****

"It was Frank all along."

"Frank?"

Amanda threw a few more things into her suitcase and zipped it up. She'd cried nonstop since she got behind the wheel and left Frank at the diner. "From St. Croix. He was the man I met in St. Croix. The one I fell for, the one who left me. That morning in your office when I slapped him, it was because of the way he left me. The night he and I had dinner, we talked about what we wanted from each other and what we thought things could turn out like. I gave him a chance to set it right between us and he didn't... or couldn't, I don't know."

Alex blinked and then stared at her sister. "Frank? FRANK?! That.. that... " she was so flustered and furious that she was sputtering and clipping her words to various curses in various languages.

"Stop it Alex. I'm a big girl. I got to go. My flight is leaving in a few hours and I have to clear security." She hauled the suitcase up off of the bed, staggering a moment under it's weight.

Alex grabbed her arm and spun her around. "So that's it? You're just going to go, dump him like he left you?"

"What choice do I have?"

"If you believe you have no choice, then you are just as wrong as he is."

Amanda stopped and jerked her arm out of her sister's grasp. "How dare you!!"

"Face it baby girl, that man has done nothing but lead you around by your nose and break your heart!"

"He has not! I told him not to do anything that he couldn't back up and he hasn't! He never made me any promises that he didn't or couldn't keep Alex. It was my fault, I went along with Sasche's plan to bring Frank around. If anyone is guilty of breaking hearts, it's me! I broke my own heart with hopeless expectations!"

"You deserve better Amanda."

"No Alex. I deserve what I've given myself. Frank deserves better."

"After everything that's happened between you, you still think so?"

"Yes Alex. Love is blind and I love Frank more than he'll ever know."

****