Page 9 of Daddy's Little Fighter
She knew this was no way to live her life, but it was how she was going to live her life until she died. The only person she would interact with was Daddy, and she was content with that. She’d had three long years to learn to be okay with it.
“Hello?” Dominic’s voice filled the office.
CHAPTER 4
FRANKIE
Frankie stared at him with wide eyes. What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to come into the office. No one was.
“Frankie.” A smile blossomed on his face. “I thought I would find you in here.”
Letting out a little squeak, Frankie pulled the blanket over her face, her whole body shaking as she sat on the couch. She waited for Dominic to leave, but his footsteps got closer.
No.
This was not happening.
Daddy told her no one would come into his office. No one was supposed to see her at all, yet Dominic was very close.
“Frankie,” he gently said. “You’re okay.”
Where was her phone? She needed to call Daddy and let him know what was happening. But her phone was sitting right next to her, and the only way for her to get it was to show part of her body to Dominic.
“Can I see your face?” he asked.
But Frankie didn’t pull down the blanket. What was she supposed to do?
“I just want to talk to you like we did before,” Dominic continued. “I know your Daddy told everyone to stay away and not see you, but I couldn’t. It must be awfully lonely being in the house with no one else but your Daddy to talk to. I want to be your friend and check in on you.”
He still wanted to be her friend? Dominic was one of the few people who had messaged her regularly to see how she was doing. Frankie always responded but ignored his questions about when she would leave the house.
Never.
And yet here she was, sitting in Daddy’s office, out of the house. But Frankie didn’t like it. She wanted to go back to her safe place, the house, and be calm there.
“Everyone here misses you. They miss you bringing cookies, even though Trent told you he would bake them for you. They miss your singing when you thought no one was listening,” he continued. “Everyone misses you and wants to see you again. No one cares that you have Essential Tremors. It’s part of who you are, and no one is going to judge you.”
Frankie felt silly with the blanket pulled over her head, but she was shaking from nerves and her condition.
“Come on, Little bit. It’s just me, Dominic. You know I’ve never cared whether you were shaking or not. I don’t think anything of it. It’s part of who you are, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it,” Dominic gently said. “Can we please talk face-to-face?”
Taking a deep breath, Frankie weighed the pros and cons. Should she actually do this?
“I’m not going to leave until I can see your face and talk to you a little bit,” Dominic added.
Sighing, she pulled down the blanket a little bit, letting her eyes peek above the blanket to see Dominic in the chair right in front of her, a smile on his face.
“There you are.” He relaxed into the chair. “Keep the blanket right there or lower.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. Who was he to tell her what to do?
“I see you still have that little spark, the fire inside of you.” He chuckled. “Good. Everyone was worried you wouldn’t.”
“Wo-worried?” Frankie stuttered.
Dominic nodded. “Everyoneis worried about you. You just didn’t show up for work one night, and then a week later, we heard you had quit. Everyone was worried. We still are. They all would love to see you again, but I know you aren’t ready for that.”
She wasn’t ready to see him right now.
