Page 56 of Gravity of Love
Waking up and seeing your beautiful face this morning was the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life. Leaving you in bed was the hardest thing I’ve had to do. I’ve never played hooky, but I was very tempted. Hope I see you tonight. Round two?
XXX
L
Frankie felt tears fill her eyes, ridiculous and sudden. These weren’t apology flowers. These were… she didn’t know what they were.
How didLiamknow that peonies were her favorite flower?
They bloomed in the woods behind the cottage, and she used to pick them and give them to her mom whenever she was going through one of her spells. They always made her mom smile. As a little girl who felt helpless, that was a tangible thing she could do, that’s why they were her favorite. But she’d never told Liam that. The only person she’d ever told was Tristan, and it was justto prove a point that he didn’t know her favorite flower because he never asked; he just assumed it was roses.
In fact, she’d always insisted flowers were a waste of money, and yet here she was, sniffing them like she was in a Hallmark movie.
Feeling overwhelmed with emotions she had no idea what to do with, she went into her default response, which was to take action. Have a plan. What was the next thing to do?
Step one, thank Liam. She placed the floral arrangements on the floor and then sat in the center of them with Lucy on her lap. She propped the phone in front of her, put it on a timer, and took a selfie.
Tears were flowing down her face as she tried to figure out what to say to him in the text. She read his card again. She couldn’t believe Liam was saying those things to her. She’d witnessed him with girlfriends in high school and college, and their biggest complaint was that he was emotionally unavailable. He was older now, she hadn’t seen him in almost twelve years, but from what his sisters told her, he hadn’t changed. He was not very forthcoming with his feelings. But this…this was vulnerable. It might not be for someone else, but it was for him, it was.
Frankie wrote and deleted several versions of thank you, wishing more than anything that Zee was available to help her with edits, before finally sending something short and sweet.
She was still smiling at her phone, coming up with step two, when the doorbell rang again. Lucy bolted, barking like she had a vendetta against all deliverymen. Frankie was two steps behind when she swung open the door fully expecting another rom-com moment but was instead met with a horror/Shakesperean tragedy.
Her mom was smiling at her, and she wasn’t alone. Dr. Sterling, impeccably groomed, stood beside her in Italian leathershoes, a crisp white button-down, and silk tie. And beside the good doctor, in a golf shirt and khakis, wearing a sheepish expression, was Tristan.
Frankie’s heart stopped. She stared at them, at the incongruity of these three people occupying the same patch of Yaya’s porch, her safe place, her happy place. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on her fantasy coming to life.
Her mom stretched out her arms, and Frankie felt herself being pulled into a hug as a loud ringing sound echoed in her head. Far in the distance, she could hear her mom saying how good it was to see her and asking if she was surprised, but she wasn’t registering it enough to respond. When she was finally released, Frankie stepped to the side mutely and watched as the trio filed into the house, staring at them like one would a car crash, unable to look away. She caught Tristan’s eye for a split second—he looked rough, with dark circles under his eyes, but he managed a small, mechanical smile. She followed them into the living room, operating on autopilot.
“What are you guys doing here?” she heard herself talking, but she felt as though she disconnected, having an out-of-body experience.
No sooner had Frankie asked the question than the back screen door slammed open, and Yaya came charging into the kitchen. “There’s an a-hole blocking my?—”
When Yaya lifted her head, she went silent. She took in the scene, then looked at Frankie. Whatever expression she saw on her granddaughter’s face sprung her into action. The next few minutes were a blur of drinks being offered and seats being commanded to be sat in, culminating with Yaya in her recliner, her mom, Dr. Sterling, and Tristan on the couch, and Frankie on the floor with Lucy on her lap.
“So, why this surprise?” Yaya clapped, causing Lucy to hop off Frankie’s lap, thinking she was being summoned.
“Whose flowers are those?” Tristan asked, pointing at the arrangements in vases still on the floor in the kitchen.
Frankie’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but this wasn’t exactly the way she wanted her and Liam’s relationship, if it was even a relationship, to come out. Frankie slid the card she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in her hand this entire time into her back pocket.
“Mine!” Yaya lied. “For my Arthur. He’s hero! He took a bullet to save a young woman. So, why this visit? Why this surprise?”
There was a moment of silence, broken only by Lucy’s determined sniffing of everyone’s shoes. Finally, her mother cleared her throat.
“We have some important news.”
Frankie braced herself, old alarms she didn’t even know she had were going off. Her entire body tensed. She glanced at Tristan for answers, but he just gave her a wide-eyed shrug.
“This is probably going to be a shock,” her mother continued, “but Eddie asked me to marry him. And I said yes.” She lifted her left hand to reveal ahugediamond ring. “And we’re getting married here, in Hope Falls.”
Frankie was sure the walls were closing in on her. That the entire room had shrunk. And there wasn’t any oxygen.
“In six days,” Dr. Sterling added.
Yeah, she definitely could not breathe.
“Six days?!” Yaya repeated.
