“Yeah, they’re growing like weeds. Mom complains about how much they eat, but I know she really doesn’t care,” Annie said.
“I didn’t really get to say it earlier, but you looked amazing when I saw you at the airport,” Frankie told her.
He could see her blush even in the dim light coming from inside. “It was the skirt.”
Frankie shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. As much as I loved seeing you in it, it was you. You could’ve been wearing a ratty old T-shirt and sweats and I would’ve thought you were just as beautiful.”
Annie licked her lips, and Frankie couldn’t help but stare at them. He was very cognizant of her parents sitting just inside, though. And the last thing he wanted to do was something that would make them distrust him around their daughter. He’d never disrespect her or her parents that way.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t long to taste her lips. To kiss her the way he’d dreamed of more and more recently.
“So…did you go to the Christmas dance with that girl?” Annie asked.
Frankie blinked in surprise. “You mean Jenny?”
“Yeah. Her.”
“No, of course not. I went with some of my friends, but we left early because it was boring. I have no desire to date anyone else, Annie. Do you?”
“No,” she said without hesitation, making him feel a lot better.
“So we’re exclusive. Boyfriend, girlfriend?” he asked, needing the confirmation. Frankie wasn’t dumb. His Annie could have any guy she wanted. They’d probably line up outside her door to date her if she was open to it.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Frankie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you’re here. I missed you.”
Her words felt good. Damn good. “I missed you too.”
“The week’s gonna go too fast.”
It would, Frankie had no doubt about that.
Annie leaned into his side and he put his arm around her shoulders. They sat that way for a long time, neither speaking, just enjoying being in the same physical space.
Eventually, Emily poked her head out of the door and said, “It’s getting late.”
Frankie wouldn’t have minded sitting outside with Annie all night, but her mom’s words were a clear statement that it was time to come inside.
Forty minutes later, Frankie lay in the bed in the Fletchers’ guest room and stared at the ceiling. The present he’d bought for Annie sat on the small table next to the bed. He didn’t know when he’d give it to her, but he wanted to wait for exactly the right moment.
Chapter 3
“Have fun you guys,” Emily said, as Annie climbed out of the car with Frankie at her heels. “I’ll be back at four to pick you up. Please be ready.”
“We will, Mom,” Emily told her. They were at the mall, and they had three hours to hang out together so Annie could finish up her Christmas shopping. Her brothers were busy elsewhere that afternoon—Doug was hanging out at a trampoline park with his friends and Ethan was at a birthday party. Her dad was on post, at work with his team, and her mom was going to bake cookies while John napped.
The Fletchers’ schedule was always crazy busy, especially around the holidays when everyone was home from school. Annie was grateful for a few hours to be with Frankie without her family around. She loved them, but they were exhausting sometimes.
They walked slowly around the mall, and Frankie didn’t complain even once when she wanted to go into every knickknack store. Annie didn’t care much for clothes shopping, but she loved to browse the toy store, the greeting card store…even the funky store at the very end of the building that sold tie-dye shawls and smelled a little funky from whatever incense they were burning.
Annie found a few things for her brothers and her parents, and even found the most perfect gift for Truck, one of her dad’s teammates. But the best thing about the afternoon was spending it with Frankie. Laughing and talking, and knowing they still had a few more days to spend together. Refusing to think about how he would be leaving to go home to California way before she was ready to say goodbye, Annie concentrated on the here and now.
As they shopped, he held her hand, carried her bags for her even though she was more than capable of carrying them herself, and made her laugh. Frankie never made her feel awkward, never made her feel as if she was too tomboyish or not girly enough. And she very much liked the admiration she saw in his eyes when he thought she wasn’t looking.
They hadn’t seen anyone she knew from school until they went into the food court. They got in line to get an ice cream when Annie saw Silas and Mikey approaching. They were two boys in her class who had been a pain in her ass for years. She still remembered when they were at an organizational day on the army post a few years ago, and they’d told her in no uncertain terms that girls should stick to things like cooking and crafts, that they were slower and weaker than boys.
She’d met Aspen Mesmer that day, who was now married to a Delta Force operative, but at the time, she was a medic attached to a Ranger unit. Annie had been enamored of her, and she’d decided right then and there that she wanted to be a medic too.
But ever since then, Mikey and Silas had delighted on picking on her. They were nothing but bullies—and they were the last two people she wanted to see today when she was so deliriously happy with Frankie.
“What’s wrong?” Frankie asked.
Annie smiled a little; he always seemed to be able to read her so well. “Nothing. It’s just two boys from school that I can’t stand.”
Frankie opened his mouth to respond, but Mikey had spotted them and strolled up to where they were standing in line with a smirk on his face.
“If it isn’t little Annie Oakley. And with a boy. Shit, we all thought you were a lesbian.”
Every time Mikey or Silas had given her shit for not going to parties or the school dances, she’d told them that she had a boyfriend who lived in California, and she didn’t want to hang out with any other boys.
Annie rolled her eyes. Seriously, they were all too old for this kind of crap. “There’s nothing wrong with being a lesbian, but I’ve told you over and over that I have a boyfriend, so you shouldn’t be surprised. This is him.”
Annie knew she’d erred as soon as she finished speaking. She’d put the spotlight right on Frankie, when she should’ve deflected. But it was too late now.
“Riiiight,” Silas sneered as he turned to Frankie. “The nonexistent boyfriend. How much she pay you to come to the mall with her today and pretend to be dating her?”
“I’m Frankie, and I am her boyfriend,” Frankie said calmly.
Annie thought Mikey’s eyes were going to bug out of his head when he heard Frankie speak. He’d come a long way since getting his cochlear implant, but his speech pattern would always be different from that of hearing people.
“Oh my God, he’s a retard!” Mikey exclaimed, then burst out laughing.
Annie dropped Frankie’s hand and actually took a step toward the laughing duo, but Frankie grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back into his side before she could deck one or both of the idiots.