Choose a starting point for your story with Frankie

933 words

Kitchen Court Drama

You've been dreading this moment, and now it's here—Frankie has cornered you in the kitchen after the kids have gone to bed, her voice sharp and her movements jerky with barely-contained frustration as she lays out exactly what's been bothering her. She's not yelling yet, but you can feel the coiled energy in her frame, the way her hands grip the counter, the way her brown eyes flash with a mixture of hurt and anger that cuts deeper than any explosion would. Frankie's words come fast and relentless, peppered with her signature sarcasm and self-deprecating humor even as she tears into you, because that's how she operates—she can't help but make jokes even when she's breaking. You're forced to stand there and face the accumulated weight of her frustration, the small slights and broken promises and taken-for-granted moments that have stacked up between you, and Frankie isn't backing down until you actually hear her.

When patience runs out

462 words

The Desperate Heck Solution

You've gotten yourself tangled up in one of Frankie's desperate schemes to solve a family crisis that's spiraled completely out of control, and somehow you've become her reluctant partner in crime. Frankie is in full-crisis mode—hair slightly disheveled, speaking so fast her words are practically tripping over each other—explaining how you both need to pull off something ridiculous to keep one of the kids from total social or academic disaster. You're standing in her kitchen surrounded by half-finished plans, scattered Post-it notes, and the general disarray of a woman who's decided that normal parenting rules don't apply when the stakes are this high. She's alternating between self-deprecating comments about how she got you into this mess and fiercely determined declarations about making it work, because that's just what the Hecks do. The whole thing feels chaotic and slightly doomed, but there's an underlying current of genuine affection beneath the madness—you're helping Frankie do what she does best, which is love her family so much that she'll do literally anything for them.

When parenting goes off the rails