Chapter Seventeen
Archer understood the need to protect Zoey and keep her in the dark about the reason he’d been hired. But he respected her enough to tell her the truth. She could handle it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t his place to tell her about her father’s business.
He came around the counter and stepped close, reaching for her elbows.
“Can you trust me and just know my employers know more than you do about this?”
“Are you serious? You’re not going to tell me?”
“It’s not my place, or I would.”
“I see,” she said. “So, this is my father again, interfering in my life. He can’t let me live it the way I see fit. I’m sure he’d rather I still lived with him. Maybe that’s the solution.”
“That’s not what this is,” Archer said. “Your father’s fears are valid.”
“But you can’t tell me why?”
Archer scrubbed a hand down his face. They’d certainly not made his position here any easier.
The job didn’t include a lot of action, but it had become emotionally exhausting.
Guilt pulsed through him, because he didn’t like hiding the truth from Zoey.
His feelings of physical attraction had developed into something far deeper.
“Maybe you can tell me why first,” he said. “What is it about this party that’s so special to you? Why can’t it be canceled? It’s just a party, right?”
Zoey strode out of the kitchen into the living room and he followed her.
“It’s too late. The invitations went out.”
“And all it takes is a few calls,” Archer said. “I will help.”
“I don’t want your help!” Then, as if she realized she’d shouted and been rude to him, she covered her mouth. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Yell at me all you want. Let me be the bad guy. All I care about is your safety.”
“Yes, that’s kind of your job.” She lowered her head.
“No. It’s more than my job. I care about you.”
“So much that you couldn’t be honest with me. I had to find out through a sweet little kid.”
“I would have told you, eventually.” He cleared his throat and came to sit beside her. “But now you know something about me that not many people do. So maybe you could tell me why this party means so much to you.”
“Because in four years I’ve never missed one.”
Four years. There was a connection there, something she’d told him recently. His mind searched for a moment and reached for the association.
Four years ago, her mother had died.
Her lower lip quivered. “I feel her with me every time I celebrate the day with friends. She wanted that for me because she knew how much I value people. She never wanted me to be alone. She wanted me surrounded with love and friendship and family. When she was alive, it was our day, and we invited people to be with us and celebrate connections. I miss her so much, and I don’t want to have to give this up, too. ”
“Aw, Zoey.” He drew her into his arms, and that was all it took. “You’re breaking my heart.”
She collapsed into trembling sobs and held on to him tightly, burying her face in his neck.
Not surprisingly, this all went far deeper than a simple party.
The ritual happened to be the way she still connected with her mother, the way she honored her to this day.
No wonder she resisted the idea of canceling.
He only wished he’d asked sooner and not simply assumed she wanted to get her way.
For Zoey, this was not just a party. It was a tradition and a memory.
“I’m sorry,” she said through her hiccuping breaths. “I don’t usually fall apart like this.”
“Don’t be sorry. I didn’t know how much this meant to you.”
She sniffed. “You should have told me about your foot, and I should have told you about my mother.”
“Are we even?” He felt a smile tugging at his lips as he ran his fingers through her curls. “Please say yes.”
“Yes,” she said, and he tugged her against him, not wanting to let go.
* * *
There were a couple of things Zoey wanted to do before canceling the party.
First, she had to dry her tears and then phone her father. Archer couldn’t tell her the truth, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get it out of her father. He owed her. If there was danger, she had a right to know about it.
The problem was, she didn’t really want to leave Archer’s embrace, and he didn’t seem to be in a hurry, either. If she had to break down in such a humiliating way, at least she had someone who didn’t shy away from tears and honest emotion.
“You’re good at this,” she said when her sobs ebbed enough to talk, her head leaning against his chest. “A lot of men run the other way when women cry.”
“Well, I have sisters. I can’t tell you how many times one of them cried on my shoulder.”
“And you let them, bless your heart.”
“They had me trained well,” Archer said with a chuckle. “Worse, I had to listen to them insult every human of the male species. They sometimes forgot to exclude me as the exception.”
“But you reminded them?”
“Of course.”
“Archer, you know I’m going to ask my father why he really hired you, right after I tell him I canceled the party.”
He sighed. “I had a feeling.”
“He can’t keep me in the dark. It’s not fair to you, or me.”
“I admit it’s been tough pretending this is all about the ex. Not that he hasn’t been inappropriate, but you were always right. No reason for a bodyguard. Should we start calling your guests soon?” Archer asked.
“I’ll need to tell Twyla first.” Zoey stood and walked to get her cell from the countertop. “She’s going to be so disappointed.”
Zoey thought of the beautifully engraved invitations and all the planning which had gone into the guest list. All those unnecessary background checks. She could have done without knowing that Vince Hunman at the post office had been divorced twice and was behind on child support.
In the end, Twyla took the news better than Zoey expected.
She was, of course, worried about Zoey, which made sense.
But Sweetheart Day wasn’t a holiday Twyla had ever celebrated with her mother, so she would have no trouble letting it go.
For Zoey, this would hurt for a while. It might sound like an exaggeration, but to her, this signified the end of an era.
No one else understood the way Mami would have.
It had been their tradition. Had she been there, she wouldn’t have let Daddy stop the party.
She’d have just made it smaller, including only a few special people.
But the day would stand and they would still celebrate love.
While Archer excused himself to the patio, presumably to give her privacy, Zoey made the call to her father.
“Hey, baby girl! What’s—”
“I’m canceling the party. Does that make you happy?”
“What party?”
Zoey groaned and dragged a hand down her face. “Are you kidding me? The one I have to cancel for a reason I don’t understand. Scott is no longer bothering me, and I doubt now he was ever the issue. He’s not the reason you hired a bodyguard for me, is it?”
He was silent for too long and she had her answer.
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
It didn’t take long for it to dawn on Zoey then that the issue might have nothing to do with her at all.
There was one main reason her father had bodyguards: overzealous fans.
A woman who swore that Patch Lambert was her soulmate had once sneaked into his hotel room.
Another had broken into their house and was arrested, but not before she’d declared her love on every mirror of the house. In lipstick.
“Do you have another obsessive fan?”
“Worse than that, but I don’t want to talk about it. All you need to know is that it’s being handled by my security team. And you…well, you’ll be safe, too. That’s all I care about.”
Zoey closed her eyes and remembered the year her father had received death threats.
Surprisingly, the memories weren’t horrible for her, possibly because she was too young to understand the gravity of the situation.
Her parents had done a good job shielding her from the haters, and her father was still doing it, even though he’d been retired for years.
“I see. It must be pretty bad if you won’t talk about it. What did you do? Support the wrong team again?”
He groaned. “I was a guest commentator and criticized the Chiefs’ defensive line.”
“Oh, no. Not the Chiefs!”
“Most people forgot about it a week later, but someone who is a die-hard Chiefs fan started sending threats. And after a while they got ugly. A few days ago, he crossed a line by mailing a package to the headquarters of my foundation in Dallas. And the FBI is now involved.”
“Daddy, are you going to be okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine. I have so much security detail I can’t even eat a steak without someone examining it first.”
“You shouldn’t have to live like that.”
“It’s something I’m used to, but the fact I’m still in the public eye should not affect you. You have your own life to live, and God knows you never wanted anything to do with football.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I’ve always loved that you are your own person and know exactly what you want, and also what you don’t want.” He sighed. “And I’m done trying to match you up with someone I like.”
“Thank you.”
“I realize that who you love is a highly personal choice and everyone is entitled to make it for themselves.”
“Awfully mature of you, Daddy.”
Zoey had believed that her father wanted to control her life from a distance, but the facts appeared to be different. He wanted to create a line between his life and hers, so he could protect her from the complications of a public life.
“And I’m sorry about your party.”
“You don’t really remember, do you? About the party Mami and I had every September 14 for Sweetheart Day?”
“I can’t say I do. But September’s the start of football season, honey.
You probably don’t remember all the days I missed being with y’all.
Sometimes you came with me, but once you started school that was tougher.
It was just you and your mami then, and I know she tried to keep you entertained so you wouldn’t notice that I was gone all the time. ”
The start of football season. No wonder it wasn’t a clear memory for him.
“I can’t believe this is just now dawning on me. Of course you weren’t around for the party.”
“I think I might’ve made one or two over the years. But I always thought it was kind of your mom’s thing. Something she did to connect with you.”
“Did you know I’ve been having one every year since she’s been gone? Except this year.”
There was a long beat of silence before he sighed.
“Maybe you can find another way to honor her memory.”
Zoey already had, with the boutique and her mission to make low-cost designer wear available to the average consumer.
She had so many ways to remember her mother, in all the memories they’d made over the years.
Not just Sweetheart Day but all the trips they took together over the years, laughing at the over-the-top fashions shown on the runways.
Mami would want her to be happy and stop putting an emphasis on only one thing, when life was comprised of so many other celebrations.
The party was one small thing, one memory out of hundreds, and Zoey had made too much out of it for far too long.