“I have a confession to make to you,” Jenny says. “Kris and I have decided to take another shot at our relationship.”
“While I was away, I thought a lot about you and your mom and all the regrets I have. So many regrets,” Kris said. “So when I heard that Jenny was getting out of rehab, I wanted to come and help her.”
Frenchie’s face flushes with rage. “How long have you been back in town?”
Kris and Jenny exchange a look. “About a week,” Jenny says.
“And you never thought to call me? Text me? A whole year I don’t hear from you, and now you’re just here all of a sudden because you want to help Mom? What about me? What about all the crap I had to deal with when I was the only one here trying to convince her to dry out? Where were you when I was making the ultimatums that she needed to dry out, or I wasn’t going to be there for her anymore?
“A father should be there for his daughter through all of this. I had nobody but Hudson to talk to about any of this crap.”
Jenny wrings her hands. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t think you’d like it. My sponsor tends to warn against jumping into relationships so quickly out of rehab. Still, Kris…” Again, Frenchie’s parents exchange glances and then look pleadingly back at Frenchie. “He wanted to be there for me, and it made sense.”
Frenchie dabs at her eyes with her sleeve and sniffs. I don’t see any issues, so I scurry off to the bathroom and grab a fistful of toilet paper for her. She blows her nose and says, “Well, none of this makes any sense to me. Why are you telling me this now if it’s been on the down-low?”
Jenny darts her eyes around. “I wanted you to understand why I’ve been distracted, and I wanted you to know it wasn’t the booze again. That was important to me. And there’s more. And the rest of the story I feel even worse about.”
At this point, Jenny turns to me and wags her finger at me. “You’ve got devil’s eyes, and I can’t lie to you without feeling like you already know the truth.”
I think I know where this is going. “What did you lie about, Mrs. French?”
“Well, not lie so much as obfuscate,” Jenny says, even though I’m not one hundred percent sure what that word means. “When you came around earlier and told me the story of what happened on the boat, I should have told you the truth. I cut the rope.”
Frenchie heaves out an exasperated breath. “Mom, why?”
Kris clears his throat. “I know. I should have put a stop to it.”
Jenny cringes when I take a step toward Kris. “Damn right, you should have. Do you realize what could have happened to us out there?” I point at Frenchie, who is shaking her head in shock and disappointment. “That is your daughter. Do you get that? Do you know she gets seasick?”
Kris rubs his face, at least possessing the decency to look ashamed.
Jenny puts up her hands in surrender. “It’s my fault. He tried to talk me out of it, but I told him it was fine because she was with you, Hudson. You’re the marina man; you would keep her safe. I figured it wasn’t a big deal.”
Frenchie’s voice shakes as she levels her mom with a fierce stare, her fists balled. “Apart from my safety, you risked damaging Captain Jack’s boat. This is just … appalling, even for you, mother.”
I wince. I know when she calls Jenny “mother” instead of “mom,” she’s beyond angry.
Through gritted teeth, Frenchie goes on. “I hate to even ask this, but what was your cockamamie reason for doing this, mom and dad? And yes, I hold both of you responsible.”
Kris rubs the back of his neck and shifts uncomfortably. “I guess the best way to explain it is to buy Jenny and me more time together.”
Frenchie mutters, “Oh my god.”
Kris looks like he wants to bolt, but I give him credit and spills his guts. “See, the subsidized housing where your mom is staying isn’t allowed to have overnight guests. And I’m splitting a hotel room with a buddy of mine who came up here to surf, so I don’t have a room to myself.”
Frenchie bites her lip, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “A hotel is a thing that exists. That I would pay for if you had come to me from the beginning.”
“Go on,” I say.
“So,” Jenny says. “The only chance we have for alone time was, well, when I’m taking care of the grand-kitties.”
A silence passes around the room for a moment, then Frenchie reaches down and picks up Jelly, covering the cat’s ears. “The two of you had sex in front of my innocent babies?”
Kris snorts. “No. We put them in the bathroom. Cat pouncing isn’t exactly conducive to sexy times.”
“Ew!” Frenchie cries.
“And so when I heard you two were having your weekly movie night on Captain Jack’s boat, I just sort of…decided maybe it would be nice if Kris and I had more time together.”
“Mom! Ew! In my house?!”
Jenny chuckles. “Now, Adalee, since when did you become such a prude?”
Frenchie scoffs. “I’m not.”
“You do know your father and I had to have the sex to make you, right?”
Frenchie is petting Jelly a little too vigorously now, and Jelly begins to squirm so she can get back to her little bed. Finally releasing Jelly, Frenchie shakes her head. “What you did is dangerous, careless, and thoughtless.”
Jenny looks from Frenchie to me. “But it ended up kind of fun, though. Admit it.”
I know what’s good for me, and that’s to be on Frenchie’s side, even if Jenny has one molecule of a point. “I could have lost my biggest tenant,” I say. “Not to mention a huge opportunity for this summer.”
“It’s my fault,” Jenny says. “Kris convinced me to come clean.”
Frenchie jerks around
