Mack Daddy(36)

My boy was apparently more perceptive than I’d given him credit for. I stopped to think about how I could explain it to him.

“We all have our moments. There are some things in life I wish I could change. And those things make me sad sometimes. But you’re not one of them. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. If you ever think I don’t look happy, it has nothing to do with you. You’re the one thing that brings me the most happiness. You’re my home, Jonah. We’re a team. I go where you go. Even if I’m not under the same roof at night, I’m still with you…just a phone call or a quick drive away. Whenever you need me, I’m there. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“Good.” I turned to reach into the backseat. “Now, give your old man a hug.”

After we embraced, I was just about to exit the car when he said, “Miss O’Hara doesn’t have a dad.”

“She told you that?”

“Yeah. I feel bad for her.”

I simply nodded, making a note to ask her what prompted her to admit that to him.

With Jonah back at his mother’s for the night, the urgent need to see Frankie that had followed me around that entire weekend was at full force.

I picked up my phone and called her from the road.

She knew it was me when she answered, “Mack…”

“Frankie…”

“What’s up?”

I got right to the point. “Can you meet me somewhere? I’d come pick you up at home, but I’m not sure if he’d appreciate that.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Everything’s fine, but I really need to see you. I’m in my car. Just tell me where to go. As long as it’s not to hell.”

After some hesitation, she agreed to meet me. Frankie had me pick her up outside of the Massachusetts statehouse, which wasn’t too far from where she lived.

Waiting on the steps, she was dressed in a fitted, beige blazer and jeans. A bright-colored scarf was wrapped around her neck. Looking sexy as hell, she was also wearing tall, black, leather boots. Her style had definitely evolved for the better over the years.

She opened the door and got in.

I turned to her. “Where did you tell him you were going?”

“I told him I was meeting you. I don’t want to lie to him.”

“He’s okay with that? Is he nuts?”

“He appreciates my honesty.”

“I was surprised he knew who I was at the farmer’s market. What exactly does he know?”

“Everything. I told him the whole story last week.”

“Well, it takes a pretty confident guy to let his woman go out with another man.”

“You said you wanted to talk. It’s not a date. He knows that.”

Her words were a harsh reality check. As much as I’d wanted it to be, it wasn’t a date.

“Of course.”

As I was approaching the onramp to I-93, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. I just wanted to steal you away. I don’t know where the fuck I’m going, Frankie. Don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, either. I just needed to see you.”

She leaned her head back against the seat, turning to me but stayed silent.

“Have you eaten?” I asked.

She smiled. “I could eat.”

I smiled back at her. She knew that whenever I used to ask her that question, she would always respond with, “I could eat.” Eating together had always been one of our favorite pastimes.

An idea popped into my head. “You think Sullivan’s is open this time of year?”

“I know they’re open,” she said.

“Have you been back there?”

“I’ve gone a few times.”

“With him or alone?”

“Alone.”

That was our place.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into a parking spot at our old stomping grounds. Sullivan’s was a small, takeout joint by the water on Castle Island in South Boston. It wasn’t a great beach for swimming, but we used to like to sit overlooking water, watching the planes flying low as they landed into nearby Logan Airport.

The mid-November ocean was choppy, and it was freezing near the water, but I barely noticed those things.

Looking up at a 747 coming in, I spoke louder over the engine noise. “This feels so good, being here with you, watching the planes land. I’ve fantasized a lot about coming back to this place with you.”

Frankie quietly ate her grilled hot dog as she gazed out toward the water, the wind blowing her hair around erratically.

“Will you tell me how you met him?”

She wiped her mouth before clearing her throat. “I was taking a graduate class at B.U. He’s a professor there.”