Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,143
found her outside in the garden after dinner. She’d disappeared, and I had a feeling the noise and laughter might have been too much.
Some days, I had to wonder why my mother hadn’t drowned my sisters at birth, yet here we were.
“You okay?”
She glanced over at me and smiled. “I’m good, just thinking.”
“About whether to call Jackson?” I wouldn’t call him her dad, not right now.
“Do you have like some secret idiot’s guide to handling Frankie?” The exasperation in her voice made me smile as I crossed over to her.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her back to my chest and tucked my hands over her stomach. We didn’t spend as much time at Archie’s place as we used to, and sometimes it was weird to think of it as his “place” when we pretty much lived at the apartment. Still… “If I did, I couldn’t tell you because it’d be classified eyes only, top secret.”
She laughed and leaned back against me. Some of the tension drained out of her.
“And there’s a lot of family stuff going on inside.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I’ve had his name for weeks, you know, and I still don’t know whether I should call him.”
“I’m right here if you decide you want to.”
And I’d be right here. No matter what she decided.
Two days later, she called him while we sat in her living room. None of us spoke while the phone rang. It went to voicemail, and I grimaced. But Frankie actually looked relieved, and she left a message and then hung up.
“Out of my hands now,” she said. “I called.”
“Yeah you did.”
Friday night before graduation, we’d just gotten the pizza in and cued up the next round of Fast and Furious movies that Coop and Frankie wanted to finish when there was a knock at the door.
“I got it.” I made it there and pulled it open. The man standing there looked a bit surprised, and I raised my brows. “Can I help you?”
“I was looking for Frankie Curtis,” he said. “I’m Henry Jackson.”
Frankie and the boys’ story continues in Graduation and Gifts!
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Life doesn’t come with a script but some moments don’t need one.
Senior year pushed us all. It dared us to embrace wonder and chase love. It challenged us to find out who we were as people, as partners, as a family. We’re so much better together.
Graduation isn’t the end of our story by any stretch. It’s the next chapter.
Afterword
Hopefully, this was a much softer landing than last time. And yet, in someway, this is also the end of the road too. The end of high school. It’s both thrilling and bittersweet. When I first envisioned this series, I didn’t imagine spending all these books set in senior year. Now? Now I’m so glad I did.
I love seeing how far they’ve come from the first day to the last. I love how they fought to understand, to connect, to communicate, and ultimately to commit. I love how they share and support not only Frankie, but each other. From Frankie and the guys to Frankie and Rachel, to Rachel and the boys sharing a tacit kind of peace, I continue to savor every step they take.
Their journey is far from over. Happily ever after is a work in progress, remember? Life after high school has its own challenges from college to moving to what happens next in their personal and professional lives.
They’re a unit, they can handle what life throws at them and they are adapting and shifting around in the relationship as they all find their footing in this dynamic. Curveballs and sucker punches are not the end of the road.
Thank you again for being on this journey with me. I am so excited to see where we go next.
xoxo
Heather
About Heather Long
USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.