Love You Truly (Buttercup Hill #3)

Chapter 19

Dash

Me: Hi

Mallory: Hi

Me: Hope the biscuits were good

Mallory: You should’ve stuck around to find out

Me: You should’ve insisted

Mallory: You should’ve insisted I insist

“Whoa, really?” Archer’s incredulous voice booms from twenty paces away, as soon as he recognizes me jogging toward him on the path around the lake.

“Yes,” I mutter, fully aware that at seven in the morning, this is not on-brand for me. As Archer draws closer, breathing in the easy way runners do, I get ready for all his mocking, but he surprises me.

“Good on you.” He high fives me as he runs past, never breaking stride. I suppose I should be grateful that we’re moving in opposite directions, which makes conversation impossible. Because I have no good explanation for what I’m doing.

After Mary disrupted us, Mallory and I seemed to have an unspoken understanding that we needed a cooling off period. I didn’t hear from her all day, and even though I was itching to show up on her doorstep to finish what we started, I fought the impulse all fucking day long.

That led me to a latenight workout, which ended with me in the shower, fisting my dick and thinking about Mallory. Which led to a restless night of sleep and useless energy with nowhere to burn it.

Hence the early morning jogging and persistent thoughts about what Mallory meant when she texted that I should have stuck around.

To eat cookies? To finish what we almost started?

I round the lake at Buttercup Hill and feel a glimmer of understanding of why Archer likes to run out here each day. It’s peaceful when the only sounds are birds and insects. It’s the quiet before the shitstorm that’s our daily effort to save our family business from what always seems like the edge of a cliff.

The thoughts bring me back to Autumn Lake which has nothing but potential ahead and the freedom to unfold. I wonder if my grandfather felt that sense of potential when he started Buttercup Hill. I imagine so. It makes me all the more motivated to help Mallory’s vision come to life.

It makes me more motivated to go back to her house. But not just for biscuits.