Page 20 of Unlikely

“Frankie,” I plead. “I know you can’t stand the thought of coming back to L.A., but he needs you.” Hitting him where it hurts, I add, “Your family needs you.”

If you asked Arlo and Lennox, they would both tell you there are times when they’ve questioned Frankie’s love for them—Frankie’s love for all of us; his departure was such a bitter pill for them to swallow. But deep down, I know the truth. I know his demons are as big and scary as the rest of ours, and his choice to move to Seattle was a sacrifice, not an act of selfishness. But no matter what your intentions are, sometimes you hurt the people you love, and sometimes you’re given a chance to heal the people you hurt.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he eventually says, and my body sags in relief. “I have to ask my boss for the time off and tie up some loose ends.”

“Do what you have to, Frankie, but make sure it’s an open-ended visit, because I’m not letting you fly back to Seattle until I know he’s one hundred percent okay.” The tone in my voice doesn’t leave much room for arguing, and I think maybe for once he won’t. He knows Lennox is just as much my family as he is his, and I didn’t spend years raising him and Remy and making excuses for Frankie and Arlo, just for our lives to fall apart as adults.

“I get it, Clem,” he reassures me. “I’ll text you my flight details as soon as I have them.”

“Good.”

“And, Clem,” he hedges. “If anything changes, call me.”

“Of course.”

The staffroom door swings open just as I end the call, Billy the café owner standing in front of me. “I came as quickly as I could. I’m sorry to hear about Lennox,” he says empathetically. “Take as much time off as you need, and Shannon and I will work it out.”

Shannon is Wonderwood’s other café manager, and I use that term lightly, because when I’m not working an exorbitant number of hours, and it’s her days on, she barely lifts a finger. And Billy isn’t much different. He’s a man who knows how to own a business, he just doesn’t know how to run it. Either way, I’m grateful for his urgency, certain that if it wasn’t for Raine, I wouldn’t be able to leave here a minute earlier than closing time.

“Thanks, Billy.” I offer him a sad smile. “I’m going to leave for the hospital now, but if you have any questions, please just call me.”

He nods. “Hopefully, we won’t have to.”

A loud knock on the door interrupts us, and when Remy pops his head in, my eyes immediately start filling with unshed tears.

Shooting up from my chair, I run over to him and throw my arms around his neck. “Thank you for getting here so quickly.”

“Are you kidding? There’s nowhere else I need to be right now.”

Grateful to have someone who understands my exact fears and knows my exact worries, I quickly round up my cross-body bag and my sweatshirt so we can get to the hospital sooner rather than later.

Giving Raine a quick hug and waving goodbye to Billy, I step out onto the curb to see Remy climbing into a pearl-white Range Rover.

“Um, Remy,” I say, more to myself than him, as I walk up to the driver’s side and knock on the window. He rolls it down, his expression expectant, clearly anticipating my question. “Whose car is this?”

“I borrowed a friend’s car so we wouldn’t have to catch the bus.”

I know it isn’t the time to ask questions, but I have so many. “We will come back to this,” I warn.

He chuckles. “I don’t doubt it.”

Trusting Remy to get us where we need to be, I let myself sink into the comfortable leather seat and send a quick thank you text to Raine and a “we’re on our way” to Samuel.

Lastly, I send a message to Arlo, and hope both he and Lennox can forgive me.

Frankie’s on his way.

7

ZARA

“Thank you for dinner,” Aubrey says as she turns onto my street. “I can’t believe I’ve lived in L.A. for almost half my life and never been to a food and wine festival.”

“I’m happy to have introduced you to something new,” I say. “But I can’t take all the credit. If it wasn’t for one of my favorite Instagram accounts, Meals and Melodies, posting about it, I wouldn’t have had a clue it was going on.”

“They had that stall, right?” She clicks her fingers as she tries to remember. “The man who looked like he stepped off the set ofVikingsand his cute boyfriend?”

“Yes. Oz and Reeve,” I confirm. “Oz pairs his favorite food and beverages with his favorite songs and bands. It’s like he creates the perfect date in one Instagram post.”

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