Chapter Twelve #2
sits down and has a rational conversation with you about it or he pushes it to
ugly.”
She didn’t have a good feeling about any of that.
Especially the last part.
“Ugly?”
“He could sue you, Arch, but I think it’d take a miracle to
get a judge to agree that he’s not responsible at least for standard upkeep of
a property.”
“Or I could buy him out.”
His head ticked. “Is that an option?”
“I’d either have to dig into the rainy-day nest egg I have
that’s what’s left of what I inherited from my grandparents and still, probably
have to make payments. But the thing is, Elijah is such a pill, I’d rather he
just be out of it and not have to deal with him at all.”
Jagger got a look on his face that Archie did not like.
So she asked, “What, baby?”
“I told you about Dutch and Georgie looking into that murder
and Dutch not telling me or Hound about him getting involved in that.”
He did do that, so she said, “Yeah.”
“The only thing in my life that hurt worse was when we found
out Hound was lookin’ after this old lady in his
building, and I mean, they were really tight, and he never introduced us to
her. We never knew anything about her, until after she died.”
It was Archie who was quiet then.
“What I’m sayin’ is,” Jagger
continued, “I’ve never met Elijah. And warning, I’m making this about me, but
I’ll tell you truth, baby. If Dutch ever said his life would be better without
me in it in any way, that would cut so deep into the bone, I’d never stop
feeling that hurt.”
He reached across the table and Archie stopped cradling her
coffee cup to give him her hand.
“Maybe if you gave that info to Elijah, he’d have an
epiphany, feel the same way and do something about being such a drag on you and
your family,” he finished.
She sensed someone was having an epiphany, and it wasn’t
Elijah and not because he wasn’t there.
She sidestepped that too.
“I’ll have a conversation with him,” she said.
Jag nodded, letting her go and returning to his Colorado
Burrito.
Conversationally, they moved on before they went back to
their B&B, packed up, got on Jagger’s bike and locationally moved on.
But this didn’t mean Archie didn’t see the issue that lay
like a sleeping dragon between them.
Her man was troubled. She didn’t know why. She wondered if
he knew why.
She had come to terms with that, deciding to let that be his
and only hers if he offered it.
The thing was, she did that for him because she sensed he
needed time with whatever it was. To face it himself without pressure. She
couldn’t see how it would help to push him to focus on something he clearly
wasn’t ready to tackle.
But now, she was wondering if that was the right call.
Though, she didn’t have to wonder who to ask if it was.
And who that was wasn’t Jagger.
“Hold the phone!” her dad, Andy Harmon shouted when
he opened the door to Archie. “A double dose of my daughter in a week? Starting
on a Monday? What did I do to earn this awesomeness?”
He didn’t let her answer.
He yanked her into a bear hug.
Archie’s father was a big guy. Not as tall as Jagger, but
tall, and brawny. He’d never let himself go, even now after he’d cranked into
his 50s.
But he had a bit of a gut.
This was due to Haley, the stepmom, who loved to cook, and
was a proud curvy girl, from the moment she met Archie’s dad to that day. She
was this to the point the woman was deep into the double digits size-wise and
wore a bikini.
And looked cute in it.
That was something Archie had always respected her for, and
not just the cute part.
Archie hugged him back, mumbling, “Stop being a dork, Dad.”
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, thank God we’re having
spaghetti,” Archie heard her stepmom cry. “I can make more pasta and throw a
couple more pieces of Texas toast on the cookie sheet.”
Archie broke from her dad, came in the house more fully as
her father shut the door, and assured Haley, “I’m not staying for dinner.
Sorry. I’m meeting Jag for a movie. I just…uh, wanted to talk to Dad a second.”
Andy and Haley exchanged glances about what Archie would
want to talk to her father about that she couldn’t call or text about, and
Archie knew they were coming to the same conclusion, just the wrong one.
“It’s about Jag,” she said.
Not Elijah, she did not say. At least not now,
maybe later, she went on not to say.
Haley looked relieved.
Her dad’s gaze grew sharp on her.
“Is everything okay with him?” Andy asked.
“It’s fantastic. He’s the greatest. I can’t wait for you to
meet him. Totes looking forward to tomorrow night.”
Andy and Haley exchanged another glance.
Then Haley did what Haley was prone to do.
Waded in when her dad was being clueless.
“Andy, honey, she’s meeting her guy for a movie. She can’t
stand around forever. Get her a drink and have your chat. I’m gonna go stir the
sauce.”
She shot Archie her sweet, somewhat goofy, sadly
still-nervous-after-all-these-years smile and she headed to the kitchen (and
Elijah was responsible for those nerves—being such a dick, it eked into how
Haley thought Archie felt about her).
“You want a drink, honey?” Andy offered.
“No, Dad, just…”
How did she even start this?
Especially when she needed to be at the theater in
forty-five minutes.
But all the together time with Jagger meant she didn’t have
a lot of windows to do something like this.
And right now, she needed to do this.
“Archie, what’s up?”
The concern in her father’s voice got to her and she laid it
out.
Quickly.
No nitty gritty, but her father knew who Jagger was. That
Jagger had lost a parent. And that he’d been someone to Archie before he was
someone to Archie. So she went over that part fast.
“The thing is, like I said, he’s great. We’re great,” she
started to sum up. “Everything’s going great. Joany likes him, and Joany makes
everyone earn a like.”
“That’s big stuff, Joany liking him,” he agreed.
“I just…there’s something…off.”
As was his wont, Daddy Bear reared up instantly, and Andy
declared, “Archie, if you’re feeling at all strange in your gut about this
guy—”
Before he went too far down that path, Archie pulled him
back to the right one. “He’s lost.”
Andy’s head jerked back in surprise. “Sorry? Lost?”
“I think it’s about his dad.”
Her father closed his mouth.
“And I know there’s something there,” she carried on. “I
even have this feeling I might have triggered it. At first, I warned him we’d
have to get into it. Because, you know, I’m giving him all there is about me.
And that should go both ways. Then I decided that was wrong. I should let him
be. I should give him space to come to me when he’s ready about this, or about
anything, really.”
Andy grunted, which was no help at all.
“But, the thing is, I think I can find out without him
telling me,” she announced.
She then watched her father’s jaws bulge, an indication he
was clenching his teeth.
In other words, proverbially biting his tongue.
“Dad,” she prompted.
He unclenched to say (still unhelpfully), “I want to guide
you, sweetheart, but I haven’t even met this guy.”
“Okay, but this is my guy, and I think you get how deep he’s
my guy, and I want to be there for him. Am I there for him by just being there?
Am I there for him by pressing him in a gentle way to face whatever’s troubling
him? Or am I there for him by going around him to find out what’s troubling him
so I can be there for him from a place of knowledge and he doesn’t have to give
me that knowledge or maybe even know I have it?”
Her father looked perplexed.
“How would you do that last?” he asked.
“There’s a movie about his Club. I didn’t watch, but I read
about it. His father is mentioned in the blurb. Like, really predominantly.”
Andy grunted again.
For shit’s sake.
“Dad!” Archie snapped.
“Okay, honey, I’m not in a place of knowledge to be able to
advise what to do about this.”
“Well, you’re a guy, aren’t you?” she threw out the
rhetorical. “How would you feel if I watched a movie about your life and your
history and your dead dad without you knowing I did that?”
“I…Archie, I really want to help—”
Jagger was right.
She was usually very chill.
Starting with her mom, Archie had learned this.
Bryn Harmon was chill. She was not only a
catch-more-flies-with-honey person, she didn’t allow herself to get worked up
about things.
They’d never gotten to the zone where Bryn could explain her
sorcery in this matter, but either by nature, or nurture, Archie had inherited
it.
And after losing her mom, there was so much to get hyped up
about, she’d have exhausted herself if she’d broken the seal on that and let
that all hang out.
So she didn’t.
But further, it was like paying homage to her mom that she
also didn’t give in to the drama.
She just got on with things.
That said, right now, with her dad being clueless again, she
wanted to scream.
She didn’t.
Haley did.
Not scream, exactly, but she lost patience and she did this
also exposing she was totally eavesdropping.
“Oh, honestly, Andy,” she snapped, coming out of the kitchen
and glaring at her husband with exasperation.
She then looked to Archie and spilled the beans.
“We saw him, a while ago, riding his motorcycle with some of
his buddies. Andy told me who he was to you. Your father was worried, him being
in one of those gangs—”
“Clubs,” Archie corrected quietly.
“Right, they made a point of that in the movie,” Haley
stated, bobbing her head. “And yes, that means we’ve seen that movie. I’d
noticed it trending on Netflix and I knew that…uh, Club was in Denver
and I mentioned to Andy maybe we should watch. Well, we sure did when we saw
your guy wearing that patch.”
Archie felt her heart speed up a little.
“And?” she asked.
“And, I’m sure your father will disagree, but I’m proud I
have a man who was not afraid to shed a few tears when he learned all your guy
has lost.”
Archie had not yet taken a seat.
After hearing that, she found a chair and sank into it.