— AUSTIN —
FIVE MONTHS LATER
22. I CAME BACK FOR YOU
Heartbreak was just like any other break—a slow healing process that took time and patience. I once heard that when you break a bone, there is a small period after healing when the area that was broken is slightly stronger than the surrounding bone, but eventually it all evens out, and that spot is no more likely to break again than any other bone.
As far as my heart was concerned, I was learning that the difference between a broken bone and a broken heart was that the heart could come back stronger than before. As my love for Frankie and Moxie grew stronger, so did my heart until I could barely remember a time when it had been broken.
What a difference a few months could make.
I dropped the box of donuts on the kitchen table, and it was a race to see who would grab the first one, Frankie or Moxie. Moxie accidentally dropped her donut face down on the table which resulted in most of the chocolate icing smearing across the wood.
“Sorry, Mama,” she said, picking up the donut and trying to salvage as much chocolate as possible with her tiny fingers.
“Don’t worry about it, Moxie,” Frankie said, grabbing a napkin and tossing it to her. “Nana’s table has seen worse mess than a little chocolate.”
Frankie lovingly pet the table top with her hand, and I was grateful that I’d managed to buy it off of Pauly at the yard sale before someone else could. I’d moved in with Frankie and Moxie the morning after our conversation on the back porch. We both knew there were issues we needed to work out, but we decided that we’d missed out on enough and it made sense to work through those issues together. I didn’t want to go another day without my girls in my life, so while Moxie carried over small bags of my clothes, Frankie and I carried Nana’s table home.
“When are we going to see your store, Daddy?” Moxie’s face was covered in chocolate. She’d seen the shop several times over the last few months, but today was our grand opening and Moxie had insisted that there be a ribbon cutting, even if it was just the three of us. She’d been going around the house all week, taping ribbons across doors just so that she could practice cutting them.
“As soon as you’re done eating, we’ll head over,” Frankie told her, attempting to wipe some of the chocolate off Moxie’s face as she bounced around in her chair. “And then we’ll go see Nana after lunch, okay?”
“Yes, yes! Nana!”
Frankie beamed at the excitement in our daughter’s voice. I knew that keeping the house had been a small victory, but moving Nana up to a better facility in Baltimore and seeing progress was the true battle she wanted to win. Nana might not ever be able to move back home and sit at her kitchen table again, but she was becoming more independent, and she looked forward to Moxie’s visits more than anything else.
After finishing my coffee, I walked over to the sink to rinse out my cup. I flipped the handle of the faucet and took a face full of cold water. Shocked, I dodged out of the way but water continued to spray all over me and the rest of the kitchen. I managed to slam the handle down to turn off the water, and when I turned around, Moxie and Frankie were howling with laughter. I took off my glasses and carefully set them on the counter.
“You’re all wet, Daddy! Mama put a rubber band on the sprayer! Isn’t that funny?” She giggled happily, as if hosing me down was the most fantastic thing she’d ever seen.
I raised my eyebrows at Frankie and gave her a wry smile. “Hilarious.”
She shrugged. “Told you I’d get you back for the ping-pong balls.”
Frankie stood up to take her coffee cup to the sink, and when she turned around, I was standing right there. I wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close. She wriggled a bit against the wet fabric, but she let me arch her back into a kiss that was slow and lazy and perfect for the morning.
As I pulled her back up, she blinked contentedly, and tilted her head to say something. I didn’t even give her a chance. One flick of my wrist and she became the next victim of the sprayer.
Moxie squealed with glee as Frankie ducked and dodged, trying, but failing to avoid getting wet.
“Me! Me next!” Moxie yelled, standing on her chair and pounding her chocolate cover fingers all over the pretty outfit she’d put on for the day.
We all ended up needing to change our clothes before going to the store opening. Moxie proclaimed that the kitchen sprinkler was even more fun than Aunt Blabby’s pool next door.
***
Moxie pulled out her lime green scissors and expertly snipped the red ribbon we’d tied across the door. Drew took pictures of the three of us in front of the store, and when we opened the doors, the small crowd of people—mostly friends and family that had been waiting—came inside. Moxie took it upon herself to show customers her favorite things inside, and I slung my arm around Frankie’s shoulder, guiding her behind the counter.
“She’s just like you were,” I said. “So bossy and outgoing.” I squeezed her shoulder to let her know I was teasing and we watched as Moxie grabbed a magazine that she knew had an Under Armour ad in it that featured Frankie, and forced the nearest person so look at it.
The young man in question was kind enough to indulge her, but as soon as Moxie walked away, he set the magazine back on the shelf.
“And like you,” Frankie added, nodding to where Moxie was now leading a man to the graphic novel section, her face full of joy as she showed him which ones were here daddy’s favorites. “So charming.” She turned so that she was facing me and wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her head against my chest so she could watch Moxie.
I set the keys to the store on the counter and hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. “It’s perfect,” I murmured against her hair.
“What is?”
“This. Us. Life.”
She pulled back and lifted her chin so that I could give her a chaste kiss. “It is,” she answered.
When she stepped out of my arms, her eyes fell on the keys, and she snatched them up excitedly, looking at the Maryland key ring and the old key that was attached to the main ring.
“You still have this?” she asked. She tilted the keychain so I could see it.
The flag was worn from me carrying it around in my pocket for many years.
“Of course. I never forgot where home was.”
“Have I told you lately how much I fucking love you?” she asked, her grin wide as she clutched the keys lovingly in her hands.
I lifted my hand and ran my fingers along her jaw. “You can tell me again.” I glanced at the keys. “After you tell me what that key goes to.”
She looked down at the original key she had put on the ring. The one that she claimed went to “the greatest treasure known to man.”
“So, what does the key belong to? A box with Pauly’s porn stash locked inside?” I asked.
Frankie rolled her eyes and punched me lightly in the shoulder.
“No. It belongs to my heart!” She turned the keys over in her hands and then shrugged. “Actually, it’s an extra house key.” She lifted her eyes to look at me. “But you’ve always held the key to my heart, and I thought that if you came home, you’d be coming back for me.”
I wrapped my hands around hers. “I did come back for you.”
She smiled and then leaned in to whisper, “I came back for you, too.”
“You will always be my home,” I told her. “You will always be my everything.”