Page 108 of The Honest Affair

Is that how you want me to follow you?

Xavi

I whistled. “Not subtle, is he?”

“He didn’t write it or anything. It’s a famous Japanese poem. I looked it up.”

I handed her back the card. “I don’t know how I feel about reading my little sister’s love letters, Fran.”

“Don’t be a jerk. What does it mean, though?”

“Seems pretty clear to me. He’s asking what you want.”

“Which is…”

I shrugged and turned over to hold a plank. “Do you really need me to tell you that?”

“I do when I don’t know!”

This wasn’t like my sister. She wasn’t usually the indecisive type. “You messaged him, Frankie. Seems like you want to talk to him.”

“And say what? Hey, don’t know if you remember me, but thanks for the two one-night stands, they were super fun. Oh, and by the way, that first time, I got pregnant that night and had your baby and never told you.” Frankie sighed and sat down on my bed.

I started moving back and forth between my hands and forearms, grunting with effort before settling on my forearms for good. “It seems like he a lot more than remembers you. And he sure as shit seemed to remember you at Christmas.”

“You don’t want to know.”

I grimaced with effort. Two more minutes. “I thought you were going to have mercy on me with that.”

“I can’t go there again,” she continued. “It was bad enough back then. He was engaged, you know.”

“Mmph.” I really didn’t want to think about my sister getting involved with anyone, much less someone else’s fiancé. Even if it did make me a damn hypocrite. “What about now?”

“Well, in December, he said he was single.” Frankie lay back on the bed and sighed heavily at the ceiling. “I wanted to tell him. But I just kept thinking of…”

“Thinking of what?”

“Mom.”

I frowned, then pushed myself up to sit. “What about her?”

Frankie sat back up and pulled at a lock of hair hanging down from her ponytail. “The way she left after Dad died. I mean, it’s all right that Lea and them are making peace with her. But I remember too. I remember how it feels to have your own parent walk away from you. Like you’re nothing.” She looked up at me. “I think you were right, you know, staying away from her. It’s why I don’t let her near Sofia. I don’t want her to break her heart.”

“Yeah, but Sofia doesn’t know Xavier. You don’t really either.”

I got up from the ground and moved to sit next to Frankie. Nina’s face when she talked to Giuseppe Bianchi’s widow flashed through my mind. The humility in her when she introduced herself to his daughters.

“You know, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t at least try to say hi to Mom next time she calls,” I said.

Frankie’s mouth dropped. “You’re kidding. You want to talk to Mom?”

I massaged the back of my neck, feeling uncomfortable. “I don’t know if I want to, per se. But if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year, it’s that people can change. And something she did ten, twenty years ago…well, it might not be the person she is now. I’m not saying we have to invite her in, or anyone else you don’t want for your own sake and Sofia’s. But, you know, when it comes to Sofia’s dad, maybe you can answer the door. Maybe you can talk on the porch. Have a conversation. You know what I’m saying?”

Frankie rubbed her lips together in thought for a bit, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I see. Something to think about anyway.”

“All right. I wish I had more brotherly advice for you. But I’m tapped out, and now I have to get ready.”

She hopped up from the bed. “Say no more. Hey, Mattie?”

---