Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
‘H ey, Arch! How are things going?’
‘Hey, Dad.’ His father’s face filled the screen, the big smile on his face almost able to cheer Archer up. He wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened, but at some point his dad had become his best friend. That fact alone said a lot about what Archer had been focused on for the last decade. His dad was the last man standing in the friend department, and that was probably only because he was legally obligated to care about Archer’s problems.
And today felt like a day he needed his dad’s no-nonsense approach to life, to put those problems into perspective.
Archer was sitting out behind the diner on an ancient bench he imagined had been used for smoke breaks throughout the last century. The sun was shining and the air was still chilly, but Archer had needed a break. And a cigarette. Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed one of those anymore, so he had to settle for the fresh air.
He’d given up on the classic pancake recipe for the moment. Instead, he’d put a lemon poppy-seed pancake topped with creme fraiche on the menu today, and he nearly had an early-morning riot on his hands.
Eventually, he’d managed to convince a few patrons to try them, and Tim and Tammy had even cleared their plates. He was trying to take that as a win, but after his long night of sleeping propped up in the hallway, he had a headache and desperately needed a nap.
‘You look like hell.’
‘Thanks, Dad. That’s nice of you to say.’
His father chuckled. ‘How are things going with Olive?’
They hadn’t wanted to overwhelm Olive all at once with a bunch of new family members, so his father hadn’t met her yet, even over the phone, but Archer had been updating him nearly every day.
‘She was sleepwalking last night.’
‘Sleepwalking? Wow, that’s a new one.’
Archer ran a hand down his face. His stubble was nearly a beard now and he really needed to shave. And probably get a haircut. But grooming himself really hadn’t seemed important today when he’d been terrified all night that his daughter was going to sleepwalk into the street.
‘Yeah. I put childproof locks on the door already, but it still freaked me out. I slept in the hallway,’ he admitted with a wince.
‘The hallway? You sound like me when you were a baby.’ His dad had that fond smile on his face that people always got when they reminisced about their children, even as they told the most heinous stories of sleepless nights and diaper blowouts, like it had all been as magical as it was horrendous. The smile had never made sense to Archer before, but now he could almost imagine telling this sleepwalking story someday with that smile. But not today. Today, he just felt miserable and exhausted about it.
‘Really?’
‘Oh, yes. I was so worried about you when we brought you home. You were so small! And I was responsible for you. It felt very heavy.’
Heavy. Exactly. Everything had felt heavy since he found out about Olive, suddenly his life had this weight when before he’d moved through the world unencumbered. He wasn’t sure he could carry it all.
A flash of Iris, her smile in the dark, her foot resting against his, appeared in his mind. She’d made everything feel lighter. Just for a moment.
But helping to carry his burdens was way above Iris’s paygrade.
‘So how did you manage it?’ he asked.
His father’s smile grew. ‘I’m not sure I did.’ He chuckled. ‘I still worry about you all the time.’
‘You don’t have to worry about me, Dad.’
He scoffed. ‘Oh, okay. I’ll just stop now after all this time.’
‘So, I’m just doomed, then? To worry all the time?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘Thanks, this has been a wonderful pep talk.’
His dad laughed again. ‘It’ll get better, Arch. You won’t sleep every night in the hallway. I can promise you that much.’
‘Well, that’s comforting,’ he said, the sarcasm intensified by how tired he was.
His father ignored it. ‘How’s the nanny working out? What’s her name? Lilly? Rose?’
‘Iris.’
‘Right, I knew it was a flower name. How are things working out with Iris?’
Archer had never been particularly good at lying to his father, which had made for an interesting relationship when he was a teenager and very often ended up confessing to whatever he and his friends had gotten up to on Friday nights.
But he’d somehow managed to omit the fact that Iris wasn’t actually a sweet old lady but a gorgeous yoga instructor with a wardrobe of too tight, too tiny clothing and how he’d found himself sniffing her shampoo in the shower this morning like some kind of lovesick teenager.
‘Fine,’ he choked out. ‘Things are going fine.’
‘Fine?’ His father’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses like he wasn’t buying it. ‘Yep. Fine. Olive likes her, so that’s really all that matters.’
‘Hmm. How’s the living arrangement working out?’
The living arrangement in which Iris wanders the house at all hours of the night in the T-shirt that slips off her shoulder, and smiles at him in the dark, and makes him laugh even when he doesn’t want to? That living arrangement?
Archer swallowed. ‘Fine.’
‘Hmm.’ His dad was studying him, but luckily Archer was saved by his stepmom, Cathi.
‘Is that Archer?’ she cooed, her face eclipsing his father’s on the screen. ‘Hi Arch! How’s Olive? When do we get to meet her?’
Archer’s parents had split when he was in high school, and when his father remarried, he’d picked a wife who was opposite from Archer’s mother in nearly every way. Where Archer had never seen his mother wear more make-up than an occasional swipe of chapstick, Cathi was never without a full face, her bleached blonde hair done up like she was heading somewhere much fancier than golf with his dad. Archer’s mother was a scientist, always traveling somewhere in the world to study the effects of climate change on bird migration, while Cathi did nails at the local spa and was always home to spend time with his dad, the two nearly inseparable since the day they’d got married at the courthouse with Archer as their witness.
Archer loved his mother, but he understood why his dad loved Cathi. And she’d always been kind to Archer, never trying to become his new mom, but there for him when his mom couldn’t be.
‘Hi, Cathi. Soon. I just want her to get a bit more settled.’
‘Of course, that makes perfect sense. You’re such a good dad already, Arch. We’re so proud of you.’ She beamed at him through the phone, and maybe it was the sleep deprivation, but he almost wished he was there with them, even though he hated golf and his stepmother’s too-tight hugs.
‘Thanks.’ He wasn’t sure Cathi knew what the hell she was talking about on that front, but it was nice to hear anyway.
‘All right, Arch, we gotta go.’ His father’s voice came from somewhere behind Cathi’s hair.
‘Oh, that’s right! We got a one o’clock tee time today,’ Cathi said, blowing Archer a kiss before disappearing from the screen. ‘Bye, honey!’ she called.
‘Bye.’
‘Hang in there, kid.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’
‘And next time I want to hear about the nanny.’ His dad’s face was the same, stern no-nonsense face that had gotten Archer to spill his guts about the time he and his friends skipped class to go smoke in the woods behind the school.
Archer swallowed his guilt. ‘Uh, yeah. Sure. Not much to tell.’
His father frowned.
Archer frowned back.
‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow,’ his dad said. ‘Love you, Arch.’
Archer sighed. ‘Love you, too.’
He ended the call and sat staring at the phone. He just couldn’t imagine how he would ever live up to his father’s example. It was like the guy had been born knowing what to do. Although Archer was too young to remember if or when his father had ever been uncertain or screwed up stuff. Was five still too young? Or would Olive remember every single one of his fuck-ups to relay to her future therapist?
Oh, God, he could only imagine what she was telling her current therapist!
He groaned, cradling his head in his hands.
‘Uh, chef?’ Maribel was leaning out the back door with a concerned look on her face.
‘Yes?’ He straightened against the brick wall behind him, attempting to look at least somewhat competent.
‘Cyrus says we’re out of zucchini for the sandwiches.’
‘How can that be?’
Maribel gave him a small smile. ‘A lot of lunch orders for that veggie sandwich.’
‘Oh.’ Something like pride filled his chest. He remembered what that felt like. ‘Tell him to sub in summer squash for today.’
‘Got it.’ She was about to turn to go back in, but gave him another once over. ‘Something wrong?’
He almost shook his head and denied anything being wrong, but Maribel had kids and it took a village, right?
‘Olive was sleepwalking last night. I’m worried she’ll get out in the middle of the night.’
‘Oh, I had a sleepwalker.’
‘You did? Please tell me you didn’t have to sleep outside their door until they turned thirteen.’
She laughed. ‘No, no. Just put bells on the door.’
‘Bells?’
‘Yeah, we pulled some out of the Christmas decorations and tied them around the doorknob. That way, if he tried to open the door we heard him.’
‘That’s brilliant.’
‘Parenthood makes you resourceful.’
‘Something to look forward to, I guess.’
She gave him another sympathetic smile, but not like she felt bad for him, just that she understood what he was going through.
‘If it makes you feel any better,’ she said, ‘my kid never tried to go anywhere. We’d just find him on the couch or sometimes in his sister’s room. Once he curled up in the dog’s bed and went back to sleep.’
He chuckled. ‘That does make me feel better, actually. Thanks.’
‘Of course, chef. I’m here if you need anything.’ She ducked her head with another small smile and went back into the diner.
And just like last night with Iris, things felt a little lighter.