24. Archer
Chapter 24
Archer
Word spread fast about the two of them.
Archer couldn’t go a day working at the resort without someone stopping to congratulate him—or to tell him it took him long enough.
Sandy was particularly vocal about Archer’s inability to lock her down long ago.
Joel remained confused, stating that he was certain they had been together all this time.
Their comments didn’t matter to him though.
Archer Vincent was the happiest he had ever been.
He walked back from the storage unit, putting on his work gloves.
It was four o’clock and he still had a few more things to do.
The docks needed another power wash, and weeds were starting to build up along the beach.
He scanned the lawn, hoping to find Tea sitting in her usual chair, reading another book about loons.
He teased her about them constantly, but mostly because he wanted to hear her talk about it.
He liked listening to the things she was learning, experiencing that smart, incredible brain of hers working in real time.
He stepped in a circle looking for her, then found a flash of red hair in his cabin window.
She sat on his couch, her hair loose around her shoulders, book perched on her knees.
She twirled a scrunchie with her finger before placing it on her wrist, then leaned back on the couch.
He removed his work gloves and dropped them on the deck of his cabin, then swung the door open.
Piercing blue eyes peeked at him over her book.
“Done for the day?”
He shrugged.
“Sure.”
She frowned.
“How much more do you have to do?”
Archer removed his dirty Silver Falls T-shirt and tossed it to the ground before climbing onto the couch.
Tea shimmied over to make room for him, like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to come home to her.
To lie on the couch and wrap his arms around her.
He squeezed her waist and nuzzled her neck.
“Doesn’t matter.”
She sighed.
“I probably should say it does matter, but…” She closed the book and placed it down on the floor.
“At this moment, I don’t think it matters either.”
He grinned.
“Good.”
They remained there for a long while.
He rested his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat, steady and strong.
Golden light streamed in from the window as the day grew later.
Small particles of dust danced in the air, moving in their own little orbit.
Tea lifted her hand, her fingers playing through the stream of light, the particles of dust swirling around in a tempo of her command.
Archer traced his fingers up her arm, then twined them with hers.
He liked the look of their hands together.
His, covered in the tattoos that he was fond of.
Hers, unblemished freckled skin, bronzed from hours out in the summer sun.
She stretched her fingers wide and played with his hand, rubbing her thumb across the sword tattoo on his pinky finger.
“What are you thinking right now?” she breathed.
“That I like the way our hands fit together,” he answered honestly.
She pressed her lips to the top of his head.
He could feel her smile.
“Okay, Casanova.”
“I’m not joking.”
“I know you aren’t.”
The sun set earlier each day, a horrible reminder that summer was coming to end.
In three weeks, Wild Pines would close up for the winter, and he would have to figure out his life.
Was it back in Minneapolis?
Or was he meant to follow her?
He hadn’t attempted the conversation with her since they admitted to their families that they were together.
There was something in the way she’d looked at him that day, something sad in her expression.
He was scared to find out what it meant, especially when it felt like everything was on the line.
He knew eventually they would have to talk about it.
He cleared his throat.
“I’m also thinking about what comes next.”
She fidgeted.
“As in what we’re having for dinner tonight?”
“As in where I’ll be going at the end of the month.”
She fell silent.
Archer covered her hand with his, then curled their arms close.
“Have you heard from Hermes Lounge at all?”
“No, not yet.”
“Have you tried reaching out?”
His heart sank.
“I haven’t attempted it.”
“Do you want to go back?”
He kissed her shoulder.
“I don’t know what I want anymore.”
She hummed.
He waited for her to ask what he truly wanted, but she shifted and said, “Tell me about the cocktail school you want to start.”
“What do you want to know?”
A hand combed through his hair.
“What made you want to do it?”
Archer brushed his hand down her arm, then placed it on her thigh.
“I enjoyed taking my classes to get my certification, but I realized that not everyone wants to go through a rigorous program like that, where the focus is more on having a career. Some people just want to learn how to make a decent cocktail. I would have customers come in and ask for the specs on our drinks, but I wasn’t allowed to share them. It had me thinking…why not open up the lounge for a few classes during the day? I pitched it to my manager last year, and he didn’t hate the idea. As long as I didn’t share the secrets for our specialty cocktails and taught the classics and crowd pleasers, like margaritas and espresso martinis, then it could be a cool way to bring in more business. I figured maybe I’d start there and then if it took off, transition it into a business of my own.”
He rubbed her soft skin, his thumb pressing into her inner thigh.
“Then the pandemic hit. I don’t think people are going to take classes in person right now, or who knows if we’ll ever get to do anything like that again with the way things are going down. All of these new spikes are making people nervous. I feel like my career in hospitality imploded.” He paused, then lifted his head to look at her.
“I’m wondering if I need to find something new to work toward.”
She pursed her lips.
“I highly doubt cocktail lounges and in-person classes will be gone forever.”
“Tea, they’re talking about kids going remote for the entire next school year. I can’t go this whole winter and not work. I’ll need to find something new.”
She poked his nose.
“I think you should reach out to them.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” She shrugged.
“What’s the worst that could happen? They say no and they are closed for good?”
“No, the worst could be them telling me that I should never return because of what I did, and my career going up in flames because no one will ever want to work with me again.” He pressed his lips together then blew out a breath.
“Or that cocktail lounges will cease to exist after this.”
She sat up and snatched his phone off the coffee table.
“Stop being dramatic. We’re going to write an email together right now.”
“Uh…now?”
“Yes, now.” She typed in his passcode.
He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that she knew it—she was observant, and he had nothing to hide.
She opened up a new message on his email and handed it to him.
He smirked. “You’re the businesswoman. You write the email.”
She did a satisfied little wiggle that made him laugh.
He tightened his grip on her thigh and moved her leg so it was wrapped around him, then nestled in as she typed.
When she was finished, she read it out loud to him to approve before sending it off to his manager.
Despair gripped his heart.
He didn’t want to think about his manager’s response, or the end of the summer.
It was too much to handle.
He wanted to stay on this couch, under the streaming golden sunlight, wrapped up in her forever.
He didn’t want to think about the future.
He wanted to live in blissful ignorance.
He slid his hand up her leg and kissed the center of her chest, then worked his way up her neck.
“Join me in the shower?”
She hummed, her arms making their way around his shoulders as she shimmied into the cushions.
“ What the hell do you think you’re doing?! ”
They both froze.
Archer lifted his head to the door, wondering if someone was yelling at him.
But the sound was coming through the open window of his bedroom, on the other side of the cabin.
A muffled voice responded.
He couldn’t make out the words.
“ ?Estás chalado? You’ve been doing this all this time? ?Qué locura! ”
It was Jorge.
A door slammed shut.
“I don’t understand you!”
And that was…
Joel?
Archer looked at Tea.
“Fishing cabin,” they said at the same time.
They bolted upright.
Archer pulled on his shirt as they exited his cabin, then jogged over to the commotion.
By the time they reached the small fishing hut, others had congregated as well.
Rhonda, Steph, Kelly, Lily, and his father.
Joel stood in front of the door, arms crossed, his face tight with irritation.
Jorge stood at a distance from Joel, shaking his head as he made his way over to his wife, rapidly filling her in on what happened in Spanish.
Archer knew a few words from his time in school and working in the service industry, enough to pick up on the gist of what was going on.
When Jorge opened up the door to clean his fish, he found Joel making a mess of it.
He glared at Joel. “You’ve been angry at me about not catching the culprit, but it’s been you all this time?”
Joel crossed his arms. “I was teaching you a lesson on leadership. You clearly couldn’t figure out who it was, and it’s been months. ”
Rhonda laughed out loud.
It wasn’t a true laugh though.
It was more of a disbelieving one—a I can’t believe you one.
“So you come in here every week and make a mess of everything, then blame my kids and get angry at Archer? Joel, I’ve been waiting years to say this, but I think you’re a lunatic.”
Steph patted her wife’s shoulders.
“All right, calm down.”
“How can I be calm? The man’s insane!”
Joel pointed a finger at Astor.
“No, he’s insane for giving up his position five years before we all agreed he would!”
Dad’s brow wrinkled.
“You’re blaming me for this?”
“ Yes. ”
“Funny.” Dad crossed his arms. “I don’t remember agreeing to anything, and I didn’t think I needed to consult you on my business decisions.”
“I think you do. Your family might be managing the resort, but we own our cabins. We are the ones in charge.”
“And are you dissatisfied by how the place has been run this summer?” Dad breezed a hand around the landscape to make a point.
“We don’t have our cleaning services coming in and we don’t have money from renters and many of us currently don’t have jobs. Yet despite all of that, my son has done an excellent job keeping this place in shape while caring for everyone here, and for at least a fourth of what he was paid in Minneapolis.”
Many pairs of eyes darted in his direction.
He shifted on his feet uncomfortably.
Dad continued. “Let me remind you that I am still an owner, and I know for a fact that without Archer, things could have gone a lot differently this summer. I don’t think I would have had the same energy to take care of Wild Pines and manage to keep people safe during a global pandemic.”
“He helped me fix my boat. For free ,” Jorge added.
“ And he helped all of us with delayed association fee payments,” Lily added.
“Did you see Archer strip and add new varnish to all of our picnic tables?” Rhonda asked him with a sweep of her hand.
“We didn’t even ask him to do that.”
“Or remove all of the clovers from the lawn so the kids don’t have to deal with bee stings,” Steph chimed in.
The group kept at it, listing off all the things Archer accomplished that summer.
His chest swelled with pride.
He may have felt way in over his head at the beginning of May, but as he listened to his community list off all of the little things they noticed he did to make their space the best it could be, it made him surprisingly emotional.
It made him realize that maybe, after all of this time, he actually did like being the manager of the Wild Pines resort.
“If you are uncomfortable with the way things are changing around here, then you and Sandy are more than welcome to put your cabin up for sale,” his father said.
Gasps dotted around the crowd, which had grown bigger during the argument.
Every owner was now present, as well as a few of the teenagers pausing from their game of volleyball.
Joel’s face was the color of a tomato.
“How dare you. We were the first ones here.”
“That claim means nothing. In fact, I believe it is in our by-laws that the owners of other cabins can vote owners out if they are hostile and present a threat to the ecosystem of the resort.”
Silent nods followed.
Archer felt Tea step close, and he brushed her fingers with his.
Dad unfurled his arms. “So what’s it going to be? Should we call a vote, or will you apologize and accept that change is, in fact, very good for our resort to thrive in Silver Falls for years to come?”
Joel kicked a rock with a force that surprised Archer.
The man seemed fragile, but he certainly had spunk hidden in there somewhere.
Especially if he gutted fish every week and made a point to leave the cabin in a state of disarray.
Joel stilled and looked at him, his expression poisonous rather than apologetic.
At this point, Archer would take what he could get.
This was already too much of a scene, and the last thing he wanted was to kick Sandy and Joel out of the cabin that they’ve happily owned for over fifty years.
“I apologize,” Joel spat.
“I will not interfere again.”
Archer nodded.
“Apology accepted.”
No one said a word as Joel continued to glare at Archer.
He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You are right, Joel. This is as much your home as it is ours. If you have any issues with how things are done, please come talk to me. I would be happy to work out a solution. I don’t want you to feel like you need to make a statement to get your point across. If you’re unhappy, then let’s do something about it. I want you to be happy here—for all of us to be happy here—for years to come.”
Astor smirked.
“Does that mean what I think it means?”
Archer turned to look at Tea as he answered.
“Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”
Tea gave him a genuine smile.
She was happy for him.
And while he felt confident in his decision, the look on her face made him feel torn between two different worlds.
Whoops and hollers sounded off from their small crowd.
Joel nodded, then turned on his heel and left for his cabin.
Sandy stood clutching the banister as he approached, then violently whispered at him as they entered Cabin C.
Steph patted Rhonda on the back.
“Babe, you can’t call an old man a lunatic .”
People chuckled as they dispersed.
Rhonda held up her arms. “Am I wrong?”
Steph rolled her eyes.
“Come on, let’s get you a drink.”
Jorge rubbed his eyes.
“I think we could all use a drink.” He pointed at Archer.
“Pisco sours?”
Archer grinned, then snaked an arm around Tea’s shoulders.
“Pisco sours?”
“I have no idea what those are,” she admitted.
“Cocktail lesson number two?”
“Oh he doesn’t know how to make a true one,” Jorge quipped.
Lily slapped his arm as they began to walk toward their cabin.
“Jorge, be nice.”
“It’s not my fault his fancy cocktail school taught him all wrong!”
Archer eyed his father, who was chuckling along with the interaction.
He hesitated, then turned to Tea.
“Hey, go with them, I’ll catch up.”
Tea kissed him on the cheek, then followed Jorge and Lily.
Astor titled his head.
“You okay?”
Archer cracked his knuckles.
“Oh yeah. I’m glad we figured out who was doing it. Cleaning that cabin every week was driving me crazy.”
“At least you cleaned it. If it were me, I would have left it to rot until the culprit came forward.”
“That’s…disgusting, Dad.”
“And that’s why you are the best person for this job.”
He paused.
“Thank you,” he replied gingerly.
Astor patted his back.
“I’m proud of you, son. This summer hasn’t been easy.”
“No, it has not.”
They remained there for a beat, Astor’s hand on his back, the trees rustling from the warm breeze coming from the east.
Eventually he watched his father walk away, stunned by his words of praise.
His mind raced as he made his way to Jorge’s cabin.
Four Pisco sours sat on the table beaded with perspiration.
Jorge was busy in conversation with Tea, Lily nodding along to whatever her husband was saying.
Archer took the seat next to Tea and reached for a glass, then took a large sip.
Jorge looked smug. “Good, right?”
He shrugged.
“Needs more simple.”
“You’re such an ass.”
Archer smirked as he leaned back, throwing an arm around Tea’s shoulders and kissing her on the head.
“Hey, Jorge was telling me that he got his job back,” Tea said.
Archer’s brows shot up.
“Seriously? Dude, congrats.”
Jorge sighed.
“Yes, back to the office three days starting the second week of September. I don’t love the idea of going to the office, but I do love the idea of making money again.” He lifted his glass to the two of them.
“Thank you for being kind about my delayed payments. It meant a lot to us.”
“We could probably pay you soon,” Lily added.
“Potentially in a week or so.”
Archer swiped his hand.
“Don’t worry about it. Tea was able to work out finances so we could pay the association in full. As long as you pay what you need to before the next season, we will be good.”
Jorge sighed, leaning back in his chair as he took a sip of his drink.
“That must be nice. Having someone working for you who actually knows what they’re doing with finances.”
Tea frowned.
“Do you guys not have someone working on your accounts?”
“Oh we do, but he’s horrendous at it. I mean, clearly. Half of us were furloughed this summer because he didn’t consider the right amount of savings to take care of employees in crises such as this. Which is embarrassing considering the company relies so much on public donation. Me and a few of my colleagues are advocating for new financial management; someone who actually knows what’s best for those kinds of resources.”
Archer couldn’t help himself.
His eyes flicked to Tea as Jorge talked.
Her face was pinched into a scowl, the crease in her forehead visible, deep in thought.
Financial management?
Someone new? Minneapolis ?
He closed his eyes. No .
He couldn’t hope like that.
She had her heart set on being with her mom, and he wouldn’t be the one to sway her decision.
She’d made it clear that he should move forward with his life in Minneapolis.
He just wished she would consider a life where he wasn’t only a part of it for three months of the year.
He didn’t want to settle for only the summer.
He wanted the whole year.
He wanted years to come. He wanted it all.