I just look at him. "Who doesn’t carry money with them?"
"I have a wife and three kids. My wallet is their petty cash drawer," Cooper says, going to sit down.
"I can’t remember the last time I actually carried cash," Michael adds in. "Actually, it was two weeks ago, and then Franny took it from me to buy a hot dog." He turns to Cooper. "You should pay your sister's debts."
He laughs at him, flipping him the bird, and I try not to listen to their conversation, but the minute they mentioned her name, my whole body woke up. "If she knew you wanted someone to pay her debt, she would kick you in the balls," Cooper tells him. "She doesn’t want anything from anyone. I tried to pay her lunch last week, and she told the waitress that my card was fake and that the IRS was after me." I turn away chuckling and it just makes me even more curious about her. I know what she tastes like, I know what she feels like, I know that her pussy is tight as a vise, and she gives just as good as she gets. I know that when push comes to shove, she would fight me at every single turn. I know all of this, yet I also know that she hasn’t heard the last of me.
Chapter 13
Frances
I close my front door behind me with my foot. Why is it that we always carry all the bags into the house at one time, instead of making two trips? I do this every single time. I run to the kitchen and dump the bags on the counter with red marks all over my wrist and my fingers. "Why didn’t you make two trips?" my sister, Vivi, asks, coming into the kitchen. She got here last night with Alex, and we spent most of the day working side by side until I remembered the wine party that I was having and ran out to grab stuff at the grocery store.
"I literally called you and said come outside and help me," I huff at her, unpacking one of the bags.
"I said I was coming." She outstretches her hands. "And here I am."
"Fine, then you can unpack the bags, and I’ll go take a shower." I grab a bottle of water and walk toward the stairs. My phone rings in my back pocket. I take it out and see it’s my father. My heart speeds up, and I get suddenly nervous. "Hello," I say softly. He hasn’t really spoken to me since he left. He did answer the text message that I sent him asking him about a recipe, but our relationship is stuck at a standstill.
"Hey there," he says, and I can tell from his voice he isn’t sure what to say. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” I reply, walking to my bedroom. "What about you?" I sit on my bed and look down at the water bottle, turning it in my hand.
"Good, good." He stops talking, and I literally hate this whole thing. "I got your email."
"Oh, good," I say, smiling now. "Did you get a chance to watch it?" As soon as I was done with the segment, I sent it to my father. It was something that I wasn’t sure of, but I did it without even thinking twice or else I wouldn’t have sent it.
"I did." He takes a deep breath. "It was really good," he says, and I can’t help but smile. "You did good, Fran.” I wipe away the tear that rolls down my cheek. "Knew that you would." I can’t help but smile through the tears. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent on that segment but what I can tell you is that at the end all I wanted was for my dad to see it.
"Thank you," I say softly. "That means a lot." I try not to sniffle or make him know that I’m crying.
"Seeing the old clips," he says and I can hear a smile in his voice. "It was strange."
"You didn’t think I would do a segment on Uncle Max and not have you in there. I mean M&M for life, right?" I say softly, and his laughter makes me smile. "I miss you, Dad." I wipe the tear away.
"I miss you, too, Fran, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said, and I should have supported you."
"Yeah, you should have," I agree. "And I’m sorry, too. For not talking to you about it."
"That’s what hurt the most." His voice is almost in a whisper. "The fact that you made a life-changing decision without even talking to me hurt."
"I had to do it on my own," I tell him. "If only so I can know that I can do it."