Page 4 of The Hampton Beach Café 2
With a bit of a double take, Frances sat down on one of the tall stools that abutted the counter.
“Sponsor?”
He looked at her like she was daft. “Yeah? For his Property King charade.”
Frances could feel herself blinking hard. “What?”
Alex pulled his phone out and tapped something on the screen. After a few moments, Clarkson's face filled the screen as dozens of thumbnails loaded. She took the phone and scrolled.
“Flip the Tip, from Rat Hole to Rat Pack,” she read aloud. “Take Your Pick or Give it The Flick...What is he talking about?”
Laughing now, Alex took the phone off her and explained.
“He's a semi-decent real estate agent, but he's a better social media star.”
The pizza was sliding out of the box and onto a round pizza stone as he spoke, and Frances watched it, hoping it wouldn't fall apart. She didn't know what to do with this information, was Clarkson using her café for content? Was he...she shuddered. Was he posting videos about her?
“So the meeting was a total failure,” she said, changing the subject.
“Yeah, well, I kinda figured that one out on my own,” Alex replied, nodding to the pizza he was now shoving into the oven.
The re-telling of the saga wasn't any more fun than living it the first time had been, and by the time she got to the end, Frances realized she was almost in tears.
“Hey,” Alex said, realizing at the same time and coming around the counter to put his hand on her shoulder, “she's still not worth crying over.”
Sniffling now, Frances shook her head.
“It's not so much her. She just made me think about my dad...”
“You mean, like, how he left?”
“Hah,” she said sarcastically. “Left makes it sound like a process. People say he walked out, abandoned us, and divorced my mom, but that all makes it sound like it took time. He disappeared, Alex. One day he was here, and the next, he was gone. You know he didn't even say goodbye to me? I thought he had died for a while, but my mom told me he was living somewhere else...she'd have been more upset if he was dead.”
“His actions were unforgivable…” Alex said, “…especially the timing.”
She retrieved a tissue from her pocket and wiped her nose. “Yeah, three months before graduation is a great way to sabotage your daughter's life.”
Alex leaned against her now. “But he didn't sabotage you. You’ve ended up fricken amazing.”
What she wanted to say, she couldn't ever admit to. Not even to Alex. So instead, she smiled and poked him in the shoulder with her finger.
“Thanks,” she said softly. “I think I'm gonna call my mom. I haven't talked to her in a long time. She doesn't even know I'm here.”
He pushed her phone across the counter and gestured to the pizza that was reheating and melting the cheese on top of the oven.
“You have got maybe ten minutes,” he said, giving her the perfect out for when this conversation went sideways.
It usually did, between her and her mom. The biggest problem between them was the exact thing she didn't want to tell Alex. She had done so well in senior year because she had secretly hoped that her dad was keeping tabs on her, and maybe if she was special enough, he would come back.
THREE
“Frances?” her mom said, sounding confused. “Calling on the phone. Is something wrong?”
“No, mom,” she said, faltering. “Well, I mean, not exactly right now, but...”
The tutting she heard from down the line sent her back into her teenage years. Her mom always did have the exact right tone to make her feel silly.
“I got divorced,” she said bluntly, hoping for a reaction.
