Chapter Twelve
Archer
On Monday, Isaac arrives at nine, and Cullen and I spend a couple of hours walking around the farmhouse and its grounds with him.
Isaac’s upbeat and positive. He says the house looks structurally sound, and as we’re mostly happy with the layout of the rooms, changes are going to be minimal.
He makes copious notes and sketches, and then he promises to get back to us in a day or two with a quote for the renovations we want and heads off back to his office.
At midday, Cullen and I walk down to Sunrise Bay, buy ourselves some boxes of sandwiches, some fruit, and a coffee from the supermarket, and take them back up the hill to the farmhouse, his German Shepherd, Ghost, by our sides.
Isla is there when we arrive, having finished a morning shift at the Ark, and we take our lunch out onto the patio.
Cullen has bought a few more cheap plastic chairs, and we sit and eat, looking out at the view.
“I was covering for Beth,” Isla announces, having a bite of one of the sandwiches.
“She was off sick.” She picks out a piece of cucumber and hands it to Cullen, who eats it without questioning.
“I called her,” she continues, “but it just went to voicemail. I passed Jude in the car park on the way out and asked him how she was. He said he wasn’t sure, which I thought was a bit odd, but he was going to see her. ”
My head snaps up. Jude’s going to visit Beth? I feel a sudden, uncharacteristic sweep of jealousy.
Isla’s looking at me, and a frown flickers on her brow. “What?”
I hesitate. I’m not a gossip, and I dislike those who enjoy spreading rumors. But that’s not what this is. We’re all friends, and I surprise myself by feeling the need to talk about it.
“They’ve broken up.”
They both look at me, shocked. “What?” Cullen asks.
“On Valentine’s Day,” I reveal. “Jude told her he didn’t want kids, and that if she wants them she’s going to have to find someone else to have them with.”
“Ohhh…” Isla sighs. “I saw her just before they must have had that conversation. It was when you were doing your speech,” she says to me.
“Yeah, that would have been about right. I talked to Jude just after it. He was on the way to being drunk. He said he couldn’t be what she wanted, and that he was done, and it was over.
I tried to convince him to stay and go and make it up with her, but he called his brother and asked him to come and pick him up. ”
Isla presses her fingers to her mouth. “Oh no… why didn’t she call me? Did she go home?”
I don’t say anything, tongue-tied as my brain refuses to come up with an answer. They both stare at me, and Isla’s eyebrows slowly rise.
“Archer…” She draws my name out. “What happened?”
“I texted her, that’s all, because I was worried about her. She eventually admitted she was in The Driftwood, so I walked down there to make sure she was okay.”
“And was she?” Cullen asked.
“Yeah. She was upset, of course, and tipsy.”
The two of them exchange glances.
“What happened then?” Isla asks.
“Nothing.”
Cullen’s eyes gleam. “Did she go home?”
I sigh. “No, she didn’t want to see Jude again. I said I’d call you,” I nod to Isla, “or Kim, but she didn’t want that either. She asked if she could sleep on my sofa.”
“So… you took her home?” Her eyebrows rise.
I give her a wry look. “Yeah.”
The three of us exchange glances. They both start smiling.
I point a finger at them. “Stop it.”
“Did she sleep on the sofa?” Isla asks.
“No…”
“Did you?” Cullen asks.
I groan at that and slide down in my chair, tipping my head back and closing my eyes. “Nope.”
“Archer!” Isla squeals.
I blow out a long breath.
“Oh my God. Come on, you’ve got to tell us everything.”
I open my eyes and lift my head. “I really don’t.”
“Well, not everything, but at least what happened the next morning! Are you and she an item?”
I sit up and lean forward, my elbows on my knees, dangling my coffee cup between my fingers. “No. Honestly, I’m not sure what happens next. I’m not even sure she and Jude are over completely. So you’ve got to keep this to yourselves, okay?”
“Of course,” Cullen says. “We won’t tell anyone, will we?”
Isla shakes her head. “I love Beth like a sister.” She hesitates, and then her expression softens as she says, “We talked about you.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Me?”
“Yes. At the fundraiser. She was watching you speak. After you finished, I said, ‘He likes you,’ and she blushed scarlet.”
It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she was just embarrassed to be caught looking at another man when she was dating Jude. But Isla’s words fill me with hope and longing.
“She’s also admitted to me several times that things haven’t been right with Jude for a while,” Isla says. “So I’m not surprised they’ve broken up.”
“So how did you leave things?” Cullen asks.
I swirl the coffee around in the cup, then pick at the lid. “The next morning Jude turned up. We pretended she’d slept on the sofa.”
“Shit,” Cullen says.
“Yeah. It was very awkward. Jude wanted to talk, but she said she wasn’t ready and left.”
“Did you tell him?” Isla asks.
But Cullen is already shaking his head. “You’re going to let them sort it out, aren’t you?”
“Oh, Archer,” Isla says.
“What?” I frown. “I’m not going to interfere if there’s a chance they can make it work.”
“Do you want to be with her?” Isla asks.
I study my coffee cup.
She tries to catch my eye. “Then you should stake your claim.”
“I’m not comfortable doing that. She knows how I feel about her.”
“You’ve told her you love her?” Cullen asks.
“No…” I glare at him. “But I’m not going to challenge Jude to a duel over it. It’s not about who wants her more. It’s about what Beth wants, and if she decides to try to make her relationship work, I’m not going to stand in her way.”
“Mr. Honorable,” Cullen says, with some exasperation.
“It’s not about being honorable.” How can I explain it?
“You want her to choose you,” Isla says softly.
I nod slowly. “Yeah.” I’m ashamed of it.
It feels needy. But I don’t want to have to talk Beth into being with me.
She’s been with Jude for two and a half years.
I’ve been here all that time, and she’s never looked in my direction, not for longer than a glance, anyway.
If she chooses Jude over me now, then her feelings for me don’t come close to mine for her.
“Hello?”
We all look around as a female voice calls from inside the house. For a moment I think it’s Beth, come to find me, but then I see Natalie walking toward us, and I remember our arrangement to meet.
“Oh, hey.” I get up as she comes out onto the patio and hold out my hand. “Thanks for coming.”
She shakes it, smiling. “Hope you don’t mind me barging in, but the door was open.”
“No, of course not.” I turn to the others. “This is Natalie Price. She works with me at the Sunrise Bay Center. She’s going to be our first therapist! Nat, this is Cullen and Isla, and Ghost of course.”
“Hello!” Natalie has shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes, and a quiet, calm, and sunny personality. She bends to stroke Ghost as he comes over to investigate her, and she smiles at Cullen and Isla. “Nice to meet you at last.”
“This is exciting,” Isla says, coming to shake her hand. “It makes PAWS feel very real.”
“It sort of does,” I say, looking around the farmhouse. “There’s an awful lot of work to do.”
“It’s a super site, though.” Natalie walks into the living room, and we all follow her. “You’re keeping this area as a community hub?”
“Yeah, with the offices over there, and the six therapy rooms on this side and at the front.” I take her for a walk around the place, while Cullen and Isla start taking down all the old, mildew-ridden curtains.
“My idea is that the therapy rooms are numbered, and therapists use whichever is free, rather than having their names on the doors. So if you have a couple coming in, for example, you might want one of the larger rooms behind reception. For individual therapy you can choose one of the smaller rooms overlooking the garden. Or do you think it would be better to have designated rooms?”
“No, I’d be happy with a rotation.” She peers in as I open one of the doors to show her the space. “That way it stops us being too territorial. Gives it more of a collective feel, don’t you think?”
“I do,” I say, pleased she feels the same.
“Will you have your own room?” she asks.
“Cullen and I are going to share an office for the administrative side of things. But no, I’ll use the general therapy rooms.”
She nods, and we continue walking around the other rooms, ending up in the one where Cullen and Isla are working. “Do I speak to you about a rescue dog?” she asks Cullen.
He straightens from folding up the old curtains and nods. “You looking for one soon?”
“Yes, I have to work two weeks’ notice, so it would be great if I could wait until then, but maybe you could start looking out for me?”
“Sure,” he says.
“You’ve handed in your resignation?” I ask her.
She tucks her hair behind her ear and nods. “Yeah. All done. We were both relieved, in the end.”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly.
She shrugs. “Onward and upward.”
I’m sure it’s not that easy, but I’m glad she seems to be coping okay.
We all chat for a bit about PAWS and our hopes for the center, and then Natalie heads off back to work.
For the rest of the afternoon, I continue clearing up outside, while the other two carry on indoors.
The skip arrives, and I move all the loose bricks and metal into it, then fire up the trimmer and start neatening the grass around the farmhouse.
We’ll probably hire a gardening service on an ongoing basis, but for now I just want it to look better, and to make access easier for the builders.