Frankie’s Choice

Chapter Three

For readers coming to Frankie’s story for the first time, Chapter One parts I and II can be found here and here, Chapter Two part I can be found here, Chapter Two part II can be found here, Chapter Two part III can be found here, and chapter Two part IV can be found here.

Alberic waited patiently for Frankie to arrive. He’d carefully considered what to say and how best to say it. The very last thing he wanted was to sever their relationship but in order to protect her that was precisely what he was going to do. He’d prepared a prawn salad (one of her favorite meals) for dinner and it sat mutely on the table, covered with a sheet of thin plastic film. He doubted she’d want to eat it after what he had to say to her, but it was there just in case.

Sometimes Frankie came directly from school, arriving a little after sixteen-thirty. At other times she first went to her foster-home, thereafter arriving at his house anytime between eighteen hundred and twenty hundred. Alberic had an open book on his lap but his mind was elsewhere. He was hoping he could avoid hurting her too much but any way one looked at it, he was going to betray her and who knew what consequences that would ultimately have for her psyche?

At eighteen thirty-eight Frankie came in through the front door, letting herself in with her own key. Alberic was…