Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
The House
The next morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee and a quiet house when the front door opened.
“We’re here!” Poet called out.
Lottie’s hooves clopped across the floor. Her little tail was swinging back and forth, and she let out snorting noises. Mildred popped up from her dog bed in the corner of the living room and came to greet her.
“They’re touching noses!” I yelled. “I’m about to expire from the cuteness overload!”
Salem, Hadley, and Poet finally made it into the kitchen, sans outerwear.
“Sorry that took so long,” Hadley said. “You try getting your boots off when you’re ready to pop. Salem couldn’t even bend down to help me.”
“I told you to wear slip-ons,” Salem said with an eye roll.
Lottie and Mildred went to the dog bed and laid down together.
Hadley clapped her hands and put them underneath her trembling chin. “Oh my God! They’re adorable!”
“Don’t cry!” Salem warned. “If you cry, I’ll cry and then Poet will cry.”
“Donuts!” Poet yelled, raising the bakery box from Sweet Teeth in the air and then setting it down onto the kitchen table.
“You guys sit,” I said, unfolding my legs and rising. “I’ll get plates. Anyone need coffee?”
The three of them shook their heads.
“Forget plates,” Salem said with a sniff as she peered into the bakery box.
Poet put her hands on her hips. “We need to discuss the elephant in the room.”
Salem stopped mid-reach for a donut. “Hey!”
“Rudeness,” Hadley added.
Poet rolled her eyes. “For the love of—I wasn’t talking about you guys.”
“Sorry.” Salem sighed. “I guess I’m just extra sensitive lately.”
“I’m extra sensitive always,” Hadley announced. “What elephant?”
Poet looked at me. “The Archer elephant.”
I opened the cabinet and pulled out a stack of plates. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means,” Poet said, “I watched him stare at you all through dinner last night.”
“You’re imagining things,” I lied.
“No, no,” Salem said with a laugh. “You don’t get to do that. We all saw it.”
“You want me to sit on you?” Hadley asked. “Because I’ll do it, if it means getting information out of you.”
I didn’t reply.
“Did Archer bring up you flirting with Garrett Calhoun?” Salem demanded.
I looked at Poet. “You told her about our bet?”
“Bet? What bet?” Hadley demanded.
Guess not.
“I bet Wyn a million dollars that Brooks would mention Garrett and Wyn flirting at the Copper Mule and that Archer would bring it up to Wyn.” Poet held out her hand. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“How do you expect me to pay you a million dollars?” I asked in amusement.
“Metaphorically speaking,” Poet stated. “Now come clean and tell us what’s going on with you and Archer. Because something’s brewing there.”
“All that’s brewing is the coffee he makes in the morning. I’m going to cook some scrambled eggs.” I walked the stack of plates over to the kitchen table. “Anyone want any?”
“I’ll have some,” Poet said. “With cheddar, please.”
“Oh, that sounds good,” Hadley said. “But first, a donut.”
Nodding, I headed to the fridge. I pulled out the carton of eggs and slices of cheddar cheese.
“Question for you,” Hadley said. “What do you sleep in?”
I frowned. “That’s an odd question.”
“I want to know too,” Salem demanded.
I crouched down to find a mixing bowl, only to remember that I’d rearranged the kitchen on Sunday.
“We’re waiting,” Poet stated.
I found what I needed and faced the pregnant peanut gallery.
“I sleep in sleep shorts and a T-shirt,” I said. “You guys know I run hot.”
“So, you’re not wearing cute pajamas on the off chance that Archer sees you in them?” Hadley demanded.
“Good work, Nancy Drew,” I stated. “You’ve cracked the mystery. Seriously? You guys, come on. He leaves for work before I’m even awake. So why would I bother trying to look cute?”
“I don’t know. Maybe for middle of the night run-ins?” Poet asked.
My eyes widened. “Who told you? Muddy? That woman—”
“That woman can keep a secret,” Poet said. “And it wasn’t Muddy. It was Brooks.”
I blinked. “Brooks? How does he know?”
“Uh? Who do you think told him, you dingus,” Poet said with an eye roll.
“But why would Archer tell Brooks about that?” I demanded.
With a sigh, Poet walked over to me and gestured for me to bend my knees.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She lifted a strand of my hair and peered into my ear. “Looking to see if you have a brain.”
Salem sniggered.
Hadley coughed to cover her laugh.
Poet dropped my hair. “Archer told Brooks that he ran into you in the kitchen the first night you all slept here and that you guys talked about Lenni and stuff. And Brooks told me, and I told them.”
“What was the and stuff?” Salem asked. “That’s so vague.”
“We talked about why I left my last job. Can I make eggs now?” I asked, finally opening the carton of multi-colored eggs.
Frowning, I peered at a green egg that had a black marking on it. I picked it up and turned it around.
I hastily covered my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Poet asked in concern.
“I warned you about chicken poop still on Muddy’s eggs,” Hadley said. “Tell me you’re not grossed out.”
I shook my head and showed Poet the egg.
Her mouth dropped open.
“What?” Salem demanded. “What is it?”
I swallowed and brought the egg to the table to show her and Hadley.
“Hope your day is sunny side up!” Salem read. “That’s not Muddy’s handwriting. Archer wrote that, didn’t he?”
The room fell silent.
“This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Hadley remarked.
“It’s not that cute,” I lied.
“So, you won’t mind if we—” Poet took the egg from me and made a move to crack it against the mixing bowl rim, but I grabbed it back from her.
“You know what? Let’s just save this one. Sit, Poet, I’ve got breakfast under control.”
I pretended not to see the three of them grinning like idiots.
Poet took a seat. “You know she had it laminated?”
“Had what laminated?” Salem asked.
“The paper with all our signatures,” Poet said. “She keeps it in her wallet.”
“Are you here just to reveal my deep, dark secrets?” I asked without any heat.
“I’m here to keep you honest,” Poet said. “I’m like an honesty sponsor.”
“I want to see it,” Hadley said.
“Feel free to dig through my wallet and find it,” I suggested.
My purse hung on the back of one of the chairs and Salem went for it.
I cracked three quarters of the egg carton into the bowl and whisked them.
“You sure it’s in here?” Salem asked with her head buried in my wallet.
“I’m sure,” I said.
“It’s missing,” Salem announced.
“Missing? How is that possible?” Poet asked.
“Does that mean the embargo is null and void?” Salem inquired.
“No,” I stated. “It’s still active.”
A vision of Archer shirtless, covered in tattoos, cradling Mildred like I imagined him cradling a baby flashed into my head.
“I know that look,” Hadley said. “Something just made your ovaries kick in to overdrive.”
“Tell us,” Salem commanded.
I was silent for a moment and then I said, “You’ll make fun of me.”
Salem opened her mouth, but Hadley immediately covered her sister’s lips with her palm. “We wouldn’t. We won’t.”
“Share with the class,” Poet said.
I glanced at Salem. “You promise not to be Salem for like, five minutes?”
She nodded her head emphatically.
Hadley slowly lowered her hand and placed it in her lap.
I took a deep breath. “Archer’s so hot I think he makes menopausal women spontaneously ovulate.”
Poet choked out a laugh.
“So, imagine what he’s doing to me; a twenty-three-year-old who’s trying to be celibate and who has a thing for mustache rides.”
Hadley giggled and Salem hooted.
“It’s not funny,” I said, my shoulders slinking. “He’s the one guy I shouldn’t be noticing and I can’t help it. Something’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Poet said. “Nothing’s wrong with any of us.”
“Why him?” I whined. “Do I want him because I can’t have him?”
“Who says you can’t have him? It’s not like an allergy,” Salem remarked.
“Penis embargo aside,” Hadley said. “Why can’t you have him?”
“Because he’s my boss,” I said.
“Yeah.” Hadley nodded slowly. “That does make things complicated.”
“And I can’t do that to Lenni,” I said. “I won’t be someone else who bails on her.”
Salem frowned. “Why would you bail on her?”
“Because if we sleep together, it will make everything murky. And I do not want Lenni to become collateral damage. Besides, the whole point of this embargo was to slow everything down. I don’t trust my own judgment.
Men say what you want to hear and then the minute you start falling for them, they fucking bail. I’m tired of being left!”
The kitchen went silent after my devastating reveal.
I took a deep breath. “You think I’m going to play fast and loose with my heart around a guy who just found out he has a daughter?
I’m not his priority. Furthermore, I wouldn’t expect him to make me one.
Because Lenni needs to be his primary focus.
I’m the nanny. He’s my boss. That’s it. That’s how this goes. Okay?”
I didn’t want to admit the truth out loud. I was afraid my heart was already softening toward Archer. And I wasn’t sure I’d survive the heartbreak that came with loving a man who couldn’t choose me first.