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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The night was warm and the whole street seemed to be quieter than usual. The calmness didn't fit with the way that Frank's heart was pounding in his chest.
Frank was humming with excitement and anticipation, but those feelings were short lived as he began to realize that something was suspiciously off in his little neighborhood. It was way too quiet for such a gorgeous night.
It didn't take him long for his instincts to be proved to correct. He quickly looked around and became annoyed when it dawned on him that him and Joey were probably the night's entertainment for all of his nosey neighbours.
Frank's deck wasn't very private and Roberta wasn't a subtle matchmaker. He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed that his friend had been meddling while he'd put Mary to sleep.
When Joey had showed up, Frank had escorted her out to his side deck only to find a secret romantic set up had been left there waiting for them. All of his junk had been cleared away and he recognized two, large, outdoor candles burning as Roberta's and strange a pair of fluffy, patio cushions decorating his lawn chairs.
It must have been a team effort because he had no idea where the cushions came from, but he had to admit that the string of white twinkle lights was a nice touch. News must have traveled fast, since Frank had just invited Joey over to his house only about an hour ago. Roberta hadn't been messing around.
Who knew how many people knew about his "date" with Joey and were currently spying on the two of them. Frank scanned the housing complex, but no one seemed to be milling around like they usually did when it was a nice night. He looked across his yard and caught Mrs. Barber frantically pulling her blinds shut when he caught her watching him through her kitchen window. Great.
It hadn't even dawned on Frank to spruce up his old deck; so, overall, he was thankful for the save, but he was an adult and his neighbours could get a life. They were going to be in for a boring show, though, since, as per Frank's plan, conversation was all that was on the menu for the night.
Joey seemed a little nervous, but, luckily, she didn't seem to have any idea that she was potentially the center of attention. Frank hadn't been able to take his eyes off her when she'd shown up, so, as far as he was concerned, she looked the part and he was proud to have her on his arm.
He thought she looked amazing in a laid back casual way, like she had looked before, but he found it an encouraging sign that she had changed her clothes and had put on a little bit of makeup.
Not that she hadn't looked beautiful earlier that night on the beach, but he had noted that she had put in some effort to look a little nicer. He hoped that she had done it to impress him, because it was working like a charm. Her sweet floral perfume was subtle, but whenever Frank caught a small whiff of it, he hoped to hell that he was on a date.
It didn't take very long for them to find comfortable rhythm with each other, like they had done during their chance encounter on the beach. Joey made it easy when she called him out and busted him for actually bringing up the weather as a lame icebreaker.
