6. Archer
Chapter 6
Archer
Everyone across Silver Falls lost their minds looking for the loons, but at least it left the resort relatively quiet so Archer could finally get shit done.
By five o’clock, he was pulling eight sticky notes off his wall, a small weight easing off his chest with each rip.
Until the last sticky note peeled a good chunk of paint along with it.
He cursed, grabbing the yellow square pad, and scribbled Paint this depressing cabin before slapping it on.
He stepped back and shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, eyeing the remaining sticky notes, wondering what he should tackle first thing in the morning.
Tax forms? That sounded way too complicated.
Wild Pines email newsletter?
Also sounded like hell.
Finally bear-proof the dumpster?
After numerous attempts with different materials like chains and rope and clamps, he couldn’t nail down something that would work well enough for the residents and keep the bears out.
The metal chain was the only secure option for bears, and he was feeling ready to settle on getting up every morning and removing the chain himself.
He knew Sandy and Joel were usually up sometime around six, so that would mean getting up before them every morning, which made him want to scream.
But at least everyone would be safe.
He sighed, watching out his window as residents returned from their excursions, sunburnt and laughing as they docked their boats.
Archer snatched his flat brim and placed it backward on his head, then exited his cabin, deciding for the first time to call it a day before the sun went down.
He made it down to the docks as Jorge Cortez pulled his boat in.
Ashley and Michaela jumped out, tossing their life jackets back in.
“Oh, come on ,” Jorge exclaimed.
He stood and watched his girls jog toward the lawn where the Bramble twins and the Jansen siblings waited for them.
“Girls, girls !”
Archer reached Jorge’s boat, biting his cheek as the man grumbled curses under his breath.
He began emptying things out that were looking damp: his soft cooler bag.
Sweatshirts. Fishing poles.
Ropes. Goggles. A first aid kit.
He lifted the life jackets, now dripping wet, and cursed again.
“Need a hand?” Archer asked.
Jorge tossed the jackets onto the dock and looked up at Archer.
“Hey man, yeah, no. I’m okay.”
He eyed Jorge’s boat, which definitely did not look okay.
The bottom of it was covered in a layer of water, and his sneakers were soaked through.
“Got a leak?” Archer asked.
He sighed and stepped out of his boat.
“I think so. And who knows when—or if —I’ll be able to get it fixed with everything going on.”
He frowned, then pointed to the remote dangling above the canopy.
“Lift it up all the way, let’s take a look underneath.”
Jorge didn’t object as he reached for the remote and pressed the lift arrow until the boat was completely out of the water.
The two of them ducked down and inspected the boat.
Archer found it instantly; a small crack along the hull.
“There,” he said. “No need to take it in, that’s an easy patch job.”
“Man, you don’t have to do that,” he said.
“You’ve already got enough on your plate. I can—”
“Seriously, Jorge, it’s fine. I can get this done in less than an hour.”
“All right, well, not now, yeah? You seem like you’re done for the day.”
Archer hummed.
“I guess. Not sure what to do with myself though.”
“A Pisco sour, perhaps?”
He perked up.
Archer hadn’t shaken up a cocktail since arriving at Wild Pines in May, and he was itching to mix something.
“You have stuff to make Pisco sours?”
“I’m Chilean, is that even a question?”
“Real lime juice, right?”
“You offend me.”
He laughed.
“Fair, I’m sorry. That sounds great.”
Archer helped Jorge grab his soggy items off the dock, then the two of them made their way to Cabin G, where the two slung them over the patio to dry in the sun.
Jorge looked over at the group of teenagers.
Ashley and Chris were sitting at a picnic table, heads turned to one another, cheeks flushed as they spoke.
Chris’s hand was on the bench, close enough to brush against Ashley’s leg.
He cursed. “I don’t know about that boy.”
Archer couldn’t help his smile.
“At least it’s Chris and not Danny.”
Jorge frowned.
“That should make me feel better?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t know, Chris seems like more of the innocent type, and he’s incapable of lying unlike his brother. Good kid.”
Jorge lifted a brow.
“Yeah?”
“Come on, Jorge, you know the Brambles. They’re good people.”
Jorge shook his head.
“I don’t though. Lily is usually the one here with the girls. I used to only come for a week or two at most, and I was always working.”
Archer pressed his lips together.
Jorge was furloughed in April from his job at the Minnesota Conservation Lab.
Archaeology research wasn’t seen as a necessity during a global pandemic, even though everything that was happening would certainly go down in history.
Jorge mentioned they had some savings, but Archer could tell he was stressed about what was to come—and if selling Cabin G would be in their future.
It was one of the reasons he was delaying asking cabin owners for their Silver Falls Lake Association fees.
Everyone was struggling in their own way, and the last thing Archer wanted to do was cause more turmoil.
The screen door down at Cabin B inched open.
Jorge was still watching his oldest in her clumsy attempts at flirting, but Archer’s eyes were locked on the figure now making her way to the Adirondack chairs by the fire pit.
Bottle of wine and glass in hand, book tucked underneath her arm.
“Jorge!” Lily called from inside their cabin.
“I think I did something wrong to the mole, it’s starting to burn.”
“Shit.” Jorge turned to Archer.
“Give me a few minutes to help Lily, then I’ll grab the cocktail stuff—”
“Actually…” Archer blinked, eyes still on the woman taking a seat.
“I haven’t, um, checked the fire pit yet today. Need to make sure it’s clean.”
“That should take, what? Four seconds?”
He turned to Jorge.
“Rain check, okay?”
Jorge peeked around Archer’s shoulder.
He saw the shift in Jorge’s face.
“Sounds good, man,” Jorge replied.
“My rain checks are only good for a week though.”
Archer smiled and nodded as Jorge stepped into Cabin G, then took a deep breath and tilted his head to the sky.
Was he really going to do this?
Yes , he thought. No more hiding.
You have a whole summer with her.
It’s been eight years, for shit’s sake.
Get over it.
He felt his flat brim lift from his head and fall behind him.
He snatched it quickly, scratching his head before placing the hat back on and turning toward the fire pit.
She wasn’t paying attention to him.
She was too engrossed in whatever she was reading.
He shook his hands, cracked his neck, then put one foot in front of the other.
Tea didn’t notice his approach as she scanned the pages of her book.
He squinted to get a look at the title.
The Loon Song: Understanding the Mysteries of North America’s Favorite Bird
He took a step closer to spy the cover art and a twig snapped underneath his foot.
Tea looked up, then her eyes widened.
She shut the book and tucked her legs to her chest, like she was trying to get out of his way.
“Sorry, need me to leave?”
“…Leave?”
“Yeah, am I in the way of your cleaning?”
“Oh.” He eyed the fire pit, realizing that was technically his excuse for coming over here.
“Um, no, yeah, I need to make sure everything looks good.”
“Sure, yeah, okay.”
Archer took his time examining the area.
Once he concluded that it was indeed spotless (and silently cursed the Bramble twins for actually keeping their promise), he looked back at Tea.
She had her face in her knees, her arms tight around her legs.
He smirked. “Uh, you good over there?”
“I don’t have a mask,” she said, her voice muffled from the fabric of her pants.
“And you’re closer than six feet, so—”
“Tea, we’re outside.”
She stiffened at his use of her name.
It was the first time he’d said it to her in a long time.
The first time he actually acknowledged that she was here.
He didn’t want to think about it too hard, so he continued talking.
“These scientists say it’s safe to be outside without masks. Plus, numbers are down—” He paused, realizing what he was doing.
Was he really defending himself for being closer to her?
He spent the majority of his days making sure everyone else at Wild Pines kept their six feet from him.
Yet, now…
“Numbers might be down, but we don’t have a vaccine.”
Finally, someone here gets it.
“Yeah, I know. But I think we will soon.”
She lifted her face, enough to reveal her sky-blue eyes, but her mouth was still covered by her knees.
“You think?”
He shrugged.
“I mean, hey, I’m not an expert. But they’re saying that a vaccine has gone through preclinical testing and they might start trials soon.”
“You sound like my mom.”
His chest warmed at the thought of Molly.
“How is she?”
“Too busy saving the world to have me home.” Tea shook her head and stuffed her face back in her knees.
“Sorry, forget I said that.”
His chest fell.
“You wish you weren’t here?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you implied it.”
She looked back up at him.
“Why? Do you wish I weren’t here?”
He pinched his brow.
“Hey, I didn’t say that either.”
“But…do you?”
Archer shook his head, then slumped down into the chair next to her.
It was a good four feet from hers, and if he leaned back, they were still at a respectable distance.
He eyed her. She was watching him with rapt intensity.
She’d handed him the moment that could make or break their entire summer, and if he was being honest with himself, he did not want to deal with this unpleasantness between them for a second longer.
“No, Tea. I’m glad you’re here. It’s good to see you again.”
She lifted all of her face, including her pale pink lips.
Now that he was much closer to her, with no screen doors or matriarchs between them, he could make out the four freckles that were still dotted across her top lip.
His gut twisted at the sight of them.
You just told her you’re glad she’s here.
Get it together.
“Yeah?” she answered with that familiar soft, timid voice.
Like she had to make sure he was being serious with her.
It was… so Tea. She was the gentle and calming one, the perfect contrast to the rest of their group that used to be loud and rambunctious.
But when it was only the two of them, he settled into her gentleness like a warm blanket, and it soothed him.
He nodded and leaned back into his chair.
They remained quiet for a long moment, watching as boats made their way back to their docks, finishing up their attempts at finding the loons.
She broke the silence.
“Apparently no one found them,” she started.
“Which I kind of figured would happen. They don’t like noise.”
He lifted a mocking brow.
“Learn that from your book over there?”
She smiled, teeth and all, and it felt like a gut punch.
He tapped his fingers against the chair’s armrest to calm himself.
“Maybe.” She lifted the book in her hands.
“It says here that loons are easily disturbed, but especially so when they are nesting with new families. Sometimes they get so scared they’ll abandon their nests, eggs and all. Luckily the baby was already born, but there’s no way the family would have been found today.”
“Looks like someone is invested.”
She closed the book.
“It’s keeping my mind preoccupied.”
“You bored?”
She groaned.
“Don’t tell Nan, it would crush her. But yes. I really wish I had an internship or… something. I feel like I’m wasting my time this summer.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to work, trust me,” he grumbled.
“Says the guy who actually has a job.”
“Why, you want it?”
She frowned.
“You don’t?”
He chuckled to himself, mostly in disbelief at where this conversation was ending up…
and how easy it was to share how he truly felt to Tea.
Archer was ready to pour it all out, just like the old days.
But he knew it wasn’t safe to do that with her now.
He needed to set boundaries.
Protect himself from making his same mistakes.
He shrugged, attempting nonchalance.
“Still getting used to it, I guess.”
Her frown deepened.
He knew she wasn’t buying it, but he wasn’t going to hand it to her.
He crossed his ankle over his leg and rubbed his coffee cherry tattoo.
“As soon as I can figure out this dumpster, I’ll be a happy man.”
She nodded, waiting for him to continue, but he remained silent.
The two of them sat there as the sun slowly set.
A catamaran glided past them, heading north.
Archer flicked his gaze in her direction.
Her eyes were wet as she watched the sailboat.
He didn’t say anything as she wiped them clean and looked away from him.
He wasn’t the only one hiding.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“I’m—”
“ Don’t. ”
He clamped his mouth shut.
“Everyone says the same empty words,” she continued.
“I don’t need it from you too.”