Harper started assembling ingredients. “If we’re missing anything, Joyce can probably hook us up.”
“I’m sure. I bet she makes good pancakes.”
Harper nodded. “Oh, definitely. She probably has some secret ingredient she learned from the Queen or something.”
Frankie chuckled. “You never know with her.”
“You never know with who?”
They both turned to see Willa, in leggings and a big T-shirt, hair in a messy knot, coming down the steps.
“Joyce,” Frankie answered.
Willa nodded as she headed for the coffee maker. “Yeah, she’s legit. I like her a lot.” She filled a cup with coffee, added creamer and sugar, then blew across the surface before taking a sip and sighing. “That’s better.”
“Were you up late?” Frankie asked.
“A little. But get this.” Willa smiled. “Buck messaged me back. And he was indeed married to a woman named Sharlene.”
Chapter Five
Harper stopped measuring flour, slightly frozen by the news Willa had just shared. “So that confirms it. He’s…our father.”
“Has to be, right?” Willa shrugged. “I mean, how many men named Buck were once married to women named Sharlene?”
Frankie took a seat at the counter and clutched her coffee cup like it was the only thing keeping her together. She stared at the cabinets over Harper’s shoulder, her gaze blank and unseeing.
“Frankie,” Harper said softly, not wanting to startle her sister from her thoughts. “You need a refill?”
It took a second, but Frankie finally looked at her and nodded. “That would be good.”
“Aren’t you guys excited?” Willa asked. “I am. I want to meet him. He’s my grandfather.”
“He’s also a convicted felon,” Frankie said. “And who knows what else.”
“Okay,” Willa said with a curious look at her mother. “But if he did his time, then that’s that, right? By societal standards, he paid for his actions.”
Frankie seemed unconvinced. “I guess.”
Harper didn’t like the direction this was going in. “You know what? If we’re going to meet him, any of us, we agree right now that we don’t do it alone. Okay?”
Frankie nodded immediately. “Yes. Good plan.”
Willa took her coffee over to the couch and sat by Archie, who was lounging on his blanket. “I wouldn’t meet him by myself. That would just be weird.”
“Then we’re in agreement,” Harper said. The possibility of meeting her biological father filled her with a curious sense of interest. If she was honest with herself, it was largely due to Sharlene thinking the man was dead.
There was also a part of her that wanted to do something Sharlene wouldn’t like. Harper had this unexplainable need to rebel against her biological mother. It was juvenile and petty, but Harper didn’t care.
She went back to measuring out the dry ingredients, making a slightly bigger batch of pancake batter now that Willa was up. “So what’s the next step? Have you told him about us? We need to be part of this, Willa.”
Willa nodded. “I know. All I asked him was if he was once married to a woman named Sharlene, many years ago. He said he was and asked me why I wanted to know. I haven’t answered him yet.”
Frankie spoke up. “I don’t think you should. We need to be smart about this.”
Willa rested her feet on the big coffee table in the center of the seating area. “I’m the one who started the conversation. I have to say something to him. I can’t just ghost him now.”
“How about if I take over,” Harper offered. “Willa, ask him for an email address and tell him an explanation will be forthcoming.”
