After the contentious custody battle, Frank & Mary go on with their lives as usual. But it isn't until an eventful night at Ferg's that Frank starts to wonder if maybe his life might be missing something. Now that his niece has a normal life, maybe...
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A deleted scene from the movie Gifted is briefly referenced:
Frank was vigorously scrubbing his hands in the kitchen sink trying to remove any signs of motor oil from around his cuticles before Joey got there. Frank was nervous. He hadn't been this nervous about a girl since Rebecca Nottingham in tenth grade
He had a little under an hour to become a totally different person and make a better impression on the new girl. After their run in at the beach, Joey had agreed to a friendly, no pressure, get-to-know-you beer out on his patio. She'd said yes so quickly so that had to be a good sign. But, then again, Frank had tried to downplay the hell out of his invitation in the hopes that she would agree to hang out with him. But this Joey girl was so warm and friendly; maybe he was already friendzoned without realizing it?
No way. Frank shook his head as he scrubbed. Joey had flirted back on the beach. Not in an over the top "your place or mine?" kind of way, but in a smart, funny, not trying too hard way. She had flirted in a way that had him feeling something that he just couldn't shake. But there were definitely signs that she was interested...at least he hoped there were.
The pressure was on and Frank didn't want to blow his second chance. He thought for sure that he had messed things up beyond repair at the bar. Joey had seemed like such a cool chick on the beach; he really hoped that she didn't come to her senses and back out.
Frank had this annoying sense of hope forming in his chest that he was trying his damndest to ignore and suppress. What if Joey was the one to save him from becoming an old crazy cat lady? Frank wasn't picking out china patterns or anything, yet, but he was hoping for something maybe a little bit longer than one night with her. If she could see him at his worst and still want to hang out with him that had to be a good thing, right? Or maybe she was just stupid and had no standards? What the hell would a girl like her see in him?
Frank had been so lost in his thoughts and that he hadn't realized he'd been scrubbing his hands too hard and that one of his cuticles had started to bleed.
He needed to calm down. Why had he invited Joey over to his house? That was against all of the rules that he'd lived by for years. It wasn't like this was just another Friday night hook up from Ferg's that could leave unnoticed the next morning; Mary was still home for Christ's sake. There was a big possibility that this was a huge mistake and could blow up in his face.
But really, what harm could it cause? This was what regular normal people did when they have their shit together, right? They talked. They shared a beer and they took things slow. As much as he wanted her, he didn't have to sleep with her.
Frank kept trying to justify his new behaviour to himself. He didn't have to land this girl right away. He could just try to get to know Joey a little bit more first. He could actually listen to her instead of plotting in his head how to get her into bed while she spoke. Normally, he would just wait for his turn to speak, but Joey had held his attention the whole time. Even before he'd recognized her and Sam playing on the beach, he had been fascinated with her.
