Chapter Six
Archer
T WO DAYS INTO Driving Miss Daisy (which I’d seen now, thanks to a late night and streaming), we arrived at Echo’s final patient, and I needed to take a piss, so I turned to her as she gathered her things. “You good with me heading up to Flick’s Beanery and grab a snack?”
“Sure,” she said. “I should be about an hour.”
“Can I get you something?”
She bit her lip, and shrugged. “Surprise me.”
I nodded. “You got it.”
I waited for her to head inside, then pulled away from the curb just as Devlin called. “Hey, Dev. ”
“Hey, buddy. You got a minute?”
“Ah, yeah, everything okay?”
“Well, yes… and, no.”
“Shit, what’s goin’ on?”
“Train and Melody did an interview.”
“Train and Melody do lots of interviews,” I pointed out.
Melody Morgan was the biggest pop star on the planet and happened to be married to my road captain Train. They’d met when Train was hired to protect her on tour, acting as both her guitarist and bodyguard.
“Yeah, but they did the Daily with Bailey show and she asked about their matching tattoos. You know, they ones you did for them while in lockdown?”
Train and Melody had fallen fast and hard, and now Melody had cemented herself as part of our family, so when we’d been forced into lockdown a few months ago, we’d distracted ourselves anyway we could. This included me offering up my tattooing services to pass the time.
I frowned. “The compasses that point northwest, so they always know where home is?”
“Yep,” Devlin confirmed.
I pulled into Flick’s parking lot and found a spot, killing the engine. “Okay, so what’s the problem?”
“Melody name dropped you and the shop. Trixie’s been fielding calls for the last two days, and although she’s been able to give a few of the callers to other artists, most of them are refusing anyone but you. ”
“No way,” I breathed out.
“ Way ,” she sassed. “So, you need to get down on your knees and beg Uncle Hatch to let you off your punishment ASAP because we’re drowning over here.”
“Let’s not make it weird.”
Devlin laughed. “Just let me know what he says.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to him tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
We rang off and I made my way inside the coffee shop.
I had to admit, I didn’t really want my ‘punishment’ to end because then I’d have to stop seeing Echo.
I really liked the woman. She was funny, easy to talk to, and fuckin’ smart as all get out.
Plus, she was smokin’ hot. But being pretty was never what mattered the most to me.
I mean, of course, I was a man, so I didn’t discount it, but I loved women.
All shapes, sizes, hair colors, nationalities, it didn’t matter which package women were wrapped in, I found them beautiful for the most part.
But if they didn’t have a sense of humor, loyalty, and a brain, I wasn’t about to stick around.
My mother and sister were the benchmark for that, as were many of the old ladies in the club.
I’d heard many of the women say that divorce wasn’t an option, but murder was, and so far (the officers, at least) all had lasting marriages.
I wanted what my parents had. A marriage that could survive anything.
“Can I help you?”
The woman’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up to find her giving me an admiring once-over. I got that a lot, but for some reason, it didn’t really register until today.
“Hey.”
She smiled wide. “Hey there.”
I rattled off my order, including what I thought Echo might like having spent a couple of days observing her, then after taking care of my base needs, I sat at a nearby table, scrolling through my emails, texts, and the news while I waited.
“Archer!” one of the server’s called, and I made my way to the counter to pick up my order, complete with the barista’s phone number attached.
Heading back to the house, I figured I’d hang out and eat while Echo finished up, but as I pulled up to the curb, an older man, about my granddad’s age, was pacing the lawn, looking panicked and angry.
He was flapping his arms and hands, muttering to himself and kicking at the stones along the driveway.
I shut off the truck and headed his way. “Hey, man, you okay?”
He faced me. “I got kicked out.”
“Kicked out of where?”
He nodded toward the front door. “My house.”
“Why’d you get kicked out?”
“I was making my wife mad.”
“Okay, is Echo helpin’ your wife?”
He nodded. “Do you know Echo?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Echo’s my friend.”
“She’s my friend, too,” he said, his body visibly starting to relax. “But Judy said I was stressing her out, so she said to go outside and let Echo take care of her. ”
“Well, that sounds like a good idea,” I said.
“She’s dying.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He took a deep breath and stared at the ground. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do without her.”
“I can understand that,” I said. “But right now, you have her, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, how much time do think you need to kill?”
He glanced at his watch. “Probably about thirty minutes.”
“Right, what do you normally do when you need to eat up half an hour?”
“I organize my labels.”
“I don’t know what that means, but would you like some help?”
His eyes lit up and he nodded. “My name’s Floyd.”
“Nice to meet ya, Floyd. I’m Archer.”
Floyd snuck us quietly into the house, past the kitchen and into a den of sorts where there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of old fruit-crate labels, the older, and probably more valuable, ones were on proud display. From what I could see, they were from the early nineteen-hundreds and up.
“Whoa, these are cool,” I breathed out.
“Do you really think so?” he asked. “Judy says that I shouldn’t force people to look at these because it’s my hobby, but others might not think it’s cool. We don’t really have a lot of friends anymore.”
“And your wife said it was because of the labels? ”
“Oh, no, it’s because most of them are dead.”
“Oh, shit, sorry. Well, the labels are cool to me. This must have taken a long time to collect.”
He clapped his hands excitedly. “I have one from before the Civil War. Do you want to see?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Absolutely.”
For the next twenty minutes or so, Floyd and I geeked out on his labels as I helped him catalogue some new ones that had just come in the mail, until I smelled the sweet scent of oranges and honey and raised my head to find Echo leaning against the doorframe.
“Um, hey,” I said. “I found Floyd outside and he invited me in to see his labels.”
“Tell Judy I didn’t force it on him,” Floyd said, looking guilty as hell.
“He really didn’t,” I confirmed. “They’re cool as hell.”
“How’s Judy, is she okay?” Floyd asked.
“She’s great, Floyd,” Echo said. “She’s resting comfortably now.”
“Can I see her?”
Echo smiled. “Of course you can.”
He rushed out of the room and I focused on Echo. “Sorry. I pulled up and he was melting down out front. He invited me in. I hope that didn’t fuck up the HIPPA thing.”
“ I can’t give you any information,” she said. “If Floyd and or Judith want to disclose things, that’s their right.”
“Right,” I said. “Makes sense. You ready, or do you need more time? ”
“I’ll just do one more check, then we can head out.”
“No rush.”
I followed her out, then made my way to the truck where Floyd joined me a few minutes later. I rolled the window down and grinned. “Hey, man, how’s your wife?”
“She’s doing much better, thank you for asking. She’s just very tired. She’s got ovarian cancer and I think she’s going to die soon.”
“Real sorry, Floyd.”
He nodded. “Do you think Echo will help me die with her?”
“Brother, please don’t say shit like that,” I said, pushing my door open and climbing out of the cab of the truck.
“She’s the only one who… well, understands me.”
“I understand you.” I laid a hand on his shoulder. “Echo understands you.”
“You’ve got your own lives to live, Archer.”
I put a palm to my chest. “It’s true that my life is full, Floyd, but it could always be fuller. There’s always room for another cool guy, right? You should meet my granddad. I think you’re about the same age, and I think you two would get along really well.”
“I’d like that.”
“We’ll make that happen real soon.”
“Okay, son. That sounds good.”
“Floyd?” Echo called his name as she approached. “Are you okay? ”
“Yes, sweetie, I was just talking with your friend. When you come the day after tomorrow, he can come in with you.”
“I don’t want to impose,” I said.
“You’re not,” Floyd said. “You can help keep me distracted.”
I grinned. “Sounds good.”
“Do you cook?” he asked.
“I do.”
“You do?” he and Echo said in unison.
I chuckled. “My mother insisted all of us learned.”
“Can you make Judy your last patient and stay for dinner?” Floyd asked hopefully. “Archer and I’ll cook for the two of you.”
Echo smiled, reaching over to squeeze his arm gently. “If that works for Archer’s schedule, sure.”
I shrugged. “Works for me.”
Floyd grinned, clapping his hands. “Great, it’s a date.”
“We’ll see you then,” Echo said, and I opened the door for Echo and waited for her to climb into the cab of the truck then made my way back to the driver’s side.
Floyd watched from the front porch as I pulled away.
“Home now?” I asked.
“Actually, I’m going to have you drop me at my parents’ if that’s okay. They’ll take me home later.”
“No problem. What’s the address?”
She rattled off the information, and I entered it into the GPS, then we headed that way. She didn’t live far from her mom and dad’s and that gave me a strange sense of comfort. It wasn’t really any of my business, but I liked that she was close to her family.
“Can I run something by you?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“Do you ever feel unsafe when you’re workin’?”
“Not really, no. All of my patients are at the end-of-life stage and don’t pose much of a threat”