Chapter 4
Archer
I see the truth flicker in Juliet’s eyes.
“Out with it,” I say when she keeps silent.
“I hate to break it to you, cowboy,” she says, “but we arrived here before you asked your question.”
Why do I love hearing her call me cowboy?
“You ain’t answering on a technicality?”
“Yup.” She opens the door and leaps from the truck.
I chuckle, but I’m not giving up that easily.
Turning off my truck, I walk around the front and go to her side.
We’re right in front of Town Hall. I know she’s got to be related to someone who works on Main, but I can’t decide if that someone works at the library, Beet & Barrel Café, or Berk’s Hardware.
I’m too distracted by this woman who’s had a crush on me for years without me knowing.
“Go on, Juliet,” I say, flashing my best smile—the one Granny says wins me more chocolate chip cookies than any of her other grandkids. “Humor me.”
“Uh-uh.” She shakes her head and twirls the end of her braid around her forefinger. “Rules are rules.”
“What if I give you more questions?”
“I still have six. But time’s up for us both. I can’t ask anymore either.”
“Not even when we see each other again?”
“You think we’ll be seeing each other again?”
I fold my arms and lean against the truck door, my back to Town Hall. “I do.” I’m being presumptuous, but the look in her eyes tells me she likes it. “Truth is, I know it.”
“And why is that?”
“Because as soon as I figure out your last name and which one of these here shops you apparently live in”—She laughs—“I’ll know where to pick you up for our date.”
“Our date?” She quirks a brow. “I don’t recall you asking me out.”
“Oh, that’s coming.”
She folds her arms, too, her hip propped out as she leans on one leg. “I don’t think you’re up for it.”
“Up for what, asking you out?”
“No. For what comes before and after the asking out.”
I narrow my eyes. “Which is?”
“Dealing with my dad.”
“Dads? They’re easy.”
I’ve dealt with my fair share—cowboy dads, too. I’ve had one point a shotgun at me, one who sent his dog after me, even one who locked me in a pen with a bull. Whatever Juliet’s dad throws at me, I’m sure I can take it.
“If you say so,” she returns. “But I think as soon as you find out who I am—and who he is—you’re never going to bother seeing me again.”
Is it weird I’m slightly offended? I don’t care if her dad is King Kong. She’s too intriguing and fun to never see again. I’m gonna—
“Jules?”
A gravelly voice speaks behind me, and I don’t have to turn around to see who it is. My muscles tense, and I instinctively take a step back from Juliet.
“Hi, Dad,” she says.
In an instant, she walks toward Mayor Noah Monroe, her arms around his neck as he wraps his around her back, lifting her in the warmest, fatherly embrace I’ve ever seen.
I stand back, shoving my hands in my pockets. I’m not intimidated by the mayor. Not anymore. But personal experience has taught me to be cautious around him.
“What in the world are you doing here, honey?” Mayor Monroe asks, lowering Juliet to the ground.
“Surprising you, of course,” she says, straightening her shirt with her attention still on her dad.
Her dad. I can’t believe I missed the signs.
The mayor is well known around town, especially by me.
Everyone knows of his marital status, his service as sheriff, and the fact that he only has one daughter, but I could’ve sworn that daughter was younger.
Then again, it has been six years since I moved here, so of course she’d be older, too.
“You didn’t think I’d miss your birthday party, did you?” Juliet says.
“Oh, don’t remind me,” the mayor replies. “I told Lisa to drop it, but she’s insisting on making it a whole big thing. We’re talking black tie, fancy dinner, everything.”
“As it should be. It’s not every day a beloved mayor turns fifty.”
“Beloved. You’re as charming as your old man.” He pulls her in for a side hug and kisses her brow. She wrinkles her nose when his graying beard tickles her temple.
I feel like I’m imposing on a deeply personal moment, but I can’t do anything about it. If only I didn’t have her stuff in the back of my truck. Mayor Monroe’s eagle-eyed gaze will home in on me if I so much as breathe deeper, and our skirmish will resume, just like always.
We got off on the wrong foot when I first moved here, and he and I have been in a silent—and sometimes not-so-silent—battle of wills ever since.
“So are you here for just the weekend?” the mayor asks.
“Well, that’s the other surprise.” Juliet pauses. “I’m actually going to take a gap semester.”
“The whole semester?”
I catch her hesitance, but she recovers with a quick nod. “That’s the plan!”
Her voice is slightly higher than normal. She’d said the same words to me when I’d asked her about her graduation, “the plan.”
She’s obviously hiding something, and it surprises me how badly I want to know what it is.
“You’re sure that’s what you want to do?” the mayor asks.
“A hundred percent. I can’t miss your birthday again or the Fall Festival. I need me some good Autumn Ridge time and some good father-daughter time. If you’re okay with that?”
Mayor Monroe beams. “I’m more than okay with that, honey.”
Then his eyes move to mine.
Silence fills the space between us, and just like his expression, the warm, September air turns as cold as a Vermont winter morning.