Had to Be You: Bad Boys of Red Hook Read Online Free PDF Page A

the prom queen? “Francis?” Frankie had always beaten the crap out of anyone who dared to call him Francis—even the teachers. “Married. Wow. Congratulations.”
    Frankie slid beside his wife and took Slater’s hand in a crushing grip, pulled him into a guy-hug, and pounded his back, almost knocking the wind out of him. “Good to see you back here, man.”
    “Really?”
    “Pete must be thrilled to have you home.”
    Slater wasn’t sure if Pop was thrilled, but whatever—he didn’t even want to contemplate the reason for the less than thrilled reaction he’d received from the old man.
    Patrice waved to Rocki, who had just started singing.
    Slater couldn’t help but notice that Rocki’s eyes almost bugged out when she saw the three of them together. He wasn’t sure why, but Patrice grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the booth he’d just vacated. “Now sit down and tell us all about what you’ve been up to. Pete said you left the navy and went to grad school in Seattle. And you worked for Microsoft?”
    Frankie pulled Patrice into the booth beside him. She snuggled up and rested against his big broad chest. “Give the man a minute, woman, and for God’s sake, take a breath.”
    “I am breathing, you big galoot.” Patrice elbowed Frankie—make that Francis. “I’m excited that Pete’s last little rooster has returned to the nest.”
    Slater had never been referred to as a rooster, a cock maybe, a rooster no. He looked from Patrice to Frankie—it was just too surreal. “I didn’t know you and Pop were close.”
    Francis shrugged. “I’ve been working for Pete since shortly before Logan left. I caused Logan to need a few stitches, and Pete told me I could work for him to pay off the hospital bill or he’d call the cops. Your old man helped me, believed in me. I became a paramedic and I still help out here on my off time.”
    Leave it to Pop to take on another troubled teen. And Frankie had been as troubled as they came. “You’ve worked for Pop for the last ten years?”
    “On and off . . . whenever he needed a hand. We’re close to Bree too. When Pete had his heart attack, we did all we could to help her out. The woman had her hands full with Nicki and the bar, and Pete in the hospital.”
    Patrice waved a hand in front of her husband. “Francis, enough about us. I want to find out about Slater. So?”
    “So what?”
    “Tell us everything. And don’t you dare leave anything out. We haven’t seen you in forever. Of course, Pete’s mentioned what you’ve been up to, but it’s always better to get the story right from the horse’s mouth.”
    Slater didn’t even know where to start or why they were so interested. “I’d much rather hear about you two. How long have you been married?”
    Patrice spun her wedding ring around her long finger. “Almost seven years. We got married right after I graduated nursing school. We had our daughter Cassidy a year and a half later—she’s five and a half—and our second, Callie, is three. I work three days a week at Methodist and run roughshod over the familythe rest of the time. Now, what about you?”
    “What about me?”
    Patrice gave him a
don’t-even-try-to-mess-with-me
look. “What have you been up to?”
    “I was in the navy for eight years. When I got out, I went to Digipen Institute of Technology and got my master’s in computer security.”
    “You work at Microsoft?”
    “I had a paid internship; now I’m waiting on a contract with OPEC. They want to buy a program I developed and hire me to implement it.”
    “OPEC? As in oil?” Frankie asked.
    “Yep, that would be them.”
    Patrice leaned forward. “Where will you work?”
    “Bahrain to begin with—if all goes well.” If not, he’d be looking for a job but couldn’t imagine going back to Seattle. No. He’d find a job someplace else. Someplace that was Dominique-free.
    Drinks were delivered and both Frankie—make that Francis, damn that was going to take some