her some of Valentina’s leftovers.”
He calls her. “Hey, gorgeous, how are you?”
My older brother has what I call resting granite face, stern and reserved like our dad’s. But as he wanders out of the room, talking to Shelby, his face is alive, lit up by love and affection. It suits him. I kind of wish I could see that expression on my dad’s face, too, when he talks to me…
I feel a hand slip into mine. “Want to go?” says Frankie.
I’m about to say, “How fast can we walk?” when my phone starts ringing.
“It’s my mom,” I tell Frankie. “I’d better take it. In case something’s wrong.”
“Of course,” she says.
“Mom? Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, dear,” Mom assures me. “Are you free to come round this afternoon? I think your father would like to talk to you about…”
She pauses and my mind churns through a million possibilities, not one of which sounds like a fun time.
“About what , Mom?”
“Well, perhaps I shouldn’t say anything more,” is her reply. “I’ll leave that up to your father.”
Jesus. Is he going to finally disown me? Okay, I am not facing this alone.
“Mom, I’ll bring Frankie with me.”
I feel the burn of Frankie’s glare, but I’m a desperate man. I’ll make it up to her later.
“Oh! Yes, that would be lovely,” says my surprised but ever-gracious mom. “Shall we say three o’clock?”
“Three it is. See you then, Mom.” I end the call.
“What did you just do, Danny?” Frankie’s voice is low and threatening.
“Dad wants to talk,” I tell her. “I don’t know about what but I can’t imagine it’s anything good. Sorry for roping you in but I could really do with the support.”
She nods her understanding. “Okay. Then I’m definitely going to need a nap, or I’ll be super cranky.”
“And by ‘nap’, you mean…?”
“I mean if Lil Danny wakes me up before I’m ready, I won’t be answerable for my actions.”
“Got it,” I say on behalf of Lil Danny and also my now shrunken balls. “Let’s go get some rest.”
* * *
I set my alarm for one o’clock in the afternoon, to give us time to get ready before we hit the road. With Frankie lying naked beside me, I expect not to sleep at all but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out, until the alarm jangles us both awake. Frankie has her just-woken-up face on, so I don’t suggest a quickie. We both shower and dress, and then it’s time to go.
Soon as I shut the car door, I let out a sigh. “I had better plans for this afternoon, you know?”
Frankie gives my knee a squeeze. “I know.”
I lean over and we kiss, and I seriously consider ditching my parents, but Frankie breaks us apart.
“Sooner we get there, sooner we can get back here” are her words of wisdom.
We hit the road, and far too soon are at my family home. It’s the first time Frankie has been here, and I’m a little anxious at what her reaction will be.
As it happens, it’s not what I expect. “This is nice,” she says, as we pull up outside the house. “I’d imagined something way more insufferably swanky. But it looks really homey.”
She turns to me. “You being rich makes me uncomfortable. Stupid, I know, but there it is.”
“Technically, I’m only moderately well-off,” I say. “Like I said, Dad’s made it clear to all of us that there’ll be no handouts, ever.”
Frankie frowns, like she’s only now processing that information. “Not even if you were about to go bankrupt?”
I shake my head. “Not even then.”
“Huh,” says Frankie. “Your dad’s kind of a hard ass, isn’t he?”
“And on that note,” I say. “It’s time to find out what His Hard Ass-ship has to say to me.”
Mom greets Frankie with a kiss on the cheek and a genuinely pleased smile. Mom likes Frankie. I’m glad at least one of my parents approves.
“I thought we’d have afternoon tea in the garden,” Mom says. “Come through. Mitchell is there already.”
Dad is seated but rises as we approach. Takes Frankie’s outstretched hand and gives it a firm shake. No smile, but then we weren’t expecting miracles.
“I trust the harvest went well, Miss Armstrong,” he says, as we all take our seats.
“Very well, sir,” says Frankie politely.
She is way more composed than I am. I’m dying to grab my father and demand he tell me what’s on his mind. But that would be extremely counterproductive. No Durant likes being backed into a corner. Besides, seems Dad hasn’t finished interrogating Frankie.
“And once the baby is born, how long do you intend to stay? I assume you’ve not taken indefinite leave from your job?”
“I haven’t,” says Frankie. “But I’m not sure I’ll return to my law firm.” She hesitates ever so slightly. “I’m considering moving to L.A. to be with Danny.”
“You are?” I can feel my eyes bugging out of my head. “Seriously? You’d leave San Diego?”
Her amazing blue eyes are clear and sincere. “I don’t want a long-distance romance,” she says. “And I think I can get a job there pretty easily. But, if it’s okay with you”—the slight hesitation is there again—“I’d like to set a deadline of a year. Because I think what I really want is to come back here. Come back home.”
I can’t stop staring at her, so I have no idea how my parents are reacting to all this.
“What about the TV show?” I have to ask. If we were in a room instead of outdoors, this would be the elephant.
She shrugs likes she’s annoyed with herself. “I just got all hung up thinking about what the trolls will say. You know, about your chubby, gold-digging girlfriend…”
Okay. Now I understand.
“Fuck those people, Frankie,” I say, with all the intensity I can muster. I hear my mom suck in a breath but I do not care. “Anyone who talks like that is either a moron or fucked up and evil, and whatever they are, they don’t deserve a second of our attention. And besides, I…”
She notes my sudden pause and looks at me with deep suspicion. Which in this case is entirely justified.
“What did you do, Danny?”
“Um… I might have sent the production team a photo of you and me that I took when we went vintage clothes shopping…”
Her gaze could fry an egg. But it’s too late now.
“I … uh … thought it was a great photo of me, and you just happened to be in it. And they … uh … they loved it. Loved you and your look. Wondered if you’d consider an audition for?—”
“Absolutely not.”
“That’s what I told them you’d probably say.”
“That’s what you told them, is it?” Frankie says.
I am that egg. I can smell my extremities sizzling.
“Well, I … uh … wasn’t sure, but…”
Thank the lord, the corner of her mouth is twitching. Of course, she might be about to go for my jugular, but I really hope she’s finding this funny.
“You’re impossible,” she says. “Absolutely impossible.”
Dad clears his throat. Fair enough. He and Mom have been shut out of this conversation.
“May I ask?” Dad begins. “What is this TV show you’re talking about?”
Here we go. I brace for battle.
“Mine,” I tell him. “I’ll be fronting a reality show about selling classic cars. It’s been picked up by Netflix.”
“Goodness, Danny!” exclaims Mom. “How wonderful!”
Dad looks as if “wonderful” is the last thing he’d call it.
“Television can be a fickle business with no guarantee of financial reward,” he says. “You might even lose money. It sounds to me like a highly risky venture, especially as you have no experience in this area at all.”
I expected this kind of response, but I still can feel my whole body getting hot and angry. I need to stay calm, breathe, and not let him get to me.
“Yes, Dad, there’s a risk,” I say. “There’s also a risk I might be hit by a bus tomorrow, or choke to death on a peanut. No decision in life comes without risk, and I’ve done pretty well so far not playing it too safe. I know you’ll never acknowledge that, but it’s the truth.”
Dad stares at me. Normally, his poker-face is impenetrable, but right now, I see regret, and what looks like shame. I have the urge to rub my eyes, in case I’m hallucinating.
“Danny, I invited you here to apologize,” he says. “And I’ve ended up falling immediately back into old habits. That was wrong of me.”
Apologize? This is definitely a hallucination. No other explanation for it.
“I do have your best interests at heart,” he goes on. “I want all my children to be safe and well and prosperous. My children and my grandchildren,” he adds, with a faint hint of surprise. “I’ve come to realize, however, that I have no right to dictate your life’s path, or to criticize you for making choices that I would not. I’ve not supported you as I should have, Danny. And for that I’m very sorry.”
Holy… I have no words. I’d better find some.
“Thanks, Dad. That means a lot.”
He nods. I nod. This could go on for a while.
“Coffee?” says Mom, brightly, before things become super awkward. “I’ve baked a dark chocolate cake. It’s almost sugar-free.”
Dad smiles at her. Shit, that’s my smile. I’ve always thought I looked exactly like Mom.
“Ginny, you’re a miracle,” Dad says.
And then he puts his hand on my shoulder!
“I am a very lucky man.”