Chapter 13
GREAT AT EVERYTHING
“Oh my God,” Jayce said at the end of the day. “My body hurts.”
“It was so cool,” Archer said, carrying the last word until he ran out of breath. “I want to do it again. Do you think we can go this weekend with Mom?”
He wasn’t sure he could get off the damn couch where he had just flopped down.
Was he trying to show off for the kid who had his mother staring at his arms this morning? The one who was excited and encouraging him to go faster, climb higher, and do the next big course?
Yeah, he was.
He’d had no one look up to him before. But it wasn’t just that. He had a blast.
Not just doing the courses himself, but helping Archer through them.
The kid had some serious athletic ability and he hoped Farrah was honing in on it.
“We can ask,” he said. Though he hoped she said no. He might need a few weeks for him to not feel the muscles in his body he hadn’t known existed.
Even his fingers ached.
“Can I have a snack?”
“Sure,” he said. “We need to replenish.”
Four pancakes and chicken and waffles hadn’t filled the kid up. He was thinking Archer did have a hidden third leg he was storing food in.
He heaved himself up from the couch, bit back a groan, and felt a pop in his back.
He wasn’t old enough to feel this way.
“Can I have ice cream?” Archer asked.
“Do you have ice cream here?”
“I think so. If not can we go get some?”
He looked at his watch. “Your mom will be home in an hour and then start dinner, so not today. Maybe tomorrow.”
He opened the freezer, saw the carton of chocolate chip cookie dough in there and pulled it out.
“I want hot fudge too,” Archer said, opening the fridge.
Of course he did.
“Did you eat the last of the chocolate chip cookies?” he asked, looking for the container. “We could have had cookie sundaes.”
“There are some left,” Archer said and found the baggie of them on another counter. “Mom moved them when she put them in the bag.”
“Sundaes it is,” he said. “Watch the master at work.” He pulled out two, stuck them in the microwave to warm, then scooped out ice cream and poured the hot fudge over them.
When their snacks were assembled, they climbed onto the chairs at the island and dug in.
“You’re great at everything,” Archer said. “Do you do anything bad?”
“We all have flaws,” he said.
“What are yours?”
Great. How to handle this?
The last thing he needed to do was unload on an eight-year-old. And the flaws he had were more adult related.
“Well, I’ve admitted I’m not good at laundry.”
“Me neither. Mom says I’ll get better, but I don’t know why I’ve got to.”
“Because there are a lot of things in this life we’ve got to learn to do.”
“How come?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I wish I did. Like I wish there was some playbook that said what to do in every situation, but there’s not.”
“There should be,” Archer said. “It’d make life easier.”
He snorted. “Tell me about it.”
“Maybe you can write one,” Archer said. “Or we could do it together.”
He laughed. “I wish,” he said. “But everyone’s life and situation are different. You’d have to be really smart to know how to handle things you don’t even know could happen.”
“You’re smart.”
“I think I am,” he said and ate another bite of ice cream. “So are you.”
“Nah,” Archer said around a mouthful. “I don’t get as good grades as my father says I should get. He’s always telling me I have to study more, but I like to have fun. I don’t understand why I have to spend hours reading things that aren’t fun or interesting. Why can’t I read things I like?”
Talk about a tricky conversation.
He wanted to rip Archer’s father apart for his treatment of the kid. This was just another sample of Tucker that had bled out in their time together.
But talking badly about a guy he never met wasn’t in his nature.
He could hate the asshole privately though.
“I think anytime you read something, you learn from it. And life is about learning. The more you enjoy doing something, the more you want to.”
“I like comic books, but Dad says that’s not reading.”
He shrugged. “Everyone has an opinion,” he said. “The important thing is to respect each other’s thoughts on them. That’s how we learn also.”
“Do you like comic books?”
“I did when I was your age. I haven’t really read them much lately. But we can do that tomorrow. You can show me some of the ones you like the most and why. See, I’ll learn from them.”
“That’d be cool.”
“Where’s my sundae?”
He spun around and saw Farrah standing there, then looked at his watch. “All the patients called in sick today?” he asked.
Archer laughed. It’s what he was going for.
“There were a few canceled appointments and I got done early and left,” she said. “I haven’t had ice cream sundaes for dinner in ages.”
“We’ve never had ice cream sundaes for dinner,” Archer complained. “And this is our snack. We worked hard today. Jayce is the man.”
“Is he?” she asked, her finger dipping into her son’s ice cream for a tiny taste.
“Hey, get your own,” Archer said.
“I think I might later. Those look fantastic. Or didn’t you leave me any cookies for one?”
“There are a few left,” Jayce said, finishing up and standing to bring his bowl to the sink.
She took it out of his hand and rinsed it, then put it in the dishwasher.
“Jayce was crazy today,” Archer said. The kid picked his bowl up and licked the inside.
He remembered doing things like that, and his mother would have the same expression as Farrah had, but not say a word and just smile.
“And what does crazy entail?” she asked.
“He did everything once.”
“Not everything,” he said. “Don’t exaggerate.”
“There were Ninja courses and Jayce completed two of them.”
“After a lot of fails. But you know, had to make it through.”
“Man,” she said, groaning. “I want to try that.”
“I asked if we could go again this Saturday. Can we, Mom? We have to go with Jayce. He’ll show you how to do it all. And he helped me do everything. Sometimes I fell and he caught me or laughed and helped me get back up. We were strapped in. I didn’t get hurt.”
“You look fine to me,” she said. Her eyes roamed over his body. “Both of you do.”
“I ache in muscles I didn’t know I had in my body,” he said.
“A kid does that to you. He won’t be sore tomorrow.”
“I might not be able to crawl out of bed. This is one of those days I wish I had an ice tub.”
“I’m sure you could fill your tub with ice at home.”
“Do you take ice baths?” Archer asked. “Does your penis shrivel in it?”
He coughed at that question.
Farrah’s face might be as red as his.
“Archer. Don’t be silly,” she said.
“Everyone says it happens,” Archer argued. “That you shouldn’t be around a girl in cold water.”
“You’re eight. Who is talking like that?”
Shit, was he talking like that at eight? Farrah’s appalled face might be matching his.
“Dad did,” Archer said. “At Christmas. He had doctor friends over when I was in bed. But I heard them talking about it. I thought they were talking about a patient.”
He lifted his eyebrow at Farrah. Just like he hadn’t known there were so many muscles in his body that didn’t get used, he hadn’t known a person’s face could actually get as red as a fire hydrant.
“From a medical standpoint, it can happen,” she said as primly as she could. “It’s about blood flow.”
“So if you get in a hot bath you grow?”
“Okay, we are done with this conversation. Why don’t you go upstairs and wash your face and hands. There is ice cream and chocolate everywhere.”
Archer jumped down and took off running.
“He’s got an inquisitive mind.”
“He does,” she said. “Thanks for everything.”
It was the soft, gentle way she said it.
Emotions that he didn’t normally witness from her.
Most times she was smiling, laughing, exasperated or even frustrated with her son’s antics. He could read the signs more than her voicing them.
Right now he couldn’t read shit.
Her voice was low, her eyes slightly glossy, the depths of them almost searing into his soul, making his heart stumble over itself.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “But no thanks needed. He’s a great kid.”
“Yes,” she said, clearing her throat. “He’s the best.”
“Gets it all from his mother.”