“It was a little too much lace,” I admitted. And white. A lot of white. Even if I hadn’t taken it out of the clear plastic bag. “I had this dress, and it’s nice enough.” Then I took another bite because I didn’t want to talk about it.
“Besides, Edward shouldn’t be buying Frankie clothes, Ms. Curtis. It’s weird. He does that for his mistresses, not for his family. I know he doesn’t do it for his wife.”
Oh. I was going to die.
“For the love of God, Archie…” Mr. Standish went red, and his mouth compressed.
“Yeah, we don’t do that in our house, Edward. You taught me that a long time ago. The only commandments we have are do unto ourselves what we wanna do.”
“Archie.” My mom waded into this morass and I stared down at the salad, uncertain of whether to laugh or to cry. This was a train wreck. I wasn’t even driving the train, I was hanging off the back of it debating whether I should jump. “I understand this is probably difficult for you.”
“Nope, Ms. Curtis,” Archie said, perfectly polite, and the hand he had at my back moved as he shifted to sit forward, and then that hand found mine in my lap and gripped it. “You’re not his first mistress. You’re not even the first one I’ve met. Not really difficult at all. What is difficult is being polite to you after you slapped Frankie around and treated her like crap. What is difficult is being respectful when you threaten her, abandon her, and generally make her feel like it’s her job to suffer in order for you to be happy.” He picked up his drink then motioned from Mom to his dad. “This? This is a phase. Trust me, he can’t afford the divorce.”
Silence crashed down over the table, and I stuffed another bite of salad in my mouth. It probably cost twenty dollars. It probably tasted fantastic, but I barely noticed it as I paused only long enough to take a drink of the Coke and wash it down. My nails had to be digging into Archie’s hand.
“I didn’t want to do this over dinner,” Mr. Standish said after a protracted silence while my mother drilled a glare into me. I didn’t dare look at her. Maybe I shouldn’t have let Archie say anything. On the other hand, I didn’t disagree with him. “But since you’ve left me little choice…” The older man let out a long-suffering sigh. “Your mother is relocating to France for the next year. We are taking this time to get our affairs in order.”
Archie raised his brows. “Relocating and getting affairs in order isn’t a divorce, Edward. You two lived apart for two years when I was six and another year when I twelve. The revolving door of women has never actually stopped swinging. Maybe if you settled that down, she’d want to live with you.”
“And maybe I don’t want to live with her any longer. Maddy and I have been together for nearly a year now.”
A year?
I stared at my mother.
I swore she smirked.
“In her absence, I’m moving Frankie and her mother into the house. You two are about to become siblings, but you’re more than old enough to handle the change.”
My stomach bottomed out.
“You do realize that house belongs to Muriel,” Archie reminded him. “Not that I mind Frankie moving in. Plenty of room in my wing.”
“Your mother isn’t going to be living there. Maddy will be. I expect you to get your act together. You don’t mind being cut off? Then you can be the one who moves out,” Mr. Standish said.
“You know what. That’s a great idea. I even know an apartment that’s about to be available.”
Archie glanced at me.
“Wanna be roomies?”
“Enough,” Mr. Standish said as he slapped his hand against the table. “This dinner was about making sure Frankie understood the opportunities now available to her, and for me to welcome them to the family, not for you to work out your juvenile temper tantrum.”
“Sure thing. Frankie, you wanna be my sister?”
I stared at him. “No.”
“Yeah, me neither. Step-sister or not, I’m not feeling it.” He looked at his dad. “Anything else we need to cover?”
“Frankie,” my mother said, standing abruptly. “Come with me.”
“No,” Archie answered, his hand still on mine as he moved my mostly empty salad plate and set the crab cake in front of me. “If you can’t be blunt with her in front of me—because as you’ll notice Edward and I have no boundaries—you don’t get to drag her off and yell at her. I’m here because I’mFrankie’sfriend. You’re not going to hurt her again.” Then he glanced at me. “That’s really good. I have a feeling we’re not going to make it to the main course, so go ahead and eat that, yeah?”
I stared at him, eyes wide. He was really doing this, and I didn’t know whether to kiss him or smack him. Maybe both. But he wasn’t backing down.
“Frankie,” my mother said again, and I glanced at her. Locking my gaze on her, I dug my fingers into Archie’s hand and sucked in a deep breath.
“I’m good right here. I’d tell Archie what you said anyway, and you and Mr. Standish are engaged, so, no secrets, right?”