Chapter 15
Archer
I hold my breath and wait for Juliet’s response, but a slight raise of her eyebrows is the only tell I receive that she’s heard me.
She stares straight ahead as we ride deeper into the maple trees and farther away from my house and the rest of society.
“Can I ask what you’re thinking?” I ask after a minute.
“Just wondering if you brought me out here into seclusion for a reason.”
I pause. Does she really think I’d hurt her?
Fortunately for my heart’s sake, she smiles. “Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood. Too soon?”
“No, I appreciate the humor.”
She sobers. “I’m just trying to decide if I should use one of my questions to see what you did to get a record. I don’t want to offend you by asking.”
“You can ask.”
“Okay. That’s my third question, then.”
If she hasn’t run off by now, maybe she’ll stick around to hear me out until the end.
“About a year before I quit rodeo, I was going through some...
tough things. I ended up losing control one night.
Broke into an apparel store, damaged everything I could, tried to escape, and was caught by the police running away.
“Luckily, the owner of the store didn’t press charges, but I did what I could to make amends—paid for the damages and fixed the things I’d destroyed.
It didn’t do anything to erase what I did or remove the guilt I still feel, but it helped enough to pull me out of what I was going through at the time. ”
I’m still not ready to open up about what exactly I was going through. No one in Autumn Ridge knows, apart from Aunt May and James.
“Anyway, a year later, I left Texas, rodeoing, and my past behind and moved here.” I shrug. “So there you have it. The real reason your dad doesn’t like me. He just doesn’t trust me.”
She doesn’t refute my words, which is a good thing. I wouldn’t have believed her had she tried.
“If you don’t want to continue the ride, we can turn back now,” I offer.
“Why would I not want to continue?”
“Because of what you just found out. Doesn’t that make you want to steer clear of me?”
“All it does is make me understand both you and my dad.”
I expected this rational of a response.
Her body gently sways back and forth in time with the horse’s footsteps, and I watch her hips move, the embroidered flowers just peeking out above the western saddle.
“How did my dad find out about your record? I mean, obviously as a police officer, he had access to your info, but he must have had some reason to look it up.”
“When I first moved here, I made the mistake of being caught up at The Ridge with a girl on our first date.”
This time, Juliet’s brows flinch, but she pulls on a look of detachment to mask it. “Ah, yes. Make-Out Ridge. My dad used to love catching people up there. The ARPD used to have contests to see which officer could give out the most warnings.”
“I take it you never got one.”
“Of course not. I wasn’t some lovesick teenager who needed to get her fix with some loser in a car.” Her mouth falls open. “I mean, I’m not saying that was you or anything.”
“It kinda sounds like it.”
She cringes. “No, I just meant...”
She falls silent, and I shake my head, brushing it off. “It’s fine. You’re right. To be honest, though, I had no idea it was nicknamed that, and I never even kissed the girl that night. I’ve also avoided that area ever since, just to be safe.”
I don’t understand the look that crosses her features—something between relief and discomfort. The maple leaves above create dancing shadows across her front and the ground we walk on, but the brim of her hat shades most of her features.
I think I’ll suggest she wears it for the rest of her life.
“So did my dad arrest you on The Ridge or just let you off with a warning?”
“A warning. I wasn’t arrested...up there.”
Her gaze swings to mine. “Wait, wait, wait. He arrested you somewhere else?”
I’m fairly certain she’s close to being out of questions, but it doesn’t matter at this point. I want her to know all the facts so she can use them against her dad...if she chooses to do so.
“I was five miles over the speed limit in a residential area. I was distracted because I’d just purchased a new horse.”
“Speeding like that doesn’t normally result in an arrest though.”
“Well...” I hesitate. This story hardly paints me in a positive light.
But then, wouldn’t it be worse to lie? “After your dad caught me on The Ridge and found out about my record, he kept a close eye on me. He warned me I had to be a good citizen, or I wasn’t welcome in town, which is fair enough.
Unfortunately, I started to get tired of his constant nannying and treating me like a convict, so I started to do things to... get under his skin.”
They’d all been worth it up until now—having to admit the truth of my juvenile actions to the mayor’s daughter, this mature, stalwart individual who would never stoop so low as to seek revenge of any kind.
“When he pulled me over, I kinda egged him on. I compared his actions to that of a mall cop and...a few other things I don’t need to mention,” I finish in a hurry.
“He arrested me for disorderly conduct, which, to be fair, was warranted.” I look at Juliet from the corner of my eye.
“That was the last time I was arrested, though.”
“By him or by anyone?”
“Both,” I reply honestly.
“Good.” She looks at me, then nods—a sign that she believes me? I can only hope.
I thought I’d feel heavier by this point in our conversation, but for some reason, I feel like carefree leaves swept up in Juliet’s gentle breeze.
“Now,” she began, “I need to hear what you do to bug my dad.”
Darn it. I had hoped to avoid that altogether. If anything is going to make me sound more childish, it’s this.
“Harmless stuff, really. Convincing the town to prank him with plastic wrap around his car on April Fool’s. Petitioning to rename the town hall Wi-Fi to be ‘MayorNeedsAHug.’ Sending singing grams to his office.”
There’s about a hundred others I don’t share, like sending him pitiful, dying floral displays with the sign, “The Town Flourishes Like This Bouquet Because of Your Mayoral Efforts.”
To my surprise, Juliet laughs. “Those were all you?”
I nod guiltily.
“Dad texts me every time he gets one of those singing grams because he can’t figure out who’s sending them. He hates them.”
I gathered as much when I saw him receive the first from some anonymous admirer.
He stood in embarrassed silence outside of Town Hall with a cherry-red face for five minutes as a woman dressed in a gorilla costume danced in front of him.
Since then, I’ve sent them every few months using VPNs and cash to avoid being discovered.
The mayor has a way of making me feel like I’m gum on the bottom of his shining black shoes, so being a nuisance helps me exact revenge.
More than anything, I’m just a child with adult money to blow.
“I haven’t sent one in a while,” I defend. “And I have no plans to send one again.”
Anymore.
“Well, if you do, your secret’s safe with me.”
She can’t be serious. “You don’t mind that I annoy him?”
She raises a shoulder, her dark hair flowing out behind her as the breeze catches it. “I know my dad. He gives as good as he gets. Whatever battle you’re in, you both must feel it’s warranted. It just amazes me that you’ve been subtle enough to not let anyone else in on it.”
I thought Juliet would’ve used Rapunzel to get her halfway home by now. How can anyone be so level-headed?
“Can I ask how you feel about it all?” I question. “I mean, more than the pranks. About...the other things I did, too.”
She twists back and forth in the saddle to stretch, highlighting her figure, so I look away to avoid being caught staring. “I’m surprised. I never would have guessed all that was in your past. But that’s just because I know who you are now.”
Our eyes meet. Her words unlock a door in my chest, swinging it wide open and allowing the guilt inside to flee from the light she brings with her.
A lot of my friends turned against me in Texas after what I did—some of the other bull riders, too. It hurt, but I never blamed them.
To have Juliet brush my wrongdoings aside like simple clumps of dirt off a horse’s back, I feel free. How can she possibly be from the same fold as Mayor Monroe?
His name drags my floating hope right back down to earth which ultimately results in a “no score” in my ride for Juliet. A relationship with her would never work.
“Ready to turn back?” I ask.
“Yeah. I didn’t tell Dad I was leaving town, so I don’t want him to worry. Which he would do, knowing I’m with a criminal.”
She gives me a look that says, “Too soon still?” and this time, I chuckle.
We lead the horses around the trees before heading back on the same trail.
“Speaking of my dad...would you mind if I share with him what we talked about today? Not the pranks and stuff, but the other things?”
“If you’d like to. I’d never ask anyone to keep something a secret from their loved ones.”
Anyway, what’s it going to hurt? He already knows about my past.
“I have to warn you, though,” I continue, “don’t expect him to change his mind about me.”
“Oh, I don’t.”
Some small part of me had hoped maybe she would convince him—that she wanted to so she could see me again—but any chance of that now bolts from my grasp.
She obviously must not care about seeing me again.
“I guess we won’t be spending much time together after this,” I say, attempting to protect my pride.
She shrugs. “If that’s what you want.” Her eyes home in on mine. “Is that what you want, Archer?”