16. Archer
Chapter 16
Archer
Archer pulled his truck into the drive-through line at the testing clinic in Ashland.
Every muscle in his body felt tight, and the pounding in his head hadn’t subsided even hours after finding out about Wayne’s fever.
A line of cars followed him, all residents of Wild Pines heading for testing.
Tea sat next to him, mask on, legs tucked close to her chest and arms around her knees.
She’d panicked when Kelly told them the news, and his heart split in two at the sight of her.
Without hesitating, he told her to change and get in his truck, then knocked on cabin doors to spread the news—only to find out that a few others were showing symptoms as well.
Coughing, body aches, fever, and chills.
The entire resort was on the verge of an outbreak, and it was likely all his fault.
Again.
A woman in blue scrubs sat at the window, mask and plastic gloves on.
“Hi, sir. Have either of you been showing any symptoms of COVID?”
Archer turned to Tea.
She shook her head.
“No,” he replied.
“All right. We have the PCR tests, but if you want, we got those new rapid antigen tests in—”
“We’ll take them both.”
The woman handed them the kits.
Archer stepped out of the car and did his test outside, leaving Tea alone in the truck to do hers.
They individually handed them back.
“You should get an email in the next two hours with your rapid results, and the PCR tests in a few days,” she said.
Archer nodded, then pulled his truck away from the clinic and back onto the main road.
He didn’t bother waiting for the other cars.
They would all find out each other’s results soon enough.
They drove back in silence.
Ten minutes into the drive, Archer stopped at a red light.
The sun was almost set, the night sky turning to dusk.
The light took a lifetime to turn.
His chest flared in annoyance.
He gripped the steering wheel hard and took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
But no amount of deep breathing was releasing the tight pain in his chest, or in his head.
He slammed his hand against the wheel.
“ Fuck! ”
Tea tightened her arms around her legs.
“It’ll be okay, Arch.”
He rubbed his eyes, making sure not to move the mask on his face.
“How can you say that? What if someone gets really sick and we can’t get them to a hospital in time? All because I said yes to that fucking party.”
“This isn’t all on you,” she countered.
“Everyone made their choice. We all took a risk.”
He white-knuckled the wheel again and checked the light.
Still red. “But it wouldn’t have happened at all if I shut it down and said no from the start.”
“Are you really going to blame yourself for this? That’s ludicrous.”
“Yeah, well, I should have known better. I clearly did not learn from my previous mistakes.”
The light finally turned green.
He pressed hard on the gas, jerking the truck forward.
Tea’s face was pinched into a scowl.
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head.
“No, absolutely not.” Tea twisted her body so she was facing him.
“Archer, what’s going on with you? Tell me right now.”
“No.”
“Why not ?”
“Because it is the single most horrific thing I’ve done in my entire life.”
She sucked in a breath.
“If I tell you, I don’t think you’ll be able to look at me the same way ever again.”
“I highly doubt that,” she murmured.
The sound of her soft confidence in him left a pang in his heart.
They pulled up to another red light.
He growled.
“ Archer .”
He exhaled and tilted his head back, then rolled it to look at her.
“Remember when you said that you think I have anxiety about COVID?”
She nodded.
He rubbed his neck. Was he really going to tell her about this?
She placed a hand down on the console between them.
She didn’t reach for him all the way, like there was an invisible barrier between them.
But the movement was clear enough.
I’m here for you.
The light above them turned green, and still he didn’t move.
They were in the middle of the woods, and there wasn’t a car in sight.
“It’s not anxiety about getting it, it’s about spreading it to others. Back in March—” The word caught in his throat.
He cleared it, ignoring the stinging in his eyes.
“I was on the schedule to work at Hermes Lounge one night, and I wasn’t feeling too great, but I went to work anyway.”
Her eyes widened.
“I kept mixing drinks and handing them off to people, thinking it was a cold coming on or something. Days later, I woke up with chills and a fever. That was the day everything shut down in Minneapolis. I couldn’t get a test or anything because hospitals and clinics were so backed up. But I knew. I had every symptom in the book.”
The light turned yellow, then back to red.
“I called my boss to tell him I had it, and he came back to me days later with some n-news.” Tears welled in his eyes.
He swiped them away with the back of his hand.
“Apparently three guests at the bar that night ended up in the hospital. Two of them did not make it.”
“ Archer ,” she whispered.
“I shouldn’t have gone in for my shift. If I had stayed home, they would probably be alive, and—” He couldn’t continue.
His chest heaved as he let out a sob.
“Hey, hey, hey .” Tea stretched her hand.
He wanted to grab it— desperately —but how could he?
How could he risk it?
How could she even look at him?
“Arch, it is not your fault. They could have picked it up from someone or someplace else. It was spreading like crazy in the beginning, and we still don’t know much about how this thing spreads.”
He snatched an old napkin in his glove compartment and wiped his eyes.
“Tea, I was making them drinks. Without a mask on.”
“And they were probably talking in very close proximity to each other, and to others earlier in the day—”
He shook his head.
He knew she was only trying to make him feel better, but it felt like taking a small pickaxe to his mountain of guilt.
“What if someone gets really sick at Wild Pines?”
“Then we’ll figure it out, one day at a time. Together.”
He nodded.
The light turned green and this time, he tapped on the gas.
Their results came in an hour later.
Both negative.
Wayne tested positive, which was to be expected.
But Kelly tested positive as well, despite seeming perfectly healthy earlier that day.
He called his mom. “What were your test results?”
She sighed.
“Not great, sweetheart.”
Both of his parents tested positive too.
Along with Steph, Chris, Danny, Ashley, Jorge, and Victoria Jansen.
He sat on the steps of his porch, watching Tea pace back and forth.
She was on the phone with Molly, her tone too low for him to capture what she was saying.
She eventually hung up and slipped her phone in the back pocket of her jeans.
Archer leaned forward.
“What did she say?”
“She said I could isolate upstairs and leave them downstairs, but that’s still a risk. I could go to the inn in town and quarantine for two weeks, but that also feels super risky.”
Archer pressed his hands together.
“I don’t like the sound of either of those.”
“Me neither, but what other option do I have?”
“Stay with me.”
The words slipped out of his mouth before he could even comprehend what he was saying.
Her eyes widened.
Well, I’m in it now.
He kept talking. “I have an extra bedroom in there, and technically half the food in the fridge is yours. You could quarantine with me.”
She crossed her arms over her stomach.
“And if either of us ends up getting sick?”
“Tea, we already spend a lot of time together unmasked. At this point, if you get sick, I’m probably going to get sick.”
“That doesn’t freak you out?”
“Oh, I’m fucking terrified,” he admitted.
“But I sure as hell am not letting you stay at the inn, and you will not be spending two weeks locked up in your bedroom.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms. Hold her tight and protect her from everything else going on in the world.
She exhaled, then looked up at his cabin behind him.
“Do you have good pillows?”
They made quick work of packing her things at Cabin B.
Wayne and Kelly waited outside while Tea stuffed clothes in tote bags.
He snatched her pillows and extra blankets, as well as the books she had on her nightstand she told him to grab.
Before he pulled away, he noticed a small framed photo by her bed.
It was of the two of them, smiling wide with blue teeth and lips from the snow cones they made.
Tea had been obsessed with her disposable camera that summer.
She took photos of everything.
He still had one himself, a picture she took of him fishing off the edge of the dock.
She’d mailed it to him in a Congrats on your new baby!
card later that year.
It was deep in his sock drawer.
He snatched the picture frame and stuffed it in the bag he held, then grabbed a few of her other bags and helped her carry everything back to his place.
When they stepped into the cabin, they both froze in the entryway.
It was pitch-black except for the moonlight peeking in from the window.
It was eerily quiet outside.
No teenage gang around the bonfire.
No boats voyaging out for night fishing.
The only sound he could hear was Tea’s soft breathing.
He took a step forward.
“Your room is this way. Want to settle in?”
“No.” She dropped everything she was holding onto the solid wood floor .
“I want you to grab that bottle of vodka in your freezer.”
He laughed, watching as she opened his cabinets and grabbed two plastic cups.
“I think drinking vodka straight would be a bad idea?”
“We’ll mix it with the cranberry juice I bought.”
He lifted a brow, placing her things on the couch, then flicked on the lamps.
“You bought cranberry juice?”
“I figured a mixer would be good to have on hand.” She reached for the fridge handle.
“Oh crap, I should have grabbed some of my wine.”
He smirked.
“Open the fridge.”
She tilted her head in confusion, then opened it.
Her mouth split into a grin.
“ Six bottles?”
He shrugged, making his way to the kitchen to join her.
“I grabbed them a few days ago. Figured having a few bottles would be good to have on hand.”
She shook her head.
“So we’re stocked for a quarantine, aren’t we?”
“I guess so.”
The two of them stood there, staring at each other.
They had yet to remove their masks since the drive to the clinic.
Tea seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Should we take them off?”
He swallowed.
“Only if you’re comfortable.”
She didn’t move for a beat, then slowly lifted her hand to his face.
Archer stood still as she undid the elastics around his ears.
He smiled, stepping closer to her.
He removed her mask, placed it on the counter, then cupped her face in his hands.
“Are you doing okay?”
She nodded.
“I'm a little scared that I won’t be around them. But thank you for letting me stay.”
“Of course. Anything you need.”
She bit her lip. It took everything in his power not to lean down and kiss her. He knew if he did and she rejected him, a two-week quarantine would not go well.
Or, if she didn’t reject him…it could go very well.
He didn’t let himself fantasize about it.
She grinned, and for the second time tonight, Archer wondered if Tea was reading his thoughts. “Ready to get shitfaced?”
He grinned back at her. “Frozen pizza for dinner?”
“Sounds immaculate.”