Page 54 of Say You Will

Regret gnaws at me. She was assaulted, more than once, and because she didn’t seek medical attention or report it to the police, I hadn’t known. My sister kept it to herself because she didn’t know I would care.

I don’t feel numb when I think about what Franki experienced. That first rush of rage nearly took my ability to reason. I almost allowed what she went through to become about me, rather than what she needed from me. It was her distress that reminded me to get a fucking grip and think about what she was feeling, not what I was.

I pull out my phone and open the shopping app. Franki doesn’t need an unhinged, angry man. She needs one who can think of ways to make her life better. What I’m doing isn’t exactly romantic, but these will have to be things I picked up that are outside my plan.

The way she dives straight for the seat warmer every time we get in the car gave me some ideas. There are, to me, a surprising number of things I can get her that might help. Heated throw blankets, heated mattress pads, jackets with—

“Henry.” I can guess from the irritated tone of my father’s voice that he’s probably been attempting to get my attention for some time.

I glance his way. My father is in his late fifties, but he’s as formidable as he ever was, his blue eyes sharp beneath dark brows and a head of steel gray hair. “We don’t use our phones at family dinners,” he reminds me.

I click “Buy” on a blanket. “Acknowledged, but this is an emergency.”

“What kind of emergency?” Bronwyn demands, not believing me for a second.

I purse my lips and say something that will both reassure her that it isn’t a safety issue and put the attention squarely back on my sister and her husband, where it belongs. “Shopping. I need a black light. Immediately.”

She squeals in affront that I dared to bring up the way she and her husband were caught in flagrante delicto on the family room sofa, of all places.

“You prissy diva.” She fumes.

Order complete, I put my phone in my pocket and give her an arch look. “It’s not prissy to be concerned about accidentally touching surfaces that have been contaminated by—”

At the last moment, I notice my nineteen-month-old niece watching me from her high chair with rapt attention, so I change my wording to something slightly more child friendly. I clear my throat. “Shenanigans.”

Franki smiles, amused by my antics.

Good. If she can laugh at Gabriel’s tacky joke about Dean“eating out,”then she can laugh at my fussy act. Besides, it’s completely true that I’d rather not think about my sister and Dean being intimate in any form. I’d especially prefer not to think of them doingany of thatin a location where there is a risk that I’ll need to apply bleach to my eyeballs. I want them to workout their issues. I do not want to know the private details of theirsex lives.

I barely repress a shudder. Grandmother Rose, my father’s mother and the very woman who started me on my quest for a wife, is seated directly across from me. She gives me a commiserating tilt of her head. After what she considers her own mistakes with Bronwyn, she’s actively working not to say or do anything Bronwyn might take as criticism of her marriage.

Anytime there’s a hint of anyone referring to Bronwyn and Dean and their inappropriate location for theirdisplay of affection, she flaps her napkin near her face or literally clutches her pearls. Grandmother is holding on to her benevolent tolerance of “crass behavior” by a thread.

Bronwyn cinches her lips up tight. “You’re the one who told us we’d have privacy because you’d be in the office.”

“To encourage you totalkto each other. Not to soil public surfaces.”

“You make it sound like we were getting it on at a bus stop,” Bronwyn fumes, voice rising. “This is our home. You brought everyone here for a surprise house party without warning us. When was there time or opportunity for Dean and me to do anything?”

“How do I know what you’ve been up to with The Stealth Husband?” I ask incredulously.

“Stop. Calling him. The Stealth Husband. And you probably know the same way you know everything else about him. Because you stick your nose everywhere, Henry. Just mind your own business for two whole minu–”

“Quiet,” Dad says. “Bronwyn, you’re getting loud.”

Bronwyn backs off her rant, and I take a few automatic bites of my dinner and surreptitiously observe Franki. She’s turned to give attention to one of Bronwyn’s former college housemates, Sydney Walsh, essentially giving her back to Gabriel.

Good.

“Apologize.” Dean’s voice is quiet but deadly serious.

I heave a sigh and open my mouth to say the words“I’m sorry”to my sister. Teasing her was a dick move, and I took it too far.

Before I can speak, Dad says, “I beg your pardon?”

“You just shushed my wife like she was a barking dog. Apologize to her. Now.”

Oh. Dean is talking to Dad. Truth be told, I hadn’t even noticed that Dad shushed her.

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