There was a little more to her need to work this morning, however. It was a great distraction from having to think about yesterday and how disappointingly awful the meeting with Shar had been.
Frankie sipped her coffee, holding the cup as she looked out at the water, the sun sparkling on the rippling surface.
Why had Shar said Buck was dead? Frankie replayed that part of the conversation in her head. Shar had told them her mother had said Buck was killed in a car accident. But Willa believed otherwise. She’d found what might actually be proof that Buck was still alive.
Could it be that Shar didn’t know? That her mother have been the one who’d lied? Frankie set her cup down. That had to be a possibility. As unhappy as Frankie was with Shar, a part of her still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
But Sharlene could have done the same simple search Willa had. Wouldn’t she have been curious enough to do that?
Frankie huffed out a breath. It also really hurt that Shar had never told her children about Frankie and Harper. What kind of a mother didn’t bring that up at some point? Shar’s kids were adults. With kids of their own.
A reminder to Frankie that she’d yet to fill her son, Jason, in on all of this.
She could draft an email to him. See how it read. A call would probably be better, but he was always so busy. She tapped the tablet’s screen and brought up her email, and saw she had a handful of new messages in her inbox.
Three of them were from Sharlene.
Frankie stared at them, not sure if she was in the right mindset to read them just now. Reading them certainly wasn’t going to help her get these logos finalized.
She clicked on the first email.
I’m so sorry about how today went. I know you probably won’t respond to this, but that’s okay. I understand, mostly. I know you and Harriet are mad at me. I don’t know how to fix that. I will tell my kids about you someday, although I’m not sure there’s a point now. You don’t want to meet them, do you?
Frankie looked up. Did she? She was torn. On one hand, it would be really something to have a half-brother and half-sister after so many years of it just being her and Harper. Real blood relations.
But on the other hand, she and Harper had gone this long by themselves. Would a half-brother and half-sister really make a difference? There was every possibility they’d want nothing to do with her or Harper. They might see them as a burden from the past.
A reminder of a hard time in their mother’s life.
Frankie swallowed. She did not want to be looked down on by siblings she didn’t know.
She went back to the letter.
If you do want to meet them, please tell me. You don’t have to go through me. I can connect you with them and walk away, leaving you to sort it all out on your own. You are family. You should know each other. But if you don’t, then maybe it’s best to leave them be. Let them live their lives without having to go through the heartache of knowing they have family that’s not interested in being family.
Frankie rolled her eyes and muttered, “Talk about a guilt trip. Passive aggressive much?”
Crazy words from a woman who hadn’t bothered to tell her kids about her past.
Shar then signed off with her name and her phone number, which Frankie already had.
She clicked out of that email and went to the next one from Shar.
Forgot to mention that I’ll be in town for a few more days if you want to talk again. I know we can work through this. No matter what happens, you’ll always be my girls.
“No, we won’t,” Frankie said. They hadn’t been her girls for a long time. It wasn’t that easy to just ignore the fact that they’d been raised by other people. People they held in their hearts as their real parents.
Shar might want to think they were still family, but that wasn’t reality. Frankie was sorry things had gone so poorly for her, but actions had consequences. She’d spent countless hours as a parent teaching that to her own children.
Now she had a birth mother who didn’t understand it?
She got out of that email and hesitated before opening the third. Did it really matter what else Shar had to say?
Harper would probably delete it without reading, but Harper was a little more mercenary than Frankie.
With a sigh, Frankie opened it.
The note was short and had arrived around three a.m.Can’t sleep. Sick about how things went. I hope we can talk again. Please. I still love you both.
