Page 57

Jack

I stood outside Frannie’s door. Taylor Swift hummed through the door, and I could hear my daughter padding around her room like she hadn’t just walked in on me touching Willow up.

I knocked on the door and waited. After a few moments, Frannie opened with a grin.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Hi love, can I come in?”

She opened the door, and I stepped through.

Frannie’s room was on the top floor. She moved bedrooms as she became a teenager and wanted space from her old man.

She’d decorated it with beige in mind, claiming it calmed her, and that white was too jarring.

There was a cream bed frame, with a cushioned scalloped bedhead and pink bedding.

We’d had cream fitted wardrobes installed, and yet it still seemed there was never enough space for her endless shoes and clothes.

Just under the window, she had an enormous vanity desk, with a warm-lit mirror.

Her overnight bag was on the end of the bed. I took a seat next to it while she paused the music on her phone.

“What’s up? I’m heading out.” She returned to the makeup table, tapping liquid into her face with a sponge.

“I’m sorry you walked in on that.” She stopped and looked up at me with a smirk. “I didn’t intend for you to find out about us that way.”

“So, there’s an ‘us’?” She raised an eyebrow.

“There is now. It changed this weekend at Grandma and Grandad’s, and we’re giving it a go. I wanted to talk to you about it first, but it hasn’t exactly worked out that way.”

“I know, I heard from Elle.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, love.”

She put her sponge down, her makeup blended and joined me on the bed.

“Not ideal, but I suspected it wasn’t intentional. She’s Willow’s person and Willow’s entitled to share it too. ”

“I know, but I wanted to tell you first. It’s been just us for over a decade and I don’t want you to think I’m leaving our family unit behind.”

Her face softened into sadness.

“Dad, no.” She took my hand and dropped the side of her head to my shoulder.

We looked at the wall before us, which had a combination of framed photographs of Frannie’s life.

Some with her childhood friend, Zoe, or the Johnson family, but mostly with the three of us.

“Mum would have been so happy you’ve found someone like Willow.

The way she looks at you, it’s like you created the world just for her, and she’d do the same for you.

Everyone deserves a love like that, and you’re lucky to have found it twice. ”

I breathed out a soft laugh.

I focused on a cluster of pictures of the three of us at our wedding.

Frannie was four years old and wore a pink dress, clashing with the rest of the blue decor because she refused to wear anything but pink.

The audacity for us to be inconsiderate and not factor our entire colour scheme around our pink-obsessed daughter.

The only one looking at the camera was Frannie, who was seated on my hip. Harrie and I were lost in each other.

“Mum never expected not to live her life without you, but I know she wouldn’t expect you to live your life alone.

You’re not leaving us behind, you’re putting you first for once.

You deserve to find someone who makes your world turn again, and you have.

” Her small hand reached up and wiped my cheeks of tears I hadn’t realised had fallen.

“Just try to refrain from any sordid activities while I’m in the house, please. ”

“Francesca!”

“What? I’m not six, I know what happens. Do you love her?”

“No doubt about it, but I haven’t said the words yet. It’s only been a weekend.”

“Don’t wait too long, we both know life’s too short.”

I squeezed her hand in mind.

“So… Silas?” I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Yes. Friend Silas. Don’t become a misogynist in your old age. It doesn’t suit you.”

She had me.

“And how are you getting there?”

“In one of your cars, please?”

She batted her lashes, and I smiled. I couldn’t say no to her, especially after her grace and understanding with my new relationship. “He lives down at the Quayside on a houseboat. Gated parking and all, so it’ll be safe.”

“Of course. Text me with your plans please. I’m your dad and I still care.”

She grabbed her coat and overnight bag and waited for me to stand.

“Come on, it’s bad etiquette to make your new girlfriend wait. ”

“Oof, my twenty-two-year-old daughter giving her dad relationship advice, I never thought I’d see the day,” I said as we descended the two flights of stairs, and she giggled.

I grabbed my car keys from my coat pocket, and when she turned for the front door, I hauled her into my arms, giving her no option to escape.

“I love you, Frannie. You’re the best thing to have ever happened to me. Thank you for understanding,” I whispered into her hair.

She squeezed my middle.

“I love you, Daddy. Just make each other happy.”

With a final squeeze, she collected her bag from our feet, smiled and opened the door. I shut it behind her and felt a set of brown eyes bore into the back of my head.