Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Frankie
The torrential rain thundered against the slanted roof as I tossed and turned in bed. The storm lashed its way across the island, roaring so loud I could barely hear. I’d been wondering when our string of gorgeous summer weather would be interrupted, but I wasn’t prepared for the ferocity of a storm rolling across a small island. The Salty Dog was all closed up for the night, no boisterous patrons or raving partiers. The darkened bar was eerily still, the only sound the roar of the gaping winds.
I grabbed my oversized hoodie and yanked it on, walking to the window as lightning streaked across the ocean. I stood there for what felt like hours, hypnotized, watching as the storm rolled away and the sun began to pink the sky.
Just as I considered getting back in bed, there was an explosion.
I ducked, covering my head and shrieking as the roof caved in. Water poured onto the floor and splinters shattered across the room as I gaped up at the boulder-sized hole above me.
Kirby and Aya came crashing in the door. “What the hell is . . .”
“Oh my god, are you okay?” Aya rushed over to me, checking me for injuries.
I stared at my now-soaking bed, my whole body shaking. “I’m okay.” My voice trembled as adrenaline coursed through me. “I wasn’t in bed, thank God.”
Aya started sweeping around the room, picking up my things and tossing them into my open suitcase on the chair beside the dresser. “You can have our room. We can sleep on the couch and?—”
“On the couch?” Kirby balked.
“Well, she can’t stay in here,” Aya shot back.
“Why doesn’t she go stay with her girlfriend?”
“Isn’t that too soon? They’ve only been dating for like a month.”
“We’re lesbians, Aya. That’s a lifetime for us,” Kirby reminded her, and I really liked that she’d included me in that statement. She seemed to know I would, judging by the look on her face.
How it had taken me this long to figure it out was a mystery, but now that I was looking back on my life with a fine-toothed comb, it was all starting to make sense. I was slowly coming to grips with the fact that I wasn’t bisexual, but I still felt anxious to put a label on it, as if I weren’t allowed. I felt like my relationship with Jake somehow negated this newfound awakening, like I wouldn’t be welcomed into this community because I was only starting to wake up to these truths. But Aya and Kirby made me feel seen in a way I never knew I needed, a way that made me feel like I finally made sense to myself.
“Besides, Finch has two guest rooms if it’s too soon ,” Kirby continued. “This is an emergency for fuck’s sake.”
“You have a point,” Aya said, turning to me expectantly.
All the blood drained from my face as both of them looked at me. Everyone else had been fooled by our ruse, but I saw the skepticism in Aya’s and Kirby’s faces. Some things just weren’t adding up for them. It was like a bullshit radar or something. I knew if I didn’t move in with Finch now, it would be a surefire way of revealing the truth.
“Yeah, of course.” I nervously bundled my hoodie sleeves around my hands. “I’ll stay with Finch. No problem.”
“Then call her,” Kirby said, crossing her arms.
“What?”
“Call her and ask if you can stay with her.”
Aya elbowed her wife as I swallowed thickly. “It’s 4 am.”
“So? If Aya needed me any day or night, she’d call.”
“Yes, but I’m your wife of three fucking decades,” Aya muttered. “They only just got together. Cut her some slack.”
Kirby didn’t budge, arching her brow at me and calling my bluff.
I grabbed my phone out of my hoodie pocket, feeling more trapped in this lie than ever before. I dialed Finch’s number, and to my surprise, she picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, babe,” I said, the word “babe” feeling strange to my ears.
“Babe?” Finch’s voice was raspy with sleep as she chuckled. “I kind of like that.” Well, that made all sorts of Jell-O-y things happen to my legs. “I’m guessing you’re in front of someone? You okay?”
“I’m sorry to wake you?—”
“I was up feeding Cranky Frankie,” she said with a grumble. “The bird, obviously. I would never give you that nickname.”
I chuckled. “Thank you.”
“What’s up?”
“Um . . . so . . . part of the roof kind of caved in at the Salty Dog and?—”
“What?” She suddenly sounded more awake, clothing rustling like she’d bolted out of bed. “Are you okay? Are Aya and Kirby okay?”
“We’re all okay,” I assured her. “Don’t worry.”
“I’m coming over there.”
“Seriously, no one’s hurt,” I pushed. Aya gave Kirby an “I told you so” look, as if Finch’s response to the roof caving in was proof that our relationship was real judging by the vet’s concern. “I just was hoping that maybe, I could stay with you?—”
“Of course, you can.” I heard the sound of keys jangling. “I’m bringing the truck over now.”
“No, it’s fine. Go back to sleep. I can walk?—”
“You are not walking, Goldilocks,” she insisted.
“Seriously—”
“Seriously, I’m on my way.”
“Okay, thanks,” I finally relented.
“See you in a minute.”
“Okay, bye.” When I hung up, I stared at my phone, smiling like an idiot for a second before I realized Kirby and Aya were still watching me curiously, like I was one of the exotic fish in the café aquarium. I put my hands on my hips. “If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said you orchestrated this whole implosion to force us to move in together.”
“Listen, I’m invested in this thing,” Kirby said. “But not enough to punch a bloody hole in my roof.” She waved up at the jagged opening, roof tiles hanging onto the edges and spilling into the room. “I’ll call Petey and see what he can do.”
“Divine intervention,” Aya said with a grin. She looked past me out the window, and I followed her gaze to the white vet truck that was whizzing down the road. “Well, if it isn’t your knight in shining armor.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Not the first time I’ve called her that.”