London stared at Frankie like she had two heads.
"Fate? Seriously?"
Frankie sat back in the barstool and glared at her sister. "Do you want me to tell you or not?"
"I do! I totally do. I'm sorry," she said, waving a hand in front of her face like she waved away an irritating fly. "It's just a surprise to hear that question coming from you."
"Forget it."
"No, don't you dare. You know what I mean. Of all of us, you're the last one to ever be girly-romantic about such things."
"Fine. Don't call it fate. What about coincidence? Like, hard-core coincidence. Do you believe in that?"
London took hold of her long braid and whipped it over her shoulder like she tossed back a cape.
"I believe there is a plan for each of us and things have a way of happening when they're supposed to, so, yeah, I do. Why are you asking? Where is this coming from?"
"It's… Something weird happened today.
"And…?"
London gave Frankie a fresh cup of brew and then placed her elbows on the counter, leaning forward toward Frankie and giving her all of her attention.
"I thought… I thought I saw someone I know—knew."
"How does that equate to… fate? Come on, either fill me in or I'll call the sisterhood, because I have to know where this is going."
Calling the remaining three sisters meant heading down to the beach to their special place by the dream catcher mailbox and explaining this to all of them. Not something she wanted to do. It was hard enough explaining this to her twin. "No meeting. And this stays between us."
London nodded immediately but her frown revealed her concern.
"Okay. But for the love of coffee, just hurry up and tell me already."
Frankie smiled at her sister's words, but just as quickly, the smile faded and she searched for the right way to tell the story. "When I enlisted in the Marines, I met this guy. And ever since then, everywhere I go, eventually, we… wind up finding each other."
"Like he's stalking you?"
Frankie shook her head, hands gripping the warm coffee mug tight so London wouldn't realize how badly they shook. Was she about to see him again? "No. Nothing like that. It's like… life just keeps bringing us back together."
"Thus the question of fate."
Once more she nodded. "I don't even know if it was him, but given our history… It rattled me."
"Why? What happened between you? Do you want it to be him?"
"No." She shook her head to emphasize the word and hated herself for the fear surging to the surface. The anger.
The heartbreak.
"That was an awfully quick response, but it wasn't all that convincing. Are you sure?"
Frankie opened her mouth to confirm her words but nothing would form. Maybe because, if she were honest, the real reason was because she didn't know if she could stand seeing him again. There came a point in life when a person couldn't handle any more pain. "Just forget it. I have to go. I need to head to the garage."
"Frankie… stop. Talk to me."
"I don't know what to say."
"How did you meet? I know you said the Marines, but where? What happened between the two of you that's got you so… freaked out?"
Basics. Yeah, she could do basic questions. And then, maybe, more. "I met him for the first time in boot camp. He was stationed there. And since it was boot camp and I was just trying to survive, it wasn't a big deal. We said hello, ran into each other a few times around the base, and that was it. Then two years into my stint, I turned the corner when I was stationed in California, and there he was again."
"And?"
"And we talked. Flirted a little. Same thing happened in Germany. Then I was sent to Japan."
"I get the sense that's not the end of it. Did you email? Text?"
"No. Maybe I should've known something was up then because he didn't ask for my info."
"You weren't in Japan long."
"No. About a year. Then they sent me to Kabul. And two months later, there he was."
"Wow."
"I know. It's like there's some kind of magnet that keeps pulling us to the same places."
"And there's no way he could have manipulated the circumstances leading up to all of those meetings?"
"No. He didn't have the rank to do that. And even if he did, it wasn't… like that."
"But you think the guy you saw is him?"
Frankie shrugged. "Given the number of times it's happened in the past, maybe. Wouldn't you?"
"I suppose. Even if he couldn't have pulled strings to find you in the past, that doesn't mean he didn't search for you online and track you down."
"He hasn't sought me out, Londy."
"Then why does the possible sight of him have you shaking in your boots? Frankie, if you like this guy, barring the obvious stalker scenario, what's the problem with seeing him again? What are you not saying?"
The answers to those questions weren't basic at all. Frankie stared into her cup, unable to find the words.
"Oh, Frankie, is this about your injuries? That won't matter to him. Not if he cares for you, if he's the one for you and all of the coincidences are part of something bigger. Right?"
Heat prickled her eyes and Frankie blinked hard to relieve the pressure. "I don't think your 'something bigger' works in this scenario."
"Why do you say that?"
Frankie felt as though the duct tape holding her heart together ripped off in painful yanks. "Because… after we kept meeting up and hanging out, and after we were able to actually spend quality time together in Kabul and I fell in love with him, I… found out he was married."
London's hands surrounded Frankie's wrists, and when she was finally able to meet her twin's gaze, she saw the love she knew would be there, but also anger.
"Married men should have to have brands on their freaking foreheads or something."
"Some women wouldn't care."
"But good women do and God doesn't send any woman someone else's husband. You wouldn't have allowed yourself to get close to a married man had you known. I'm sure of that."
Frankie nodded because it was true. She'd had no idea, and the sight of a ring was an automatic hands-off to her. What had started off as simple conversations over the way they kept running into each other had turned into evenings spent playing pool or darts or just talking over a drink with friends. The first few meet-ups hadn't lasted long enough nor had she known him well enough to have been given such personal information being that they were purely random, but later… when they met up again in Kabul… In all the hours and all the talking, he'd never mentioned having a wife. "We didn't do anything. We… We almost kissed… It would've been our first kiss, but then he pulled away and said he had to tell me something. I have to give him credit for that. I'm grateful that he stopped, at least, but—"
"But it was too late because you'd already fallen for him."
Frankie nodded, hard as it was to admit.
"What happened when he told you?"
"I flipped. Like, off the rails flipped. I'm not stupid and he could've told me earlier. Like you said, I wouldn't have let myself get close to him at all had I known he was married."
"So what did he say?"
Wry laughter emerged from her chest. "He said it was 'complicated' and something about getting a divorce, but at that point I didn't care anymore. For all I knew, he was lying about that, too. I told him to get lost, which was easy since he was heading back to the States the next day anyway. That's… when I volunteered to cover Muldoon."
"You mean it's his fault you were almost killed? Oh, I hope it is him so I can—"
"Londy, I didn't want to be there when Grayson left."
"That doesn't matter."
"It does. I volunteered."
"And barely lived to tell the tale."
"Even if Grayson hadn't been leaving… I would've covered for Muldoon anyway. Just to get some distance. I needed the head space after coming so close to… being the other woman." There was no excuse for cheating. Ever. And any woman who actively pursued a man knowing he was married?
Not someone she'd ever allow herself to be.
"You really were in love with him, weren't you?"
Frankie looked into the coffee mug again because she couldn't hold London's gaze. Being one of five sisters wasn't easy. Being the most athletic, rough-and-tumble tomboy of the bunch also meant being considered the toughest, physically and emotionally, and made conversations like this one all the harder to have. In love with him? It was like saying there was a drop of water in the ocean. "Yeah."
Men tended to steer clear of strong women, and she was strong, no doubt about it. But when she'd finally let the barriers down and allowed herself to fall…
Grayson had shattered her with his announcement. And while she knew she wasn't the only woman to ever have her heart broken, it had certainly seemed like she was, and she felt all the more foolish because of it.
Volunteering to cover Muldoon gave her purpose and forced her to focus on something other than the heartbreak. Then again, once the IED blew, everything hurt. She'd never forget that kind of pain. Or the emotional devastation that came afterward when she was lucid enough to learn the full extent of the damage done to her by the blast.
"Frankie?"
"I can't see him again, Londy. It's impossible for fate or th-the plan you're talking about to put us together again, right? Because if that's the case, it's cruel."
London stared at her but didn't offer any encouragement to the contrary. Maybe because London knew, in the moment, the words would be useless. "I have to go. Can I get one of those to go?"
"Of course." London hurried to grab a coffeepot and fill the request. "Listen…"
"I'm okay. I just got spooked for a second because I’m so tired, that's all. What are the odds, right? No big deal."
London set the to-go cup in front of her and then grasped Frankie's hand in hers.
"Right. And if the guy you saw is him? You've got this. Girl, you survived war. You can handle a man. Especially one who has already lied to you."