Page 92 of Winning You
Now that he had Lucas though, he was wondering if maybe he wasn’t doing enough.
Lucas had invited him to dinner a few weekends before, but Frankie had to decline last minute and felt like shit about it. Lucas had been tense ever since, and though they saw each other nearly every night, he felt like something was off.
“I’m worried,” he said to Fenton when he met him for after-work appetizers.
Fallon had picked up Elodie from school and was watching her back at the apartment. His schedule had been packed full of inspections that week, and he was overly exhausted from fighting with kitchen staff who wanted a pass on violations.
Fenton tilted his head to the side. “About Fall?”
“No. He’s been doing better than I expected. I know the whole thing with Charlie scared the shit out of him, but I don’t know. He’s seemed a lot happier since it ended.”
Fenton sighed. “Yeah. I feel like an asshole for not pushing him harder. Maybe if we’d sat him down and made him understand what a shithead Charlie really was?—”
Frankie shook his head as he sipped on his fizzy water. “You know that wouldn’t have helped. We need to trust that Fallon can figure this out for himself. He’s…different than you and I are, but he’s not less capable.”
Fenton wrinkled his nose. “Am I doing it again? Being an ableist shithead?”
Frankie blinked at him.
“Ivy called me on it after you called to yell at me about what I did with Lucas.” His cheeks were pink. “I didn’t even realize I sucked so much.”
Frankie shook his head. “You didn’t know.”
“I should have,” Fenton said, his voice fierce. “I mean, I have Elodie all the time. She’s always at my place. I love her to fucking pieces, and if someone was mouthing words in front of her because they knew she couldn’t see them?—”
“I get it. I’ve had to check myself a few times now that I’m with Lucas. There’s a lot I do that isn’t blind-friendly, and I’ve got a blind daughter. Er…sister,” he corrected.
Fenton sighed. “She’s your daughter. It’s…god, it’s kind of fucked-up, and she’s probably going to need some kind of therapy thanks to Mom’s bullshit, but you’re her dad. And it’s not weird.”
Frankie bowed his head. It was the strangest feeling in the world. They’d all agreed that Elodie would always know the truth. They weren’t going to wait around until she was some mystical age of understanding before they told her about their situation. She would grow up knowing that they were family, and he was whatever she wanted him to be.
For now, that was Daddy. Maybe in the future, it wouldn’t be. The only thing that mattered was that she was safe and loved.
And yeah, therapy was a damn must.
“Anyway, I’m just trying to say all of us are learning,” Frankie said.
Fenton drummed his fingers on the table. “His family? Are they cool with it?”
Cheeks heating, Frankie glanced away. “They don’t know yet. He said he was going to tell them. His best friend obviously knows.”
“The guy Fall has a crush on?” Fenton asked.
Frankie laughed quietly. “Yeah, him. Are they seeing each other now? The last I heard, they were playing Dungeons and Dragons, but Fallon doesn’t talk to me about his social life much.”
“Uh…no. He said the guy has a lot going on, and they haven’t talked since that night. It’s probably for the best though. Fallon’s still in recovery mode.”
Frankie couldn’t argue there. And they were young. If something was going to happen, they had time.
“For what it’s worth,” Frankie said after a long beat, “I don’t think you’re an ableist shithead. I think you’re a man who makes mistakes and learns from them.”
“If he’s important to you, he’s important to me. I just want him to know I can be safe for him too,” Fenton told him. “You gave up so fucking much for us. And for Ells. You gave up a marriage.”
“That was dying anyway. I had no business marrying some asshole who didn’t like that I loved my brothers.” There was bitterness in his voice, but it didn’t feel as profound as it had the last time he thought about Eddie.
“Yeah. That guy was a choice.”
“A bad one. I think I made a better one this time.”
