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“Maybe if you’d gotten up earlier than eleven. Amelia has a birthday party she’s got to get to by two, and we still have to get the kid a gift,” Will said. “I don’t know why I had to hear from Mom that you’d gotten hurt, but we basically just drove down to makesure your head was still attached to your shoulders since you won’t answer anybody’s calls.”

Franny groaned, turning up the heat on her gas stove and putting a pat of butter in the skillet. “I told Umma I was fine. It was an accident.”

Her brother pursed his lips, clearly unimpressed. “It doesn’t matter if it was an accident or not, Fran-Fran. You’re out here all alone. We’re lucky I can get to you within a couple hours. When something happens, you need to tell us so we can take care of you.”

Franny was silent for a few moments as she quickly chopped up a few strawberries. She thought about the situation that had taken place in this very kitchen not two days ago. Jade Dunn making her dinner, them making out, the other woman running away like a bat out of hell.

She also thought about what it had felt like to wake up in her house and feel the comfort of knowing she wasn’t the only one there. Jade had fussed over her, forced her to do something for her own good, and taken care of her when it was all said and done.

It had ended like shit, pure shit. But the middle had been pretty unforgettable.

“I had someone to take care of me,” she mumbled, almost hoping her brother wouldn’t actually decipher the words.

Her luck, apparently, was shit.

“Please tell me it wasn’t who I think it was,” Will groaned, but his eyes were sharp when they looked at her.

“Who?”

“Little Miss Fair-Trade Coffee Bean, ‘I spent a summer touring Southeast Asia and Thai people love me,’ one step above white dreads. Please tell me she isn’t the one taking care of you.”

Franny winced. “No, it’s not her.”

“Thank God, because she sure did a hell of a number on you the last time.”

It wasn’t quite an I-told-you-so, but Franny couldn’t help but take it as one. She spent a lot of time feeling incredibly ashamed about her relationship with Caroline Bailey. Not just because she’d completely lost herself to it and ended up making stupid decisions, but because Caroline had been a genuinely shitty person as well.

Franny had always thought hippie chicks had a certain charm. With their beaded tote bags and crystals. As it turned out, a lot of them were awful bigots. And Caroline may not have been as brazen, but it was there. In the end, all she’d been was a spoiled, rich white girl with enough money to fill a closet with expensive clothes made to look like rags.

Honestly, more than feeling sad or angry at the way things had gone down between them, thinking about it made Franny cringe.

“Who is taking care of you, then, Gomo?” Her niece apparently had not been so distracted by her tablet that she couldn’t keep an ear on the adult conversation.

Franny had finished up breakfast, putting plates in front of her brother and niece while she stood at the counter to eat.

“You know, Amelia, I think now is as good a time as any to remind you that you can always take care of yourself. You don’t need anyone else to do it for you,” Franny said.

Amelia rolled her eyes. Luckily, Will was too engrossed in smothering his breakfast with syrup to notice and scold her. Franny grinned.

“Daddy takes care of Mommy, though,” Amelia argued. “And Mommy always makes sure Daddy eats his lunches and doesn’t lose his keys. That’s good, right?”

“That’s love, baby,” Will cut in.

Amelia seemed to think for a few moments. “Why don’t you have love, Gomo?”

Will snorted so hard it was a surprise bread didn’t come out of his nose.

Franny floundered for a few moments, her jaws flapping like a fish. “I have love.”

How was it that a child had the ability to cut so deep?

“No, you don’t,” Amelia pouted.

Franny walked up to her niece, tickling her in her chair. “You love me, don’t you?”

“Yessss.” The child giggled uncontrollably. “But you need kissy love. So somebody reminds you to take your phone and puts all the pillows on your bed so you stay sitting up when you’re sick.”

Franny pulled away, her food suddenly uninteresting in the face of being absolutely eaten up by a child.