Mack Daddy(51)

I was certain she thought I was joking; I wasn’t. We didn’t have much time, and I needed to get a better feel for where things stood.

Returning to the couch, I moved in closer to her, relishing the smell of her hair. “Okay, let’s start with him.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do this.”

“Sure, you can.” I drew a line down the middle of the yellow legal pad. “I’ll start.” I began writing. “Pros for Victor…he’s safe. He adores you. He has a great job. Amazing house. No kids. No ex-wives. No baggage.” I looked over at her. “You want to add some of your own?”

She responded with sarcasm, “Well, you seem to know everything about Victor, so…”

“I’m biased and can’t be trusted. I’m about to go in for the kill on my side, so you’d better help out your friend.”

She took the pen and wrote, “Honest. Caring. Protective. Ridiculously intelligent.”

Swallowing my pride, I coughed. “Those are all good.” I took the pen back. “Victor’s cons…old as f*ck.”

She laughed. “He’s not that old.”

I continued listing things. “Let’s you hang out with strange men.”

“That’s not a con. That means he trusts me.”

“The f*ck it isn’t a con. If you were my woman, you would not be going out on my watch with some dude who’s trying to get into your pants.”

“That’s a con in your corner then, Morrison. You’re trying to get into my pants?”

“Frankie Jane, I have wanted in your pants since the night you made me stay up to watch that Doctor Who marathon.”

She laughed. “That was when you decided you wanted to sleep with me?”

“I don’t know if that was the exact moment, but I definitely remember wanting to suck on your neck really badly that night. There were many nights like that, but for some reason, that one sticks out.” I pointed to the paper. “Stay focused. What are some of Victor’s cons?”

Shrugging, she said, “Honestly, I can’t really think of any.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nothing is coming to mind.”

“Everyone has faults. Even not having faults could be considered a con, because it makes him f*cking boring.” I wrote it down. “Boring.”

She cackled. “In that case, you’re very exciting, Morrison.”

“Ouch.”

“I’m just messing with you.” In an effort to show me she was kidding, she ran her hand briefly through my hair. It was the first time she’d initiated any physical contact, and it made my pulse race. I wished I could pin her down and demonstrate what I was sure was a very big pro in my corner.

Shaking off the intense need to do just that, I said, “Okay, well since there are apparently no negatives for Victor, let’s move onto to Mack’s cons. I’d like to get those over with first. I’ll start.” Taking a deep breath, I started to write something, but my hand froze. Holy f*ck, there were a shit ton of cons. I just couldn’t get myself to write them down.

Got another woman pregnant.

Abandoned you.

Tons of baggage.

Corrupt family.

No time for you on weekends.

The list went on and on in my head. I let the pen drop and balled my hand into a fist.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t. There are too many. I’m gonna lose.”

“Maybe start with the pros, then.” She handed me the pen and smiled. That motivated me to continue.

I put pen to the paper again. “Funny…good-looking…well-endowed…”

“I can attest to that last one.” She laughed. “From the brief and unintentional contact I had the night we first met.”

“Unintentional is debatable.” I winked. “Kidding. I’m glad I made a good first impression.”

When I continue to stall, she grabbed the pen from me and wrote. “Great father.”

“Thank you.”

There weren’t a lot of things that defined me; I truthfully didn’t feel like I could go on and on about myself. But there was one thing—a major pro—that needed to be added. It was what mattered the most above all else when it came to her.

My hand shook a little as I took the pen back from her and wrote: Loves you more than you’ll ever know.

She just stared down at the words, letting them sink in. I knew she wasn’t expecting them to come at this very moment, but something told me that now was the most important time to say it.

I took her hand in mine. “You said earlier that I’d never lied to you. That still holds true. I have never loved anyone like I love you. From the moment we met, life just felt different. You brought color into my gray and dismal existence, made me realize what it means to have someone change your entire outlook on life, change your reason for living. I slowly fell in love with my best friend. You were my first love—my only love. I should’ve told you how I really felt back then. Even though life got in the way, even though everything changed in our worlds as we knew it, nothing could take the love I feel for you away. It’s always been there all these years, even though I’ve never actually said those words until now. So, in case there was ever any doubt, I love you, Frankie. Maybe in the end, that’s all I really have to give. Maybe that doesn’t necessarily make me the best on paper. If you choose me, I’m just going to have to love you more, love you harder, so that my love for you trumps everything else. That’s not gonna be hard for me, because I don’t feel like there is a limit to how much I love you.”