Page 70 of Gravity of Love
Frankie sighed with relief that the clerk returned and saved her mom from learning Yaya’s opinion of the man she still thought her daughter was engaged to. She was already suspicious that Frankie’s ring was back in New York getting ‘resized.’
“What are you doing?” Frankie whispered under her breath as she and Yaya followed from a distance.
“He isworthless.”
“Shh,” Frankie shushed her quietly.
“Why,shhhh? You need to tell your mama that you and him not marry.”
“I am. I will. Just let her get married and have her honeymoon, and then I’ll tell her. She deserves this.”
“Ahh.” Yaya waved her arm in disapproval as the two stood back and watched Brandi guide her mom through the showroom.
Every movement—the way she swept her arms while describing "the season's most stunning silhouettes," or how she tucked stray pins into her mouth as she knelt to hem a sample gown—broadcast her devotion to the entire bridal experience.Yaya seemed impressed by the displays. Frankie, on the other hand, eyed the racks of delicate dresses as a jungle gym or obstacle course, something to be feared, not fussed over. They represented the life that she’d thought she was going to have. Being in the boutique was making her feel claustrophobic.
She and Tristan had been getting along the past few days after Zee’s theory turned out to be true. Petra had falsified those documents she’d sent to Frankie, which actually made a lot more sense than if he had slept with all those random women. Tristan used their cybersecurity team to look into the files, and they discovered the dates the documents had been created and what computer they’d originated on, proving Petra was behind them. Frankie, just for her own peace of mind, sent her original copies to AJ as well. His findings were exactly the same.
But despite his infidelity only being with one person, the timeframe limited to the past six months, and Tristan being profusely sorry, her feelings hadn’t changed. She was not getting back together with him. The thought of marrying him now was actually anxiety-inducing.
“Okay, these are great to start,” Brandi declared as she ushered her mom to the dressing room and got her and Yaya settled on the couch with mimosas.
“Are you sure I’m not too old for this?” her mom asked from behind the white curtain.
“No!” Frankie yelled.
“Pftt. When Arthur removes head from behind and asks me to be wife, I will be back here. And if he take too long, I will put ring in his pocket and tell him, what he want to ask me.”
“What are you talking about?!” Frankie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I will put ring in his pocket and then tell him that he said he want to ask me something,” Yaya repeated slowly.
“No, you are not doing that.”
“Yes. I do. His memory not so good. I say he forgot.”
“You cannotdo that.”
“Why?” Her hands flew in the air.
“Because that’s…wrong. You can’ttricksomeone into marrying you. That’s like telling someone you’re pregnant to get them to marry you when you are not actually pregnant.”
“No! Not same!” Yaya gasped, as if Frankie had offended her by even suggesting such a thing. “I would never lie to my Arthur.”
“Yes, you would. You just said that you’re gonna plant a ring in his pocket and then tell him that he was going to ask you something.”
Yaya waved her hand in the air. “He want to marry me. He just not know he want to marry me.”
“Yaya, that doesn’t?—”
Frankie’s phone vibrated, interrupting her trying to talk sense into Yaya, which, if she were being honest with herself, she knew was a lost cause. It was a text from Liam. Just seeing his name on her screen sent a spread of warm tingles through her like she’d taken a shot of whiskey. The text wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t anything special. It was simply checking in.
Literally. That was what the text said.
Liam:Just checking in.
Frankie held her camera out with one hand, then leaned in close to Yaya, and clinked her own champagne flute with her grandma’s. She snapped a selfie and sent it to Liam with the caption:wedding dress shopping.
He’d been working nonstop the past few days but was supposed to be at a tux fitting across town with his dad and Tristan.
