Chapter 34

Frankie stared at the screen. She’d done it. She’d written an article for Variety. And it was good. It was ready to be sent in but she wanted to read through it again. Something that felt a lot like pride flickered inside of her chest. She enjoyed what she wrote for Glam-Her. She wasn’t ashamed of it or uncomfortable about the topics but she knew it wasn’t Pulitzer Prize material.

“Well, neither is this,” she muttered, pushing back in the kitchen chair. Going to the fridge, she grabbed a can of Diet Pepsi, popped the top, and took a long, perfectly carbonated drink. Checking the time on the stove, she wondered if she should call Chloe and ask her to pick something up on the way back.

Frankie found it funny that her best friend was captivated with the tiny-almost-nothing town. Chloe had gone for a hike, despite the cold, and then decided she would check out the local library. It gave Frankie time to write her article and daydream about Ryan, who was currently at ball practice. She had arranged to go see the boys the following day and hoped to take them out somewhere, maybe for pizza. Taking her can of soda, she wandered through the house, realizing the irony of not liking how quiet it was when she’d moved here to be alone. Her phone rang and she knew it was her mom. She smiled, thinking Tina Vaughn must be at the end of her rope with her daughter’s lack of phone calls and updates. She’d finally told them everything through an email. Cowardly, she knew, but she hadn’t been up for the verbal lecture. Frankie walked back to the living room, picked up the cordless, and nestled herself into the corner of the couch.

“Hey, mom,” she greeted.

“You have call display,” her mom said.

“I do. But I knew it was you anyway. How are you?” Frankie missed having a phone where she could wind the cord around her finger. She set her soda down and ran her finger over the grooved pattern in the couch instead.

“I’m fine. Same as always. Frankie, I want to know what’s going on, honey. I want to come visit. It’s not good for you to be out there all on your own and making all these rash decisions,” Tina said, her breath pulling in, warning Frankie of a long rant.

“Mom. Please. You can visit after things are settled. I’m not on my own. I have a boyfriend who I’m very much in love with who feels the same about me. I’m hoping the boys are back by the end of this month. And these decisions aren’t rash, mom. I just didn’t need a lot of time to make them. They feel right. They feel good. Besides, Chloe is here checking up on me,” Frankie replied.

Her mom made a dismissive noise and Frankie smiled. She missed her family. She loved them. She’d just needed to find something of her own. Now that she had, she didn’t want to keep it to herself. Extend the olive branch, she thought and then cringed, shaking her head at herself.

“Your friend is hardly your mom. It’s been almost three months.”

“How about Christmas? It’ll be beautiful here. You guys can come the week before and stay until New Year?” Frankie offered, feeling relatively safe since she could always camp at Ryan’s if she needed a break from them.

“That might work. I’ll have to check with your dad. And your brother. Is Beth’s place…habitable for us? I don’t suppose there’s a Hilton nearby. I hate that you’re so far away, Frances.”

Frankie cringed. Only her mother called her that. Everyone else knew better.

“It’s not that far, mom. There’s space here for you guys but you’re right, it’s not the Hilton. This place has been good for me,” Frankie said. She took a sip of her drink and decided to go all in. “I signed a contract with Variety. I’m getting ready to send them my first article today.” She leaned back, dug herself deeper into the couch, and pulled the soft, grey throw blanket over her legs.

“What’s it about?”

“It’s called Finding Yourself in Unexpected Places,” Frankie said, smiling at the way the words rolled effortlessly off of her tongue.

“Well that suits, doesn’t it?” Frankie smiled into the phone. Maybe leaving had made them accept that she just didn’t want the same life they had. Sometimes, acceptance came with distance.

She told her mom more about the monthly column she would be writing and how it could lead to other opportunities. Frankie had arrived in West Lake feeling at odds and without direction. She didn’t feel that way now and, even if she missed her family, she felt good about where she was. When they hung up, she went back to her computer and pressed send on her email to her new editor. Pleased, she grabbed a bag of chips, which lasted a lot longer without three boys in the house, and another soda.

Frankie swiped the moisture off her face without opening her eyes. Another drop hit her cheek and in her half-dream state she imagined she was outside, lying in the rain. But when Chloe’s giggle broke through her haze, she opened her eyes and found her friend standing above her, water droplets falling from her fingers.

“Hi Cinderella,” said Chloe. It took Frankie a minute, which she used to sit up, to realize that Chloe had mixed up her fairy tales.

“Uh, Sleeping Beauty was the one that slept,” Frankie said. Chloe’s eyebrows scrunched and she flopped onto the couch beside Frankie.

“What’d Cinderella do?”

“How can you not know your fairy tales?”

Chloe shrugged and took a drink of the water she was holding.

“My mom didn’t like them. Not all mamas read to their princesses,” Chloe said. Frankie knew her friend was joking but the words poked at her conscience. She was lucky to have the family she did and she needed to be more appreciative. Though, she reminded herself, she had just invited them for Christmas. Stretching, she rubbed her hands over her face.

“I fell asleep,” Frankie said. Chloe snorted.

“Thanks Princess Obvious.”

Frankie gave Chloe a hard stare that didn’t faze her in the least. They’d been friends for too long to not be used to the back-and-forth teasing.

“What did you do?” Frankie asked.

“Actually, I took a nice little hike with a pal of yours,” Chloe said. Her eyebrows bobbed up and down in a foolish way that made Frankie laugh.

“Who?”

“You’re not even going to guess?”

Frankie pushed off the couch to make some tea.

“Want some tea?” She knew Chloe would break before she did.

“It was Cameron. Mr. Sexy Mayor of West Lake.” Chloe trailed behind her and while Frankie made tea, she hoisted herself on the counter and nibbled on the open bag of chips.

“Mr. Jack-ass-dressed-in-a-nice-suit Cameron?”

Chloe snickered, rooting through the bag for more than crumbs.

“That’s the one. Actually, he was rather nice. Once we got to talking and we each made the connection that we knew you, he was sincerely curious about how you and the boys were doing.”

Frankie grabbed two cups and lifted the kettle from its stand when it whistled.

“It’s always easy to be empathetic after the fact,” Frankie said. Irritation crept along her skin. Technically, what had happened hadn’t been his fault, but Cameron was like a catalyst for the events and she didn’t love the idea of Chloe and him getting cozy.

“True. We hiked for a bit together. It’s beautiful up the side of Bonshore Mountain. Have you been yet?”

Before Frankie could answer, Chloe laughed at her own question. Frankie did her best to run a couple times a week but climbing a mountain was not going to happen.

“Anyway,” Chloe said, her voice syrupy, “He said to say hi. Hoped you were okay. I told him I don’t really know if you are.”

Frankie stopped pouring the water and set down the kettle. Her eyes were wide when she looked at Chloe, her chest tight.

“I’d be more okay if something moved forward. And, honestly, Cameron is not my favorite person right now so I don’t want to talk to him. Or have you talk to him about me.”

Chloe nodded softly. “Okay.”

Frowning, Frankie asked, “What do you mean you didn’t know if I was okay. I am, but of course you’d know if I wasn’t.”

For as long as Frankie could remember, she and Chloe had known everything about each other. They didn’t need to share a joke to laugh at it. If one of them didn’t like someone, no further explanation was necessary for the other to follow suit. They could pick each other’s clothing off of racks, order each other’s meals. Chloe’s eyes were glued to the back of the chip bag, her chin tucked so her words were quiet.

“It’s just…you know, everything is going along and I know you weren’t entirely happy with Robert. It didn’t knock me off my seat when you broke up with him,” she said. She lifted her chin to look at Frankie. Frankie’s stomach tumbled at the hurt she saw in her friend’s expression. “But even I couldn’t have predicted you just taking off, moving a few states away and starting a life that…”

“A life that what, Chloe?” Frankie stepped closer to her and rested her hand on Chloe’s fidgeting one.

“A life that didn’t include any of us.” Chloe’s shoulders curled forward.

Regret felt like splinters in Frankie’s chest, digging around and poking holes where certainty had been. She squeezed Chloe’s hand, hard, trying to breathe around the splinters.

“My life always includes all of you. Chloe, you’re as much my family as my own brother and my parents. I love you. Just because I left doesn’t mean I left you behind,” she said. Her voice was raspy. Chloe nodded, her eyes bright. Frankie squeezed her hand hard enough that Chloe flinched.

“But you kind of did.”

Frankie let go and moved back so Chloe could push off of the counter.

“I didn’t, I just needed to find something that felt like me. Something that made me feel like you feel being a wellness coach. I needed more than a job change. I needed to be somewhere else so I could see myself from a different angle,” Frankie said. She was trying hard to keep the pleading edge out of her voice. “But no matter where I am, who I am will always be, in part, because of you. Because you’re my friend.”

“That word doesn’t seem strong enough, does it?” Chloe gave a wry smile and sniffed indelicately. She grabbed a Kleenex from the box on the counter and Frankie’s heart twisted just a little more.

“It’s doesn’t. There needs to be a new word for what you are to me. For how much you matter.”

Chloe nodded again, a little firmer this time. She scrunched the Kleenex up in her hand and put her arms around Frankie’s neck, pulling her close. “I miss you,” she said. She gave another quiet sniff and Frankie wrapped her arms around her friend and tried not to squeeze the life out of her even as she tried not to break down in tears.

“I’m right here. No matter where I am. I’m right here.”