“Cole keeps showing up at Josephine’s,” I said. Franky nodded as if he’d suspected this. “The two people he depended on the most are gone,” he said. “He needs time—” “He needs more than time,” I snapped, then softened my tone to something more sympathetic to his pain. “He needs his father.” “I can’t be there for him,” he said. “You’re all he has left,” I stressed, stepping around the loveseat and moving closer to where he stood with his back straight. “I can’t,” he said, adopting a glacial façade as if that would make me back down.

