Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

“Okay, so where were we?” The angst that was on her face before we were interrupted gradually returned.

“He had tracked you down after his brother had been accused of rape,” I reminded.

“Right.” She sighed. “Out of the blue, a few months back, I got a phone call from him asking if we could meet up for coffee. I had moved back to California after you were born, but not back to the town I grew up in. I had family in the northern part of the state, so I stayed with them while I went to school to become a hairstylist. Once I got a job, I got my own place, met my husband, and I never saw Tommy again. All those years he had to find me, I couldn’t imagine why he was so desperate all of a sudden.”

Her coffee mug shook when she brought it to her lips for a sip, and I felt awful for making her continue a conversation that was causing her so much distress. “I think maybe we may both need a little chocolate to get us through the rest of this.” I tried to lighten the mood a bit. I signaled to Rita and asked her to bring us two chocolate croissants.

“This looks lovely,” Francesca remarked when Rita walked over to the table and placed them in front of us.

“They are. They’ll heal whatever ails you.” I grinned. She studied my face, and the effect I was hoping the croissants would have on her seemed to be doing the exact opposite.

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “You looked just like Tommy for a split second when you smiled.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing, given how he had treated her.

She took a bite of her croissant and snapped out of it. “You were right, this is exactly the fuel I needed to carry on. Now back to Tommy. I agreed to meet him for coffee, not knowing what to expect. When I saw him for the first time after all those years, he looked so different than the boy who was my first love. Of course, I knew he would. I’m sure he felt the same about me. We were both almost a half century older, but there was something in his eyes that looked like a man who had given up, and I guess in the end, he really had.”

Chapter 24

Francesca

Four months ago…

I WAS WELL aware of how foolish I was being, comparing myself to that seventeen-year-old girl I once was. I was sixty-five years old. The smooth, taut skin of my teenage years was now like a map on my face of my life from the years that had passed. The laugh lines indicating the happy times, and the frown lines marking the sad ones. I was no longer the ninety-five-pound shapeless girl who Tommy could pick up with ease. Giving birth to two children, menopause, and my love of cooking and eating said cooking had caused me to pack on a few pounds.

As I sat in the coffee shop, waiting for Tommy to arrive while questioning my sanity for agreeing to the meeting, I couldn’t help but wonder what his first thought of me would be. My shoulders stiffened and my stomach rumbled when a man hardly recognizable as Tommy in looks but identical to him in mannerisms entered. He carried himself tall and proud in the same self-assured way he had way back when. His eyes locked with mine right away, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throw up, cry, or run away.

“Frankie,” he spoke my name in a gruff, gravelly voice when he reached the table. I was impressed that he had still maintained that thick wavy head of hair I remembered from so long ago, when he removed the baseball cap he was wearing. It was still dark with gray strands mingled in. His skin was sallow and wrinkled, and the cough he expelled as he took a seat sounded as if he was still smoking a pack a day like he did when we were younger. He was dressed casually in khaki shorts, flip-flops, and a T-shirt, displaying a surf shop logo on the front.

My fingers clutched so tightly around my coffee cup, I was afraid it would break. “I don’t know why I even agreed to meet you, but I’m here, so what is it you needed to talk about?” I managed to get out.

“I appreciate you showing up, after everything that happened between us. I know it’s been a long time coming, but I’m sorry for the way I treated you.”

I shook my head. “Don’t. Don’t come here looking for forgiveness from me because I’m not going to give it to you.”

“That’s fair.” He nodded. “I guess you’ve heard. Dominick is thinking of throwing his hat in the ring for president.”

“I try very hard not to keep on the current events of your family—especially not your brother.”

“Well, that’s why I wanted to talk to you.” He bowed his head for a few moments before making eye contact with me once again. “There’s this woman who interned for Dominick and she’s making some pretty serious accusations against him.” He paused for a second before continuing. “She’s saying he raped her.”

“Oh, and let me guess, you’re still playing the protective big brother who rushes to his defense.” I couldn’t listen to this anymore and began to get up. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I don’t know what any of this has to do with me, so—”

He reached over the table and grabbed my hand, taking me totally off guard. “Please just hear me out.”

I drew my hand away from his with vigor, lowering myself back into the chair. He reached into the pocket of his shorts, pulled out a folded-up piece of paper, and slid it across the table. The pinkish hue on the stationery may have been faded, but I recognized what it was