Page 116 of Gravity of Love
Zee leaned his head on Frankie’s shoulder. “You’re allowed to be concerned about how your life will be affected. Youcanthink about yourself, it doesn’t make you a bad person. But I promise, it’s going to be?—”
“No.” She jerked away from him, her mouth full of chocolate and nugget. “You can’t say it’s going to be okay. You weren’t there when my dad died. You have no idea what that did to my mom. Fourteen years, Zee.Four-teenyears she went in and out of depression, and drinking. It was like we’d build this sand castle that was our lives and then all it would take was a holiday, birthday, or a randomTuesday, and a wave would come and wash away the life we’d started to live. leaving us with nothing again. Then we’d have to build it again. And this is worse.” Her voice broke. “Because this is her wedding day.”
He let the silence stretch, then filled it, gentle as a blanket. “You’re right, I can’t promise you it’s going to be okay, but Icanpromise you it’s going to bedifferent. You know how I know?”
She shrugged.
“Because last time, you were alone. This time, you have me. And this time Yaya’s not grieving the loss of a son. And your brothers aren’t little boys, they’re men. You’re not handling this alone. You’ve got backup.”
She let his words settle in. It was an intoxicating thought, the idea of being supported, of not having to carry it all on her own.But a lifetime of self-reliance had trained her to spot loopholes in any safety net. “I know, and as much as I appreciate that you’ll always be here for me, you livethree thousandmiles away.”
He leaned in, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Not anymore.”
“Stop.” She wasn’t in the mood for him to be joking around about that.
Zee leaned back, arms spread in a mock-angelic pose. “If you’re staying in Hope Falls, then I am, too. I have already sublet my place. My entire life fits in a shipping container. My camera needs a new backdrop, anyway.”
She stared at him, waiting for the punchline. When none materialized, she said, “Don’t. It’s not funny. I’m barely holding it together, and I really don’t have the emotional bandwidth for that joke right now.”
He looked her straight in the eye, expression open and serious. “I have never been less funny in my entire life. This is not a drill.”
Frankie opened her mouth, then closed it again. Tears formed in her eyes as she searched his face. “You’re going to move across the country? For me? Why?”
The corners of his lips curled softly as he tilted his head. “I grew up straddling two worlds—countries, languages, cultures. Three months in the UK, three months in Nigeria, that’s not counting when my mother moved to Japan, Peru, Sweden, Russia, Italy. My entire life I adjusted, ingratiated, been welcomed, but never home. I was made to feelaccepted, but never made to feel like Ibelonged, which is a very distinct difference. When I was a child, I couldn’t articulate that, I couldn’t express the feeling of being on the outside looking in. Of constantly being the guest at a party to everyone else’s lives.
“That changed the first day I met you. The second you extended your arms when we were paired to do the trust fall andI could practically hear the “Eye of the Tiger” song playing as your eyes burned with determination, I knew you were special. When you dropped me, which I do see the irony of, and we broke the table, I knew you were going to be in my life forever. The second I looked at you and we cracked up laughing, it was the first time my soul finally exhaled because I found my forever home. So even though we’re never going to be married or share any DNA, you are my soulmate, you are my sister, and you are stuck with me, because if you move to California, then the state just gained two new residents.”
Tears poured down her cheeks, as relief and gratitude all tangled together in her wide-open heart. She wrapped her arms around Zee, squeezing him tighter than she’d ever squeezed anything before. She was still clinging to Zee when she heard footsteps pattering down the hall, then a voice calling her name with urgent, almost frantic energy.
“Frankie!” She turned and saw Poppy rushing down towards them in scrubs. “I just heard. Are you okay? Is Liam okay?”
“I haven’t heard from him or seen him since we got here.” Frankie shook her head as she wiped her cheeks and stood up. “He’s not answering anyone’s texts or calls.”
“He’s not with you guys?” Poppy’s brow furrowed.
“No.”
“Oh.” Poppy’s confusion was intensifying by the second.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just—I checked the observation suite, where Zeta said he was going, and he’s not there. He hasn’t been there for hours from the log-in times. I just assumed he was with you guys.”
Frankie didn’t like this feeling. It was déjà vu. If Liam wasn’t in the hospital and he wasn’t answering his calls, had he left? Had he just taken off again? No. Surely not. Not after all they’d shared.
“Can you look for him?” Frankie tried to ignore the growing pit in her stomach. “Can you ask around?”
Poppy nodded and turned.
“Oh, and do you have any idea where AJ is?”
Poppy spun back on her heels, her expression deer-in-headlights-frozen, like she was a teenager sneaking up the stairs hours after curfew and a parent turned on the light and asked her if she knew what time it was. “What? No. Why? Why? Why would I? Why would you ask that?”
“I just…” Her reaction threw Frankie off. “You were at the wedding and Niko mentioned something about seeing you two dancing, so I thought maybe…I don’t know maybe you saw where he went. No one can get ahold of him. He wasn’t at his cabin.”
“Ohhh.” She shrugged her shoulders nearly up to her ears and lifted her arms, palms facing the ceiling. “Well, I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll, um, yeah, I’m sure he’ll turn up.”
With that, she spun on her heels and power-walked away from them.
