23. Evan
Frannieand I settled into a routine over the next couple of days. We’d wake up together, then she’d make me coffee from her fancy-shmancy machine before we’d head off to work. When we got home, we’d cook dinner—usually something fairly easy—and spend the rest of our evening in my bed. I’d never been happier and couldn’t imagine life being any better.
After a week of avoiding the outside world and losing ourselves in each other, I figured it was time to take my girl out on the town. So, Friday night, I met her at home, then we headed to Pappy’s for our usual burgers. The place was hopping with a fair number of football fans grabbing a bite before heading to watch the high school take on their biggest rival.
Frannie hadn’t been sure about attending the game together since she didn’t want to feed the gossip mill. I told her there was no use trying to hide. We’d be better off facing it head on and letting people get their “I told you so’s” out of the way so we could get on with our relationship. So, when my sister Ruby slid into our regular booth in back, I reached across the table for Frannie’s hand.
Ruby snagged a fry from the burger basket Pappy had just set down in front of me. “Is it true the two of you are seeing each other for real?” she asked, right before she popped the fry into her mouth.
Frannie took in a deep breath while she waited for me to reply. We’d already decided I’d handle my family, and she’d handle hers, which really wasn’t fair since she only had her dad to worry about.
“You figure that out on your own, little Sherlock?” Giving my sister shit was pretty much a full-time job. Usually she deserved it, but with four brothers around, it was also inevitable.
“Everyone at the distillery’s talking about it. How you beat out a Stewart to win Frannie’s heart.” Ruby grabbed another fry and dipped it in the secret sauce Pappy always served alongside his burgers.
As much as I would have liked to claim victory over a Stewart, especially one who was as put together as Andrew, I felt the need to set my sister straight. “It wasn’t exactly like that, Rubes. Frannie just came to her senses and realized I was a much better kisser.”
Frannie’s eyes widened and a faint blush kissed her cheeks. I gave her a reassuring grin across the table and squeezed her hand.
“Gross. I don’t want to think about any of my brothers kissing anyone. Did you know he went for six weeks without brushing his teeth the summer he hiked part of the Appalachian Trail?” Ruby shook her head as she chowed down on another fry.
Frannie just gave her a sweet smile. “I can assure you, your brother’s oral hygiene has improved a lot since then.”
“We were supposed to be roughing it. I chewed on a stick, just like they do on Survivor.” It didn’t do any good to try to defend myself.
“I suppose you know how gross he used to be since you’ve known him almost as long as I have.” Ruby got up and slid onto the bench across the table. Then she wrapped an arm around Frannie’s shoulder and pulled her into a hug. “I’m glad you two are seeing each other. You’ve always been like a sister to me. Maybe one day we’ll get to make it official.”
I’d been smiling but almost choked on my own breath when those words came out of my sister’s mouth. Not because proposing to Frannie hadn’t been my end goal all along, but because we hadn’t even broached the topic yet.
Frannie let go of my hand to hug her back, not missing a beat. “You’re like a sister to me, too. As for making it official, we’ve got time, hon.”
“Do you have other plans tonight, or were you planning on tagging along with us as a third wheel?” I slid my burger basket closer to my chest to protect my fries from another attack. Frannie and I were planning on putting in an appearance at the game, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about having Ruby go with us. Technically, this was a date.
“Yes, I have plans. Like I’d want to hang with you all night.” She shot me a smile as she teased. It had always been like that between us. We kept things light, but if she ever needed anything, she knew I had her back. Family came first.
“Will we see you at the game?” Frannie let her arms fall from Ruby’s shoulders. “It’s going to be a good one tonight.”
“I’ll be there. Actually, I should leave now. I volunteered to man the sign-up table for the fundraiser run coming up for the school.” She slid out of the booth and managed to grab two more fries before I saw her reach for my basket.
“That’s so sweet of you. We’ve got a record number of runners this year. I think we’ll probably break last year’s total by at least a couple thousand dollars.”
Frannie had been working on the fun run for weeks. Instead of a fall fundraiser for the school, they held a town-wide fun run. Since my leg had been feeling like a million bucks, I’d signed up to participate. She probably hadn’t noticed yet, but she would when I posted the most recent donation I’d received. My brother Vaughn had sponsored me for ten grand last week. I’d tried to get him to take part instead of just ponying up cash, but he said he didn’t have time for that, not with the holidays coming up and trying to get ready for all the seasonal blends we’d be introducing soon.
I probably didn’t have time to do it either, but I wanted to show Frannie and everyone else that I was on the mend. To think, a few weeks ago I’d been having trouble getting up a trail, and a soon I’d be doing my first 10k since getting injured. Made me feel like I was on the right path. And with Frannie in my arms every night, my future was looking every bit as bright as I’d always hoped it would be.
“Did you see who’s raised the most money so far?” Ruby had given up on my fries and stood at the end of the table, one hand cocked on her hip.
Frannie’s smiled faded just a little. “It doesn’t matter who raises the most money. The main thing is that it’s going to a good cause. Based on the money coming in, we’ll be able to afford two more field trips this year. The amount of support this town gives to the school never ceases to amaze me.”
“Who’s raised the most money so far?” I hadn’t posted the ten grand donation from Vaughn yet, but was sure I’d be wiping the floor with whoever was currently in the lead.
Ruby tilted her head as she turned toward me. “Andrew Stewart. He doesn’t even live in town.”
Andrew Fucking Stewart. Had he signed up for the race to impress Frannie? She said she’d ended things with him on mutual terms, but the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I pictured the way he’d looked at her the night we met. Maybe he wasn’t happy she’d moved on. Based on how things had been going between us, I didn’t have any reason to doubt Frannie’s feelings for me, but I was possessive of our budding relationship. I didn’t want anything to get in the way of making her mine for good. Especially not a Stewart.
“Evidently, Andrew’s training for the Boston marathon in the spring and said he’d be happy to run the 10k to support the school,” Ruby said.
Frannie fidgeted with her napkin and didn’t make eye contact. Not a good sign.
“I’d better let you two eat before your food gets cold. See you at the game later?” Ruby arched an expectant brow.
“We’ll be there.” I wrapped my hands around my burger and sank my teeth into the layers of meat and cheese. Having a mouth full of food would give me a good excuse as to why I couldn’t talk about the run.
Frannie dipped a fry in her special sauce and lifted it to her lips. “I saw your name on the sign-up sheet for the 10k. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Like hell I’d back down now that I knew Andrew was going to be there. Frannie might say I had nothing to prove to her, but I’d feel a lot better when she saw me cross that finish line, especially when I delivered a huge donation.
I swallowed and offered a cocky grin. “I’m fine, Frannigan. I haven’t felt this good since I got hurt.”
“And you’ve decided against the surgery?”
“How do you know about that?”
She dropped her chin. “I might have overheard you talking to Miller about it on the phone the other night.”
“Well don’t worry. I’m not going to let them go back in and rip me up just to pull out a few more pieces of metal. It’s fine.” I might have downplayed what the doc said just a little, but the overall message was the same. Even though a few pieces of shrapnel had moved since my initial injury, as long as they didn’t get too close to an artery or start aggravating the surrounding tissue, we could leave it alone. And with how well I was feeling and how awesome things were going with Frannie, I didn’t even want to consider the surgery. Not with the risk of it leaving me in even worse shape than I’d been in when I arrived home.
“You’d tell me if there was anything to worry about, wouldn’t you?” The way her lower lip trembled had me feeling like a grade A asshole.
“Yeah. Of course I would.” Sensing a change of subject was necessary before we slid into talk too heavy for a pre-football game dinner, I fell back on a line of conversation she wouldn’t be able to resist. “Read any more of that diary we picked up?”
Frannie’s eyes lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning. “Yes. After you conked out last night, I read a few more pages. From what I can tell, Miss Cornelia was caught up in quite a tragic love triangle.”
“Really?” I’d tried doing some research on Cornelia Bishop—and by research I meant asking my brother Cole about her since he was the self-proclaimed family historian. Turns out she was a distant aunt on our dad’s side. It took Cole a little while to track down the information, since most of our family history was lost in a fire up at our family’s old cabin when we were kids. Thankfully, the local historical society had some records from that time, and Cole had been working with them to fill in the missing pieces of the Bishop family’s early time in Beaver Bluff.
“She was in love with a boy who lived up the mountain. They wrote letters back and forth and some of them were so sweet.” Frannie got a dreamy kind of look in her eyes. She’d always been a hopeless romantic.
“So, you read some of the letters?” I’d never written a love letter in my life, but I’d be willing to try it if it would make my girl look at me with those lovey-dovey eyes.
She cut her lettuce-wrapped burger in half. “Just the ones from him to her. Who knows what happened to the ones she sent him.”
“Do you know his name? I can ask Cole about it. Or we could ask at the historical society.”
“I already did. I wanted to see if I could find out more and surprise you. Unfortunately, the only record they have about him is a birth date. It would be interesting to see if there’s any mention of him in the records your family has though.”
“What’s his name? I’ll mention it to Cole.”
“Logan Scott. You’ll let me know what you find out?”
“We’re in this together, Frannie. Trust me, you’ll be the first to know.”