Page 2 of The Hampton Beach Café 5
Kennedy's eyes widened, and she let out a small gasp. “So... it's not just William? It... it’s me too.”
Frances took a deep breath.
“Well, it means that we're half-sisters,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “My dad and your mom? Well… I guess they must have had a really, really, long-term affair.”
Kennedy leaned back in her chair with her eyes fixed on Frances. She let out a long sigh. For a moment, there was nothing but stunned silence between them.
Then Kennedy let out a small, bitter, laugh.
“Well, I guess that explains a lot,” she said, a half-smile creeping across her face. “I always knew there was something weird between us.”
Frances couldn't help but allow herself a similar small chuckle.
“Yeah, I guess there was,” she said, feeling the tension between them dissipating slightly.
The silence between them returned and Frances could hear Alex, Lucinda, and Vincent in the kitchen talking quietly amongst themselves.
“So,” Kennedy said slowly, “what are we going to do? You know, like, are we telling people?”
Twisting butterfly feelings in her stomach made Frances feel even more nauseous than she already was––she didn’t really have the answers to these questions.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I don’t even know if he’s alive… and the more I find out about him, the less I think I care. That’s probably bad, isn’t it?”
Kennedy snorted, a puff of dismissive breath that made Frances look up sharply.
“Hardly,” she said. “I couldn’t care less. Either way, he’s still the same home-wrecking cheater that ruined my life regardless.”
“Well, I mean, if we are going to tell people, I’d at least like to tell my mom first... So she doesn’t hear about it from someone else,” Frances said quietly. “But other than that, it mostly affects you. So, I feel like it should be your choice.”
Kennedy nodded slowly.
“Your mom should know,” she said softly. “Mine too, and we should tell William. He deserves to know. Aside from them, though, I don’t see why this should be common knowledge.”
She stood, not saying anything else, picked up her previously discarded purse, and walked out of the door.
That left Frances sitting there alone, with two cups of coffee untouched and probably stone cold by this point.
She had a sister.
And a brother, who didn’t even know she existed.
She really needed to see her mom…
TWO
Kennedy had driven them to Salem in almost complete silence. Both were lost in their own thoughts about the conversation they were about to have with Frances' mother. As they pulled up outside the house, Kennedy let out a long sigh that filled Frances with even more tension.
Reaching for the handle, Frances realized that her hand was shaking.
Frances took a deep breath before rethinking getting out of the car––she placed her hand back into her lap. She was nervous and worried about what her mother's reaction would be to their questions about her search for Dad.
On the other hand, Kennedy was determined to get answers and wasn't willing to back down.
Feeling Kennedy's eyes on her, Frances started to speak, then hesitated.
“I... I don't want to upset my mom,” she said, facing Kennedy. “What if she doesn't want to talk about it?”
Whatever Kennedy was doing with her face, it wasn't exactly flattering. Frances guessed that it was her attempt at suppressing an eye roll.
