Frankie's Back in Town (20 page)

“Definitely another.” He quirked an eyebrow as his face disappeared between her thighs again.

And that’s when Francesca knew what was happening—Jack was being
good.

“I’ll invite you back,” she said. “I promise.
If
I’m still alive.”

“Oh, you’ll be alive,” came his muffled reply. “Trust me.”

Francesca was in such trouble here.

She hadn’t even gotten him naked yet.

Jack might be a charming gentleman everywhere else in his life, but he was pure rogue in bed.

And that was never as evident as when he brought her to pleasure again, and yet again, before allowing her a chance to catch her breath and recover enough to even undress
him.

And when she finally did, when she got to run her hands over his breathtakingly, gloriously naked body, Francesca knew she was a goner. Big-time.

Because there wasn’t another word spoken between them. No words were necessary. They came together, bodies becoming one as if they’d been waiting for the chance. And it didn’t matter what came with the dawn.
Jack had his villain, and Francesca had proof that she was still a woman who could feel, a woman who could enjoy the moment with an impossibly irresistible man.

G
ERALD HAD INSISTED ON DRIVING
Susanna to the airport himself. He was a nice man and always had been. Today, she felt very grateful.

“Please tell Betty thanks again for the delicious dinner last night. I can’t imagine what the night would have been like sitting in my hotel room waiting for the ax to fall this morning.”

“She’ll be glad to know she distracted you. That’s exactly what she wanted to do.” His expression grew solemn, and suddenly Susanna could see how gray he’d gotten. The vital man who’d befriended her years ago when she’d become a part of the company really was getting old.

“I know you’ve had a lot on your plate these past few years, Susanna,” he told her, never glancing away from the road as he wound through Chicago’s lunchtime traffic toward O’Hare. “We’ve all been impressed with how you’ve handled yourself. I can tell you the firm has been tremendously pleased with the way your team has gotten things up and running. We’ve never had a smoother launch.”

Susanna was pleased by his praise and her role in that smooth opening.

“I don’t know what your workdays are like on the property,” he said, “so I’m not sure what your relationship with Francesca is like, but she was a real pistol about these thefts. Flat-out told us she hadn’t stolen anyone’s identity
and she knew you hadn’t, either. From what your police chief told the board, Francesca has been telling him all along to keep on looking because he didn’t have the right names on his suspect list.”

Susanna was speechless. She finally forced out the epitome of lame responses. “She did?”

Gerald nodded. “Had nothing but good to say about your work. I thought you should know.”

Of course he did. She’d thrown Frankie under the bus to keep suspicion off herself while Frankie had
defended
their innocence. Gerald cared enough to share this insider information, so Susanna would know her tarnished image would need some polishing in the days ahead.

“Have I told you how much I appreciate you lately?” She could barely get the words out around the swell of emotion choking her.

“You haven’t.” He finally glanced away from the road and met her gaze. She could see fondness sparkling in his warm eyes and felt very grateful for his friendship. “But I always like to hear how much I’m appreciated.”

“You are. Very, very much.”

“Ditto, kiddo. Ditto.”

Gerald dropped Susanna off at the gate, leaving her alone to her thoughts, which followed her all the way home on the flight. Frankie hadn’t thrown her to the wolves. And when Susanna thought about it honestly, she wouldn’t have expected Frankie to do anything but what she’d done. Defend her people.

So why had Susanna been so convinced of Frankie’s guilt? Not because of anything she’d seen at the office. Frankie hadn’t done a thing suspicious since the day she’d walked onto the property. Yet Susanna had convinced herself that Frankie’s professionalism must have been a diversion to hide her underlying dishonesty.

Why had she been so eager to believe the worst?

She needed to answer that question, but was thankful Jack hadn’t run his investigation the same way or else she might be behind bars right now.

What disturbed her even more than looking bad in front of corporate was her own prejudice. In hindsight she saw what had happened. Her anxiety about work combined with Karan’s crusade against Frankie had proven deadly. Susanna had jumped on the bandwagon the way she had in high school.

Hadn’t she grown up at all?

She didn’t like the answers that awaited her on those familiar roads leading to Bluestone. Not one bit. And when her cell phone rang with a call from her mother-in-law, who was taking care of Brooke and Brandon, Susanna flipped open her cell, relieved for the distraction.

“Hey, Mom. Everyone okay?”

“Oh, yes. No problems,” her mother-in-law said. “I just wondered what time you’d be back.”

“I’m outside of town now. Need me to pick up anything?”

“I’m figuring out whether or not I needed to make arrangements to pick up Brooke. Dad’s not home yet from his Elks meeting, which means they’re playing cards, and he won’t sail through that door until after eleven. Brandon fell asleep already, and I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

“Where’s Brooke?”

“At the lodge. She wants to be picked up at ten.”

“What’s she doing there?”

“Some sort of event. I’m not really clear on the details. I figured you’d know. She’s been working on it practically around the clock ever since you left. She went over after school to set up, but she called to let me know so there wasn’t a problem.”

But there was a problem. Glancing at the digital display on her dashboard, she frowned. Ten, on a school night? Her daughter obviously hadn’t expected her home from Chicago yet.

“Let Brandon sleep,” Susanna said, “if you wouldn’t mind getting him off to school in the morning. I’ll take care of getting Brooke home.”

“You’re sure, Susanna?”

“I’m sure. Relax and enjoy the rest of your night. I appreciate all your help.”

“Everything work out okay in Chicago?”

That was code for
Are you off the hook yet? Because everyone in town is talking.

“Everything worked out just fine.” Even saying the words lifted her mood. “All is well. Our resourceful police chief caught the real thief. And as it happens, our property wasn’t the only one hit.”

“Good for Jack. He’s always been a good boy.”

“Well, he deserves a trophy this time around, as far as I’m concerned. All right, Mom. I’m on my way to get Brooke. I’ll call in the morning to talk with Brandon before school.”

Susanna disconnected and headed toward the lodge, racking her tired brain to remember what was on Monday night’s activity calendar. She couldn’t come up with anything except bridge club and the current events discussion. And neither of those would necessitate a weekend of frantic preparations.

As soon as she stepped inside the main lobby, Susanna knew something big was happening. Glittery stars and bright red hearts hung in profusion from the ceiling. Silver garland had been draped over nearly ever surface in the main lobby, including the doorways. It looked as if Otis’s holiday decorations storeroom had exploded.

And if this crazy mélange of Christmas and Valentine’s Day decor wasn’t enough, music poured from the direction of the banquet room adjoining the restaurant. Lori, the night clerk, sat at the desk, sipping some sparkling beverage—not champagne surely—from a plastic flute. She was decked out in what looked like a bridesmaid’s dress.

“What on earth is going on?” Susanna asked.

Lori raised her plastic flute in salute. “Shame on you. You’re not dressed for the prom. Did you even bring a date?”

“I didn’t even know prom night was on the calendar.”

“You didn’t?” Lori frowned. “The girls were here all weekend setting up.”

The girls?
Brooke…Gabrielle Raffa. “That’s what I heard. What manager’s on duty?”

“Jerry. But everyone’s here. Well, everyone but you and Francesca. They’ve all been helping pull this together.” She pointed toward the banquet hall and gave a sheepish shrug. “Just follow the music.”

Susanna was nothing short of amazed at the sight that greeted her in the banquet room. The entire place looked like a scene from some cheesy prom horror flick with foil stars hanging from the ceiling and strobe lights spinning. Roberto had been recruited as deejay, and big band music poured from the karaoke system that Rachel, the activities director, normally used during the monthly sing-a-long.

Residents were all decked out for the event. They sat at tables positioned around the dance floor, and Susanna spotted a number of staff members ushering drinks from inside the restaurant where a buffet table had been set up. The dance floor was packed. Couples swayed among small clusters of friends, and all appeared to be having a great time.

A song ended to laughter and applause, and as Roberto
introduced the next, perceptively giving folks enough time to make their way back to tables safely, Susanna headed toward Rachel who’d just emerged from the restaurant.

“Don’t you look lovely?” she said, pointedly eyeing Rachel’s scarlet taffeta formalwear.

With a laugh, Rachel twirled on her heel and sent the flared bottom of the dress ballooning around her ankles. “Isn’t it glorious? I wore it on New Year’s Eve. I’m so glad for a chance to wear it again. Cost a bloody fortune.”

No doubt. The deep scarlet hue complemented her creamy skin and dark hair. “You look like Snow White.”

“Don’t think I’ll be meeting Prince Charming in this crowd, though.” She gave a deep sigh. “When did you get back?”

“Haven’t been home yet. Came to collect my child.”

“She’s around here somewhere. She and Gabrielle are the belles of the ball tonight.”

No surprise there. “So how did this all come about?”

Rachel met her gaze and looked thoughtful. “Tonight’s Quinta’s sixty-eighth high school reunion. You know she’s not well, and since Teddie got sick, there was no way they could make it to New Jersey. Can you believe she has never missed a reunion? Not one in all these years. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Completely.”

“She was pretty upset. Everyone’s been trying to cheer her up, but the poor thing hasn’t been able to talk about anything else. She cried all through dinner the other night.” Rachel waved a hand and motioned all around them. “So the girls came up with this idea to surprise her. Apparently prom was the theme of this year’s reunion.”

Susanna’s immediate response to her daughter being lumped in again as one of “the girls” with Gabrielle Raffa wasn’t positive. But she took a deep breath and asked instead, “Francesca knows?”

“You don’t think any of us would have authorized this without her approval?” Rachel grimaced. “I called her before she even got to the airport the other day. But we pulled it off. It was a total surprise to Quinta. You should have seen her when she realized what was going on. She was in floods.”

Scanning the crowd, Rachel pointed to a table close to the dance floor. “Look at her now. She’s beaming. Gabrielle and Brooke have been taking pictures with their cell phones and sending them to one of Quinta’s friends at the reunion. She’s been sending pictures back. It’s a total riot.” Rachel pointed to the dance floor. “Oh, there’s your daughter now.”

Susanna followed her gaze to the dance floor where she spotted “the girls.” Brooke wore her homecoming finery from the dance at the start of the school year and Gabrielle a simple sheath dress in bright red. Neither girl seemed to be so much dancing as dodging walkers and canes to keep the elderly prom-goers from colliding. And they were laughing. Even from this distance, Susanna could tell there was a lot of laughter happening on that dance floor.

She could also tell the exact moment Brooke realized her mother was in the room because the laughter stopped.

To her credit, Brooke knew better than to stall the inevitable confrontation. After the song ended, and those dancers who’d needed help returning to their tables had been settled, Brooke made her way across the room.

“How much trouble am I in?” she asked.

Susanna considered her reply carefully. “Why don’t you first tell me what’s going on?”

Brooke launched into a tale about how Quinta was too old to go to her zillionth class reunion, basically translating the details that Rachel had already shared.

“I know you don’t want me hanging around with Gabby, Mom,” Brooke said, addressing the problem head-on in a
way that both surprised and pleased Susanna. “But Tara and her clones keep making snotty cracks about Gabby’s mom stealing. They’re being horrible, and it’s totally not fair.”

“So you’re standing up for her?”

“Like I’d ever go along with Tara.” Brooke’s gaze narrowed at even the suggestion. “You should give Gabby a chance, Mom. She’s really cool. This whole idea was hers.”

Guilty as charged. Susanna hadn’t given
Gabby
a chance. She’d written her off as Frankie’s daughter no questions asked. The same way she’d written off Frankie.

Susanna switched gears. “Making tonight happen took a lot of work, didn’t it?”

Brooke shrugged. “It was fun. We raided Otis’s storeroom. Ohmigosh, it’s totally, like, the party warehouse. There was so much cool stuff we couldn’t decide what to go with, so we used everything. It’s not a problem, so don’t worry. We promised Otis to pack everything back so he wouldn’t have to do it himself. Rachel and Roberto offered to help, too, so it won’t take forever. The place will be back to normal tomorrow.”

Brooke was excited and seemed to have covered all the bases. That in itself was a pleasant surprise, a glimpse of responsibility and work ethic and thoughtfulness for the lodge employees who had helped her.

Glimmers of the mature and lovely woman Brooke would one day become shone so brightly that Susanna found herself smiling.

“So am I grounded forever?” Brooke tried not to sound hopeful.

What to do, what to do?
Susanna met her daughter’s gaze and considered her response, struck by the parallel to her own situation with Frankie.

Instead of following the crowd, Brooke had stood up for what she believed was right—even without her mother’s
support. From the look of things tonight, “the girls” had accomplished something good. They’d thought about others and taken action in a responsible way.

What more could a mother possibly ask for?

“No, you’re not grounded forever,” Susanna said, not missing Brooke’s excitement and deciding right then and there to look for more of these moments in their relationship. “I didn’t tell you not to hang around with Gabby. I suggested that you think seriously before encouraging a relationship. If you believe she’ll make a worthy friend, then I trust your judgment. I’ll give her a chance. You both did a really nice thing tonight, and I’m very proud of you.”

To Susanna’s complete surprise, Brooke launched herself forward and gave Susanna a big squeeze-y hug just like she’d done when she’d been younger. Then she spun on her heel and took off. “Got to help the old people dance. Prom’s almost over.”