“What?”
“Go and have a conversation with him. Don’t let him hear about it from someone else. He will at the very least respect you for that.”
“If I do that, Frankie will be pissed and I’m way more scared of her than I am of her father.”
“Yeah, me too,” Uncle Carlo says. “That girl has a temper on her.”
I smile proudly. “Yes, she does.” I love Frankie’s temper when it’s not directed at me.
“Here, put this on your face.” My aunt gives me an icepack.
“It doesn’t even hurt. Alfie hits like a girl,” I tell her.
“Sure,” she says, handing me a plate of reheated lasagna. “I’m going over to Jazzy and Jake’s. I’ll be back later.” My aunt kisses my uncle before kissing me, and then she’s gone.
“What made you not kill Jake? Maybe whatever he did, I can do and get Louie to love me for Frankie.”
“I don’t love Jake,” Uncle Carlo groans. “I tolerate him for Jazzy’s sake. He makes my daughter happy and I’m not going to put my own comfort above hers.”
“Can you maybe give that advice to Uncle Louie?”
“I can try.”
“Thanks. Just maybe don’t mention my name. I’ll talk to Frankie and see what she thinks of me telling her dad about us.”
“Sometimes it’s better to just rip the Band-Aid off,” Uncle Carlo says.
“Yeah, if it were just me, I would,” I agree.
As I’m leaving my uncle’s, my phone buzzes with a message.
Elias:
We need to go down to the docks.
Me:
Why?
Elias:
Dad wants us to check the shipment he just sent over.
Me:
I’m leaving Uncle Carlo’s now. I’ll meet you there.
I log into my app and find Frankie’s location. She’s at her apartment. Elias must have taken her home after their lunch.
Half an hour later, I walk over to where my brother is standing. “How was lunch?” I ask him.
“Your girlfriend is mean,” he says.
“Yeah, she’s great like that.” I smile. “What she do?”
“She told me she didn’t need any more brothers and I can shove my brotherly bothering where the sun doesn’t shine.”
I laugh. “Yep, sounds about right.” I look towards the dockyards. “What do you think is going to happen here?”
