Willa leaned forward. “Like you and Lucas.”
Frankie smiled. “Lucas and I have only just begun to get to know each other. Buck and Glenda are at a very different level.”
“Yeah,” Willa said. “But you and Lucas could get there.”
“Settle down,” Frankie said. But she was still smiling. Hard not to when thinking about Lucas. She folded the check and tucked it into her wallet for safekeeping. “I just can’t believe Buck gave me that much money.”
“Will it pay off your attorney’s fees?” Harper asked.
“Not completely,” Frankie answered. “But it will make a difference. If I put it toward the principle, it’ll save me a lot of interest. That’s huge. And with the work I think I’m going to have coming up, I might actually be able to leave my vice-principal’s job behind and focus on my art full-time.”
“That’s amazing,” Harper said.
Frankie watched the cars around them. So many people going so many places. “It is. Or at least it could be. But I don’t really know what to do. I can’t make a decision on my job and my apartment yet.”
“Why not?”
Frankie slanted her eyes at Harper. “Because I don’t know whatyou’redoing. Are you going to stay in Hideaway Bay? Or are you going back to California?”
Harper exhaled like she was buying time. Or maybe trying to formulate an answer. “I really can’t say yet. It’s a lot to think about. But you don’t need to know what I’m doing to make up your own mind.”
“Yes, I do,” Frankie insisted. “That’s your house and your property.”
“Exactly. So if I say you can live there, you can live there. End of story.”
Frankie shook her head. It wasn’t as simple as Harper made it out to be. Staying there without Harper would feel like charity, in a way. Frankie didn’t like that. “It would be weird to live there without you.”
“Why?”
“Again, because it’syourplace. I can’t just move in and—”
“Sure you can.”
Frankie twisted toward Harper as much as the seatbelt would allow. “You really wouldn’t care if I made that house my permanent residence?”
“Nope.”
Frankie doubted that. She decided to call Harper’s bluff. “Really? Hmm. Can you imagine? I bet that life would be a lot of fun. Especially days out on the boat with Mitch and Lucas. Now that’s the kind of life I could get used to.”
Harper had a slight frown on her face. “You just said you couldn’t live there without me, now you’re planning your days?”
“I didn’t say it would be easy. I should call Prisha.” Frankie watched her sister. “See about making yoga class a regular thing. Maybe she and I and Azumi can start a new book club without Sugarlynn and Suzanne. Let those two catty broads fend for themselves. There must be other women in the community who’d like to join us. Maybe Joyce. I bet she’d come. Oh, I know! We’ll invite Lucas! He can make all the snacks. Book club doesn’t have to just be for women.”
Willa giggled. “Aunt Harper, is it my imagination or are you turning green?”
“Hush,” Harper said. “I love it in Hideaway Bay. I really do. But a lot of my life is in California. I’m lucky I haven’t lost more clients since I came out here.”
“But you gained a pretty big one,” Frankie said. “Mitch. What are you going to do with him if you go back?”
“There’s always Zoom. And I didn’t say I was definitely going back. I haven’t said anything except I’m thinking about what to do.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Willa said. “Just stay. Wouldn’t it be cool if after so many years apart, you and Mom lived together? How great would that be? Not to mention, you’d only be two hours from Buck and Glenda. If you want him in your life, moving to California isn’t going to help.”
Harper nodded, although her agreement seemed a little reluctant. “Like I said, a lot to think about. And moving won’t be cheap. Fortunately, I don’t have that much stuff…”
Her phone chimed, then Frankie’s did, too. Frankie took her phone out and checked the screen. “Group message from Joyce. We’re invited to dinner tomorrow night at Mitch’s for a real English Sunday roast.”
“Me, too?” Willa asked.
