It didn’t matter what Maddy approved or not, but I wasn’t having that conversation with Dad either. “I’ll ask Frankie.”
“Okay,” Dad said with a nod. The weirdness of it though stuck with me, even after I said night and headed back toward the apartment. I paused at the corner of the building to glance back. Dad hadn’t moved. He wasn’t looking at me, but he was staring over at where Frankie’s car was parked, and I frowned.
Thankfully, he didn’t linger long. After he climbed into his car, I continued on and shook my head. I didn’t need a relationship with him, but if he meant what he said, then maybe giving him a chance wasn’t a bad thing.
Mom had a cup of tea in hand and sat in her chair with some crocheting while watching some program when I came in. She glanced at me. “Heading over to Frankie’s tonight?”
“That was the plan,” I said. “Unless you need me to stay here.”
“No,” she said with a wry smile. “I get wanting to be with your girlfriend.” There was a beat of hesitation. “Everything all right with your father?”
I debated how much to say. “He’s feeling guilty. Wants to get to know me again.” I shrugged. “Asked about Frankie. Wants to take us out to eat, and I said we could try to get food at some point.”
She nodded, the yarn flowing over the hook without hesitation or slowing.
“That okay with you?” I knew the answer. Or more accurately, I knew what she would say, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to ask her.
“I’m never going to tell you to not see your father,” she said, her voice calm and even.
“I know.” Dropping to sit on the coffee table, I made sure I wasn’t blocking the TV before I focused on her again. “You never have. Not seeing him and not speaking to him has been my choice.”
“You’re a good boy, Coop, but I can fight my own battles.”
I gave her a shrug. “You don’t have to fight them on your own. Besides, I told him, I’m firmly #TeamMom.”
That made her laugh, which was exactly what I hoped it would. “Well, in that case, I better get dinner with Frankie before he does.”
Yeah, we could do that. “Next week? Pick a night. I’ll make it happen.”
She grinned at me. “Good, and tell her she’s invited for Thanksgiving.”
Oh. Right.
“I’ll tell her.” Then I rose and pressed a kiss to Mom’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay. Trina’s going to come to her senses. She got over the terrible twos.”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “You were an easy teenager.”
“I was hell on wheels, Mom, I just kept it out of the house.”
She gave me a knowing look. “But you have always known what you wanted, and when you acted out, it was to get her attention.”
Yes and no, but we could agree to disagree on that one. “I’m going to grab my stuff. Text me if you need me?”
As soon as I got to Frankie’s, I boosted her from the sofa where she, Bubba, and Archie were watching a movie. Jake had gone to work. After stealing her back to her room, I filled her in on what went down with my dad. Like always, she just listened, head tucked against my shoulder and her hand in mine.
“So, I get to have dinner with both of your parents?” Her tone didn’t reveal whether she was fond of the idea or not.
“Mom for sure. Dad, we can blow off.”
She wrinkled her nose. “How often do girlfriends have to have dinner with their boyfriend’s parents?”
My expression must have been as blank as my brain at that question.
I had no idea.
Archie and Bubba both cracked up when we asked them, but it turned out the insufferable bastards didn’t know the answer either.
The week blew past us like we were sitting still. Frankie’s restlessness only grew more intense with each passing day. She hated the cast. Hated that we had to help with so much. But she’d been getting better at using her laptop for ninety percent of her assignments.
I took her to work with me a couple of times. Jake took her another night. Archie dragged us all out to mini-golf just to cheer her up, and it could have gone hilariously wrong because she couldn’t hold the club correctly, so we all shot one-handed.
The tears in her eyes were more from laughter than sadness, and that worked for me. After her session