She would, too. But she had too much debt to take on the responsibility of a pet, as much as she would have welcomed the company. Living by herself was kind of awful sometimes. And sometimes the peace and quiet were wonderful. But mostly, she was acutely aware of how alone she was.
She didn’t miss Tom, but she missed her kids. They were off living their own lives, busy with their own day-to-day, but Frankie wished she lived closer to them. She’d be able to see them more often that way.
She opened the slider, letting Archie in ahead of her. Was she going to be alone for the rest of her life? She really hoped not.
Wait. Alone? She wasn’t going to be alone. At least not tonight. Holy cow, how had she forgotten? She rushed into Harper’s bedroom. Harper was sitting on the bed, working on her computer. “We have to get ready,” Frankie said. “Right now. I completely forgot.”
Harper looked up. “Forgot what?”
“Lucas Prime. Dinner. Tonight. Come on, we have to go!”
“Slow down and start from the beginning.”
“You know Lucas Prime? The YouTube chef?”
“Sure. He’s great.”
“Well, he invited us to dinner tonight. To taste-test some recipes.”
Harper narrowed her eyes. “How did that happen? Are you friends with him on social media or something?”
“No, I met him on the beach. Here. And Archie’s invited. He lives on the river side. I forgot to tell you. Come on, get ready!”
Harper pushed her laptop aside. “Lucas Prime lives in Hideaway Bay, you met him on the beach, he invited both of us to dinner, and you’rejusttelling me this now?”
“You were busy talking with Prisha and it slipped my mind, then we got back, and I told you about looking for our birth mother and…” Frankie shrugged. “Get ready! We’re supposed to be there in half an hour.”
“Half an hour?” Harper jumped off the bed.
Frankie ran upstairs and took the quickest shower of her life. She dabbed on simple makeup, but made sure to include a little eyeliner, mascara, and her brows. Good eyes were everything.
She changed into a blue and green tropical sundress, thankful she’d brought the dress with her even though she’d been sure she wouldn’t get to wear it.
A few pieces of gold jewelry and simple tan leather sandals and she was done. She checked the time. Nine minutes to spare. Yikes. They needed to move.
Back downstairs, she heard Harper still getting ready. “We need to go,” Frankie called out.
“I know,” Harper yelled back. “Find another nice bottle of wine we can take. I’ll drive. We can take the golf cart.”
Golf cart? Frankie hadn’t known there was one. She looked through the wine fridge and found the bottle she’d first thought about taking to the book club. She hadn’t, because after Googling it, she’d found out it was almost eighty bucks. For dinner with Lucas, it was perfect. She grabbed it.
Harper came out in white skinny jeans and a hot pink T-shirt featuring a cat sitting in a teacup. The T-shirt was big but tied at the hip to give it some shape. She wore white rubber flipflops on her feet. “You look really nice.”
“Thanks.” Frankie raised her brows. “Is that really what you’re wearing?”
“Yes, why? Too casual? This T-shirt is Gucci, by the way.”
Frankie shrugged. “It could have been from Walmart for all I know.”
“It was a gift from a client, and I never get to wear it. I can change if you want me to.”
“No, it’s cute. And you’d look good in anything. Ready?”
“Just need to put Archie on his leash.”
A few minutes later, they were out the door and in the golf cart.
Frankie knew the little electric cars were pretty popular in the higher-end Florida communities, but she’d never ridden in one. She was glad to see there were seatbelts. “What about Archie?”
