Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“ I shouldn’t have taken this.” Frankie stared at the check in her hands, mainly at the amount on it. And then at Buck’s confident signature. Never in a million years had she imagined he would give her ten thousand dollars. “It’s too much. It’s way too much.”
Harper was behind the wheel, driving them home. “He wouldn’t have given it to you if he wasn’t able to afford it. You heard him. He’s been saving up a long time.”
“Even more reason I shouldn’t have taken it. This is years of scrimping and saving on his part.” Frankie sighed. “And for me to just take it. I feel like…like he’s going to think I’m using him. Or something.”
“Mom,” Willa said from the back seat. “You seriously need to stop overthinking this. Buck even said himself that if you didn’t take the money now, you’d just get it when he passed. And this way, he gets to enjoy the happiness of helping you now. He was practically laughing as he wrote that check. And Aunt Harper’s right. If he couldn’t afford it, he wouldn’t have offered.”
Frankie rubbed her temple. “Willa.”
“What? I’m right,” Willa said. “Aunt Harper, tell her I’m right.”
“She’s right,” Harper said. “You feel bad about it because you aren’t great at asking for help and you’re even worse at taking it.”
“That’s not true,” Frankie shot back, except even as she said it, she knew Harper was right.
Harper pursed her lips. “You mean the way you asked me for help when you were going through your divorce?”
Frankie sighed. “Point taken. But it’s a lot of money. It’s a game-changing amount of money.”
“I’ve never seen anyone look so happy as Buck did when he was writing that check.” Harper put the turn signal on and got around a slow-moving eighteen-wheeler. “And part of the reason that check is for so much is because part of that would have gone to me.”
“I know. Which also makes me feel bad. You want half of this? You should take half of this. It’s as much yours as it is mine.”
“No.” Harper laughed. “I don’t want it. I don’t need it. Just like Buck, I’m happy for you to have it. That’s why I told him to give you my share.”
“What if he expects…I don’t know. For us to be best friends after this or something?”
Harper shook her head. “Frankie, stop making more of this than it is. You needed help. Buck provided it. He’s our biological father. That’s what fathers do. Granted, we just reunited with him, but so what? He’s been thinking about us all of his life. Doesn’t that mean something? It’s more than Sharlene did.”
“Don’t get me started on her,” Frankie muttered. “She made a fool of me.” Frankie wanted to cringe every time she thought about how excited she’d been about that meeting. Only to find out they’d been an afterthought to their biological mother. A part of her past she would just as easily have kept behind her.
“She made a fool of herself, not you,” Harper said. “But Buck? He’s the real deal. There’s no reason not to make him part of our family. He is our family, no matter what happened all those years ago. Glenda’s a good person, too. Just seeing them together, the way they clearly love each other, that was really nice.”
“It was,” Frankie admitted. “They seem perfect for each other.”
Willa leaned forward. “Like you and Lucas.”
Frankie smiled. “Lucas and I have only just begun to get to know each other. Buck and Glenda are at a very different level.”
“Yeah,” Willa said. “But you and Lucas could get there.”
“Settle down,” Frankie said. But she was still smiling. Hard not to when thinking about Lucas. She folded the check and tucked it into her wallet for safekeeping. “I just can’t believe Buck gave me that much money.”
“Will it pay off your attorney’s fees?” Harper asked.
“Not completely,” Frankie answered. “But it will make a difference. If I put it toward the principle, it’ll save me a lot of interest. That’s huge. And with the work I think I’m going to have coming up, I might actually be able to leave my vice-principal’s job behind and focus on my art full-time.”
“That’s amazing,” Harper said.
Frankie watched the cars around them. So many people going so many places. “It is. Or at least it could be. But I don’t really know what to do. I can’t make a decision on my job and my apartment yet.”
“Why not?”
Frankie slanted her eyes at Harper. “Because I don’t know what you’re doing. Are you going to stay in Hideaway Bay? Or are you going back to California?”
Harper exhaled like she was buying time. Or maybe trying to formulate an answer. “I really can’t say yet. It’s a lot to think about. But you don’t need to know what I’m doing to make up your own mind.”
“Yes, I do,” Frankie insisted. “That’s your house and your property.”
“Exactly. So if I say you can live there, you can live there. End of story.”
Frankie shook her head. It wasn’t as simple as Harper made it out to be. Staying there without Harper would feel like charity, in a way. Frankie didn’t like that. “It would be weird to live there without you.”
“Why?”
“Again, because it’s your place. I can’t just move in and—”
“Sure you can.”
Frankie twisted toward Harper as much as the seatbelt would allow. “You really wouldn’t care if I made that house my permanent residence?”
“Nope.”
Frankie doubted that. She decided to call Harper’s bluff. “Really? Hmm. Can you imagine? I bet that life would be a lot of fun. Especially days out on the boat with Mitch and Lucas. Now that’s the kind of life I could get used to.”
Harper had a slight frown on her face. “You just said you couldn’t live there without me, now you’re planning your days?”
“I didn’t say it would be easy. I should call Prisha.” Frankie watched her sister. “See about making yoga class a regular thing. Maybe she and I and Azumi can start a new book club without Sugarlynn and Suzanne. Let those two catty broads fend for themselves. There must be other women in the community who’d like to join us. Maybe Joyce. I bet she’d come. Oh, I know! We’ll invite Lucas! He can make all the snacks. Book club doesn’t have to just be for women.”
Willa giggled. “Aunt Harper, is it my imagination or are you turning green?”
“Hush,” Harper said. “I love it in Hideaway Bay. I really do. But a lot of my life is in California. I’m lucky I haven’t lost more clients since I came out here.”
“But you gained a pretty big one,” Frankie said. “Mitch. What are you going to do with him if you go back?”
“There’s always Zoom. And I didn’t say I was definitely going back. I haven’t said anything except I’m thinking about what to do.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Willa said. “Just stay. Wouldn’t it be cool if after so many years apart, you and Mom lived together? How great would that be? Not to mention, you’d only be two hours from Buck and Glenda. If you want him in your life, moving to California isn’t going to help.”
Harper nodded, although her agreement seemed a little reluctant. “Like I said, a lot to think about. And moving won’t be cheap. Fortunately, I don’t have that much stuff…”
Her phone chimed, then Frankie’s did, too. Frankie took her phone out and checked the screen. “Group message from Joyce. We’re invited to dinner tomorrow night at Mitch’s for a real English Sunday roast.”
“Me, too?” Willa asked.
Frankie nodded. “All three of us. And Lucas, apparently. That sounds like fun. The only thing we need to bring is whatever we want to drink. Shall I tell her yes?”
Harper nodded. “Definitely. Wait until you meet Ruthie. What a sweetie that baby is. And Joyce’s sister is there now, too.”
Frankie typed a quick note back, thanking Joyce for the invite and confirming they would all be there, then she looked at Harper. After a moment, she said, “You really think you could give all of this up?”
Harper changed lanes again, avoiding an overloaded pickup. “Could I? Yes. Do I want to? Would my income suffer? Those are the questions I need to answer.”
“Let me know when you do.” With Buck’s help, and Harper’s insistence that Frankie could live at the house by herself, it seemed that Frankie’s decision had been made. She might still have to get another job to supplement things until her business could sustain itself, but so what?
It was worth a little sacrifice and hard work to get a second chance at happiness.
She had illustration work to do when she got home, but she was also going to draft her letter of resignation to the school.
It was scary to think about making that kind of change, but her life would never get any better if she didn’t.
Not to mention, she wasn’t getting any younger. If she didn’t do this now, when would she?