12. Archer
Chapter 12
Archer
Archer shucked off his soaked-through T-shirt and swung open the door to his cabin.
“Let me wash up first, then I’ll make us some lunch—”
“ Arrgggghhh! ”
He stopped moving, and turned to Tea on the couch.
Her legs were curled up close to her chest and she was scratching her feet so aggressively, he felt alarmed.
“Uh, everything okay over there?”
“My. Feet. Are. Killing. Me. ”
Archer took a tentative step toward her and eyed the tops of her bare feet.
They were covered with small, splotchy red spots and streaked marks from her nails.
“Uh oh,” he whispered.
Her gaze snapped to him.
“What?”
“You…well, um—”
“Bug bites, I know.” She kept itching.
“They’re eating me alive.”
“No, that’s not bug bites.” He took a seat next to her.
She stopped her itching.
“It’s not?”
“No, it’s not. And I would stop itching. It’s only going to make it worse.”
“That’s like putting a fishing pole in front of Pop and telling him he’s not allowed to touch it all day.” She touched her feet again.
“Tea, don’t.” He lunged forward and grasped her wrists to stop her.
“You have swimmer’s itch.”
Her eyes went wide.
“No.”
He nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry, but yes. It looks like you do.”
She looked down at her feet, then back up to him in horror.
“But I’ve never had swimmer’s itch.”
“Sure, when you were a teenager with the immune system of a steel wall.”
Tea squirmed, looking rather panicked.
He squeezed her wrists.
The pressure seemed to have distracted her from sudden panic.
She fixed her stare on the placement of his hands.
He brushed his thumbs across her pulse, watching her shoulders relax with each stroke.
“What do I do?” she asked, desperation etched in her voice.
“Well, for starters, don’t panic.”
“Too late for that.”
He squeezed again.
“Secondly, don’t scratch.”
“Also too late for that.”
“I have a cream you can use that will help with the itching.”
“Sure, yeah, okay.”
He lifted her arms. “I’m going to give these back to you. Can you handle it?”
She nodded.
Archer stood up and made his way for the bathroom, grabbing hydrocortisone cream and aloe.
He settled back on the couch and held them out to her.
Tea stared at them with wide eyes, looking shocked.
“It’s not going to kill you, Tea, I promise.”
She remained silent and stunned.
He sighed, grabbing her feet and placing them on his lap.
He then unscrewed the ointment and dotted the tops before massaging it in.
Then he repeated the same with the aloe.
Tea bit her bottom lip.
“This is so embarrassing.”
Archer shook his head.
“It’s okay, I was freaked out the first time I got it.”
“When did it happen to you?”
“Hmm, five summers ago? You have it easy. I had it all over my legs and my ass.”
She coughed a laugh and covered her mouth.
Then her head dipped down as she let out a soft moan.
He looked down at his lap, realizing he was still massaging her feet, even after the aloe was thoroughly worked into her skin.
He dropped his hands.
She looked up at him, then tilted her head.
“You’re not wearing a shirt.”
Archer looked down at his bare chest. “Sorry, I was in the process of changing it.”
He didn’t move at first, watching the way she scanned the tattoos on his chest. He hesitated, enjoying the way her eyes roamed over him.
Then he caught himself, moving her feet off his lap and returning to his room.
“Any updates?” he called after her, sliding open the top dresser drawer.
“Nothing important. The loon committee is meeting in a few weeks over Zoom, and the association said our fee payments went through.”
He slipped the shirt on.
“Remind me how we were able to manage the payment without asking the owners for it?”
“We’re not paying for help, which means we have a little bit of savings we can work with from last summer. We can remind owners after the Fourth of July, and offer small payment plans if we think people can’t afford it in full this year.”
He swiped on deodorant.
“And the party?”
“We’re going to get hammered, that’s for sure.”
Archer stood up straight.
That voice wasn’t soft or bright.
It was burly and rich…
and recognizable.
He lunged from his room, finding Austin standing on his porch, nose pressed into the screen door.
Riley was tucked underneath his arm beside him, a lollipop dangling from her mouth.
“Holy mother fucking shit,” Archer breathed.
“Holy mother fucking shit right back at ya,” Austin replied, grinning ear to ear.
He swung the door open of the cabin and the two of them stumbled in.
Austin released his hold on his wife, then wrapped his arms around Archer and slapped his back.
Archer gripped tight.
“Why the hell are you here and not in Fargo?”
“ Fuck Fargo.” Austin squeezed tighter.
“I haven’t missed a Wild Pines Fourth of July party ever , and I’m not letting some fucking pandemic ruin my streak.”
Archer stepped back, realizing he wasn’t wearing a mask.
“Oh crap, I—”
Riley reached out and squeezed his arm, pulling him down so she could kiss him on the cheek.
“Don’t worry, BILF, we quarantined and drove here. And got tested. Larissa was persistent. ”
“BILF?”
Austin and Riley looked at each other with confusion, then both turned their gaze to the couch.
Tea held tightly to her knees, watching the entire interaction unfold with a look that seemed to be a mixture of fear…
and longing.
Riley placed a hand over her mouth.
“Holy mother fucking shit indeed,” Austin said.
“Were you really not going to tell me that Tea was here and that you guys made up?”
Archer scratched his neck, watching Tea and Riley set up chairs on the beach.
Two bottles of wine and four glasses sat on the table close by.
“I never said I wasn’t going to tell you.”
“Yet she’s been here, what, a month?” Austin pulled on the beer in his hand.
“I love how Riley grabbed me a glass like she thinks I’ll magically turn into a wine person at this exact moment.”
“What do you have against wine?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“You’re the one who changed it.”
Austin turned around to face Archer, his back to the women.
“Seriously, Arch, what the hell? I had to pull you out of your bed every goddamn day after everything went down, and you’re letting her waltz right back into your life like she didn’t rip your heart out and feed it to the bears?”
He glared at his brother.
“Hey, it’s not my fault that she had nowhere else to go.”
“But it is your fault to have her working for you.”
“We’re friends , Austin.”
“Can you actually be friends with her? Have you ever truly only been friends with her?”
Archer rolled his jaw.
“I watched you obsess over Tea my whole life. Friends don’t stare out the window of the cabin during dinner, watching someone read and drink tea. Friends don’t make sure they always sit next to each other at the bonfire, or send those damn cards—”
“And what, you were so much better with Riley?”
“Dude, I’ve always been obsessed with Riley. You’re proving my point.”
Archer turned away from his brother, staring right into the sun.
He removed his flat brim and scratched his head.
“Still haven’t lost your hair, huh?” Austin asked.
“Still bald as fuck, huh?”
Austin grinned as he lifted his fraying tucker cap.
“Bald as fuck and very sunburnt.”
Archer shook his head.
“Dude.” Austin placed his beer on the lawn, then gripped Archer’s shoulders.
“I love you like a brother.”
“I am your brother, fuckface.”
Austin tapped Archer’s cheek hard , enough that it could be defined as a slap.
Archer let it slide—he would get him back later.
“I say that because I love you like a friend and a brother, and I really don’t want to watch you fall apart again. It was scary.”
“I won’t, we’re just—”
The lift of his brow silenced Archer, draining the fight from him.
“Promise me something,” Austin replied roughly.
He squinted his eyes.
“Promise me that when things go down—”
“ If they go down—”
“Don’t fucking play me, I’m not blind.”
Archer swallowed.
“Promise me when things go down, you’ll actually take care of yourself. Put yourself first.”
“What does that mean?”
Austin dropped his hands then scratched his beard, which covered a lot more of his face compared to the last time Archer saw him at Christmas.
“It means that you’ll stand up for yourself and what you want. Don’t give up on the dream.”
Clench.
Unclench. “The dream.”
“You know, opening up your own cocktail spot in Minneapolis, maybe starting a cocktail school, expanding to a few more locations in the city—”
He gave his brother the glare of death.
“I didn’t forget my own dream.”
Austin threw up his hands.
“All right, calm down. I’m not sure these days.”
Archer gestured toward Wild Pines, sweeping his hand across the line of cabins.
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of busy.”
“With Wild Pines shit? Seriously, you don’t have to be the person running this place.”
Heat flared in his chest. “Then who will Austin?! There’s no one !”
His voice echoed across the lawn.
Tea and Riley startled in their chairs, turning their heads in their direction.
Austin grabbed his arm and pulled him away from their gaze, to the shadows of his cabin.
“Is that really how you feel? That there’s no one else so you have to do the job?”
Archer hesitated.
It was enough to send a message to his brother.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Austin pried.
“I thought you loved this place. I thought this was part of your dream.”
“Because I knew you never wanted it, and I couldn’t let Dad down.”
“You could have. I didn’t allow myself to be burdened by it, and neither should you.”
Archer flipped his hat backward and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s…fine. For now. It’s not like cocktail lounges are open.”
Austin squinted his eyes.
“Fine. But when they reopen—because they will , man—I want a thorough update. It’s not like Dad sat around twiddling his thumbs during the off season, he helped manage that Hy-Vee in Saint Paul during the winter. You’ll have the opportunity to still do your thing.” He pointed to the women, now back to settling in their chairs, avoiding them.
“And I mean, of course you’re fine right now. You have some smoking hot help to keep you company.”
Archer flipped him off.
Austin’s laugh felt like it rumbled the earth beneath them.
“I knew you were still sweet on her.”
Archer looked up to the sky and didn’t say anything.
He wanted to tell his asshole of a brother that he was wrong, but the words wouldn’t surface.
Was he still sweet on her?
Austin poked a finger to the center of his chest, then pressed hard.
“No compromising. No falling apart.”
“You’re not going to tell me to stay away from her after everything that happened, or some other kind of big brotherly bullshit?”
Austin slapped his back.
“That’s like telling my bald as fuck head to grow some goddamn hair.”
Archer kept quiet as he listened to Tea catch up with Riley and Austin.
She asked about their wedding, about their home and their friends in Fargo, and the day that Austin decided to give up on his hair entirely and shave his head.
Her face flushed as she chuckled along with Riley and Austin’s persistent bickering, which Archer unfortunately knew was his brother and sister-in-law’s favorite version of foreplay.
Tea reached to itch her feet, then stopped herself, eyes sliding to him.
She smiled like she got caught, then sat on her hands.
His body hummed. He wanted to reach out and touch her again, to hear those soft moans escape her lips one more time.
He wondered what kind of foreplay she enjoyed.
Fuck. Less than a week into being “friends” and he was already imagining taking her clothes off.
He hated admitting when his brother was right.
It was horrid for Austin’s ego.