CHAPTER 51
Frankie
Special K leaves the house to attend a meeting and do some ranch work. While he’s away, I do my best to pretend that I’m a lady of leisure, that this is my gorgeous house and I’ve picked out the curtains myself.
I’m doing fairly good at the fantasy, until I remember Niko is coming for me. And I can’t be here on the ranch when he does.
There’s a knock on the door, and Jasmine comes in with Pussy in the backpack on her back. “I thought you would miss her, so I brought her back before I have to go to school,” she tells me.
She opens the backpack, and Pussy leaps into my arms.
“I think she gained a pound while she was with you,” I laugh.
“Emma’s a good cook. Dad says he has to run twice as much since he married her.”
The front door opens, and Summer walks in. “Oh, good. You’re here. Come on.”
“Come on?” I ask.
“Oh! Ha! I forgot to tell you where.” She points to her forehead. “Pregnancy brain. It’s got its own mind. Get it? Ha! Anyway, I’m heading over to Jamie and Phyllis’s. She’s got coffee cake and fresh bacon. Come on!”
Jasmine reaches out and touches my arm. “You really don’t want to miss that.”
“Grab the cat and let’s roll.”
Summer’s bossy in a best friend kind of way, but from what I can tell, she’s extremely cool. More loving than she lets on. And there isn’t a mean bone in her body. I put Pussy into the backpack again, say goodbye to Jasmine, and follow Summer to the door.
She straight-arms me. “Pants might be good.”
I look down at myself and laugh, then run upstairs to change into Emma’s tracksuit. I follow Summer to Special K’s father’s house.
Summer barges through their door, and I follow her inside. Special K’s dad Jamie throws me into a bear hug as if I’m his long-lost daughter. Phyllis kisses me on my cheek. “You must be starving,” she says. “Our Kevin doesn’t cook, bless him.”
“You got any sardines?” Summer asks, rifling through the kitchen cabinets. “I have a hankering for sardines with my coffeecake.”
“Pregnant ladies,” Jamie says to me and winks. “My wife used to love to eat sauerkraut straight out of the can when she was pregnant, but she couldn’t abide a salad. Go figure.”
“I used to eat Butterfinger bars every day during my pregnancy,” Phyllis says.
“Gee, I sure hope mine are Butterfinger pregnancies and not the sardine kind.” Did I really just blurt that out? I clamp my mouth closed. Why am I talking about having a baby? I’ve never even thought of being pregnant.
Summer lifts an eyebrow at me. Jamie and Phyllis pretend to not have heard, bless them.
Since Jamie’s already had his breakfast he reads his newspaper and sips coffee while we dig in. Phyllis puts a can of sardines on the table in front of Summer while the two of us enjoy eggs and bacon, mine accompanied by a slice of white toast and jam.
Summer goes through the sardines and almost immediately complains about indigestion. “You probably think I’m weird,” she says looking down at the empty can.
“Not at all,” I say.
“If you knew how I got married, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Oh, you mean how you got married by Beyonce at the Mariah Carey Chapel of Love on the Vegas Strip while falling-down drunk?”
Phyllis laughs. “Special K told you all that?”
“Normally the boy can’t string two words together,” Jamie adds.
“I remember this one time,” Summer says, already laughing.
“We were out on the range for an entire week, just me and K. And that man didn’t say one word to me—and I mean nothing—until the sixth night.
We were sitting around the campfire eating when he raises his head, blinks, and says, ‘There’s too much salt in the beans.
’ I almost had a heart attack at the sound of another human voice. ”
We all laugh. Jamie shakes his head and goes back to reading. Summer burps. But Phyllis… she’s sitting very still, studying me, as a sweet, knowing smile spreads across her face.
I smile back.
I think she’s pleased to learn that Special K’s opened up to me. Maybe it’s true that I’m special to him. Maybe that’s why he’s told me so much about his family. And why he’s shared stuff about himself that he’s never shared with them.
The question is why. Is he falling in love with me?
Could that be what’s happening?
I stare down at my plate, suddenly feeling nervous. This is insane. One week I’m running for my life and the next the most beautiful, protective man I’ve ever met is falling for me?
I should be overjoyed, but a sadness settles over my heart. I can’t allow myself to love him back. I can’t allow myself to have him.
It’s not even an option for me.
I need to hit the road before I start making the kind of stupid decisions that will put these wonderful people at risk.
He needs to get me out of here before it’s too late.