Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“What about the thing you wanted to give her?” Salvatore asked.
She stopped at his chair on the way by, dropping a kiss to his mouth. “I’ll leave that to you today. You might need it, you know?”
“But it’s your thing.”
“It was my idea, it’s our gift. It doesn’t have to be me that gives it, baby. And like I said, it’s sounding like you’re gonna need that.”
“All right, go.”
Frankie watched Carina leave, asking, “What gift?”
Salvatore speared a cut of waffle, dipping it into syrup. “Where’s Nico going for a month?”
Her gaze narrowed.
He just smiled back.
“What, like you don’t already know?” she asked, forgetting about the mention of a gift altogether. An entire month without Nico took hold of her thoughts all over again and wouldn’t let go. The idea killed her.
“I don’t know, actually,” Salvatore informed, but he didn’t look bothered about the fact. “If his...boss...determines he’s to go and do what he needs to do, and I don’t need to be informed, that’s their prerogative. Besides, it’s probably work-related, knowing what I do, which I can’t complain about. He’s making himself money and doing something productive with his time.”
His lips curved into a sarcastic smile. “You, on the other hand, still haven’t found something for yourself to do besides spend your days looking out the windows of your penthouse. One of those things is not like the other, Frankie.”
She blinked, and straightened in her chair instantly, ready to fight all over again.
“Excuse you?”
He pointed his fork at her, swallowing another bite of food. “Prove me differently.”
“Even if I wasn’t doing something, which I have been,” she informed venomously, “I have eight hundred million dollars that make sure I’m well-kept, Daddy. Don’t forget.”
“How boring. And a waste of talent and time which you won’t get back. But that’s your business, given you’re a whole adult who doesn’t feel like she has to—”
“What, get permission or clear things with you? Is that what you’re going to say?”
Calm as cat enjoying milk, he didn’t react a bit. “Actually, I would have said since you think you’re an adult who doesn’t have to consider how her choices impact others or their lives, but go ahead, speak for me. We both know how much I love it when people do.”
Frankie seriously considered leaving. Just up and going.
The way Salvatore waited for her to share anything with him at all stopped her. His words were sharp and biting like hers, sure, but he wanted to know. She could tell. Two weeks without a conversation between them had taken a toll on both.
“So, what are you doing?” he asked after a quiet moment.
Frankie sighed, eyeing her fingernails instead of him. “Well, for starters, I spent the last two weeks furnishing the penthouse and decorating it. All of which, I did by myself, thank you very much. Nico worked out some logistics for me, but I did the rest.”
“What logistics?”
“The hard stuff.”
He chuckled. “So, moving heavy things, putting stuff together.”
“I’m not good with the driver things. Okay? I tried.”
Salvatore’s eyebrow arched again. “A screwdriver?”
“Whatever.”
He outright laughed at that.
“You should come see it,” she said, “it’s really mine now.”
“Any day, any time. Just say the word.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“What else have you been up to?”
“I have an appointment to begin managing my trust. Next Friday. I thought it would be a good idea to put a third into income creating sources, another third into upkeep of the property assets and interest earning on what’s there, and the last third I’m gonna keep open.”
“To do what?”
“Whatever I want,” Frankie replied honestly. “It’s my money. Unless you have another suggestion.”
“Suggestion being the key word there, huh?”
She shrugged. He said it, not her.
Salvatore shook his head while wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I think that’s a fine plan, Frankie. As you know, any school of your choice is paid for, and any housing or whatever while you’re there. That’s not on your side of things to handle, either.”
“Oh, but I have.”
His look of surprise tickled her pink.
“I’m sorry?” he asked.
Frankie nodded. “Yeah, I got that figured out. I contacted one of the scouts that had been particularly persistent about following up with me after last year. I’m going to go to NYU next fall, Daddy. They have a good human relations program, and it’s a start.”
The silence at the small breakfast table continued to grow between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. She remembered the other thing she had coming up, and divulged the news of NYU’s soccer training camp as he got up and began clearing the table.
“And I start a training camp for NYU’s soccer team in two weeks,” she explained, smiling at the way her father froze as he reached for her platter. “I’m officially enrolled as a student for the summer taking a class I don’t even have to pass or show up for just so they can justify having me on the field four days a week.”