Page 133 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Let’s all go!’ Tara yelps with an insane amount of enthusiasm. For some reason she’s waving her arms around a lot. ‘Leave Lee and Nico to catch up with their friend.’

As Charles and Ma are swept away by Tara and Luke who are both talking loudly and at once, Frankie blinks.

‘What did I say?’ he asks, looking crestfallen.

Lee’s face softens and she goes to hug him. ‘It’s not you, Frankie. It’s complicated, but I’ll explain everything. Honestly, I’m so happy to see you, it’s just that you caught me by surprise. What are you doing here?’

‘I told you, I heard the two of you got married.’ He holds an unlit cigar to his mouth. ‘When I looked into it, I realised it all went down when you were staying at my place. I wanted to make sure that everything was on the up and up, that you were being treated right.’

This time when he turns to me the affable old man falls away and I’m looking into the cold, hard eyes of The Shark.

‘Oh,’ Lee blinks. ‘That’s so sweet.’

Sure, that’s one word for it.

‘I love her,’ I say, keeping my voice steady. I’ve stared down a predator or two in my line of work, so I’m not about to fall apart now.

An edge of approval creeps into Frankie’s expression. ‘Buddy, if I hadn’t already figured that out a year ago we wouldn’t be here having this conversation.’

He doesn’t actually say I’d be sleeping with the fishes, but it is heavily implied.

‘Frankie,’ Lee scolds him. ‘Stop playing the tough guy. You told me you liked Nico.’

Frankie and I both let out startled laughs at this, and maybe it’s a bonding moment, because his expression softens a bit more. He reaches back in his pocket.

‘And you’d better not even think about lighting that thing,’ Lee frowns at him. ‘You promised me you’d cut back.’

‘Now, Lee…’

She lifts her chin. ‘Don’t you “now, Lee” me. You know Spuds and I chat on Instagram and he’s rubbish at covering for you.’

‘Wait,’ I break in, ‘you follow Spuds on Instagram?’

‘We like to share ice skating videos.’

‘Anyway,’ Frankie picks up, and even though he keeps the cigar in his mouth, he doesn’t light it. If I didn’t know better I’d think he looked a little hurt. ‘It looks like you’re happy, so what I can’t figure out is why you didn’t tell me the two of you got married.’

‘I’m sorry, the two of you got what?’ a painfully familiar voice asks from behind me and I close my eyes for a second.

This cannot be happening.

When I open them, Lee is looking over my shoulder, stunned, so I know I’m not imagining things. I know exactly who I’ll see even before I turn around.

‘Jack,’ I greet my best friend, who is staring open mouthed at the three of us. Beside him, Cynthie is all wrapped up in a winter coat and hat, wide-eyed and eating a giant bag of kettle corn. ‘It’s really not a great time,’ I finish weakly.

‘Yeah, I can see that.’ Jack looks from me to Frankie to Lee. ‘I’m guessing that has something to do with the fact that this guy just implied that you’re married to my sister. Or did I mishear that part?’

‘Oh, so I’m not the only one you didn’t tell,’ Frankie says, watching Jack from under lowered brows.

‘Frankie,’ Lee murmurs, putting her hand on his arm.

‘Well?’ Jack’s arms are folded over his chest. ‘Would anyone care to answer my question?’ He’s at his most sardonic, which means he’s angry, but at this point he can get in line.

‘You didn’t mishear anything,’ I grind out. ‘I am married to your sister.’

‘Oh my god, amazing,’ Cynthie whispers, popping more kettle corn in her mouth. Her hazel eyes gleam with excitement.

‘What are you two doing here?’ I ask.