Page 40 of Come Home to Me

“Really.” Frank nods, a smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t want you gone, Sarah. I’ve been dreading the time when you decide to leave Denver and continue west, or go back to Ohio, or whatever it is you decide to do. I love having you in my life. The only reason I suggested you go home is because I don’t want you to have any unresolved issues with your family. I want you to talk to them and heal what’s broken because I think that’s what you need in order to truly find happiness. Then I want you to come back and if I had my way, you’d never leave again.”

“You really want me to stay?”

No one wants me to stay.

Everyone is happier once I’m gone.

It’s why I’m so good at leaving.

Why stick around when you’re not welcome? It’s why Tessa said it’d be wrong of her to start holding my quirks against me now. It’s why she forgave me so easily. She can’t be mad at me when I ultimately gave her what she wanted.

“I really want you to stay.” Frank lifts a shoulder and tilts his head. “I mean, I want you to go and talk to your dad, but in the end, I want you to come back to me. I want you, Sarah. And not just your body. I want your heart, your mind, your soul.”

His words leave me breathless, but I swallow back my reaction. “It looks like you’ll get your wish, or the second half of it, I guess. There’s no way I can go home. It’s a long way back to Ohio and I don’t have a lot of money. It’ll take me at least two days to get there, maybe less if I don’t stop. But there’s gas, and food, and I don’t know if I should keep paying for my hotel while I’m gone?”

I stack up all the reasons I can’t make the trip home. Turn them into a wall, a fortress to wrap around me and my poor heart. And breathe a sigh of relief.

I want to go to my dad.

But I can’t handle another rejection from him.

I just can’t.

So, I’ll stay safe and warm here in Denver, with Frank. I’ve made it this far without having my dad in my life. Him being in the hospital changes nothing. And if he doesn’t make it? I guess that’s a bridge I’ll figure out how to cross if it happens. A lump forms in my throat at the thought. I try to swallow it down, but it nearly strangles me.

Frank sucks in his lips and looks at me with kindness in his eyes. “All those things are easy to solve. I’ll buy you a plane ticket. We’ll call it a gift. No need to repay me. And no, you will not keep paying for that shitty hotel when you’re not there, especially because there’s no reason for you to come back.”

“There’s a reason.” I look him in the eyes and hope he can see the truth of what I’m saying. “I’ll come back.”

He looks so vulnerable. I regret telling him no one can count on me to stick around. I can almost see those words behind his eyes, spreading doubt when there should be nothing but certainty. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Sarah.”

“I mean it. You said it in the elevator, and it’s true. I don’t know what this is between us, but I love every minute of it. I’ll be back. I couldn’t stay away if I wanted to. I miss you when you’re in your office and I’m at my desk, when there’s just a handful of feet separating us. I can’t imagine having a thousand miles between us.”

Frank smiles but stays silent as he unfastens his seatbelt and climbs out of the car. I do the same and follow him to his apartment, grateful when he takes my hand. With his fingers entwined with mine, I feel calmer. Safer. Stronger.

He leads me into his apartment, talking through the logistics of getting me home to Brookside and then back to Denver. “We’ll worry about where you’re staying when you get back, but I’m tired of you living in that terrible hotel. I’ll pay for a better place, if it comes to that. In the meantime, the clothes you don’t take with you to Ohio can stay here. As can your car.” He lowers himself onto the couch and I crouch in front of him.

“First plane tickets and then a place to stay? Your kindness amazes me, but I can’t let you—”

Frank leans forward and puts a finger to my lips. “You can. And you will. I have a good job and I have the money to spend. It’s not up to you how I spend it.”

I open my mouth to speak, trying to find words to express the gratitude rushing through me.

For his kindness.

His generosity.

For…him.

Before I find the words, before I can tell him that he’s the best thing to ever happen in my whole life, he slides off the couch and kneels in front of me.

Our eyes lock.

There’s a moment.

I swear he sees everything I want to say.

Understands it.

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