Chapter Twelve #3
Andy watched his daughter do this, biting impatiently,
“Haley.”
But Haley kept her gaze steady on Archie.
And she kept her shoulders squared.
Last, she kept talking.
“I’m never, ever, ever going to say you’re lucky
you had the time you had with your mother. Andy talks about her and there is no
question why he loved her so very deeply. I love your father like crazy. I
still wish she was here for all of you. But I will say, after watching that
film, I had some concerns about you hooking up with that young man. Because you
two are not on equal footing with something essential to life. You had
something he didn’t have and he’s in a position where all he lost is
surrounding him all the time. He can’t get away from it. But he also can’t
understand it. Not in the way everyone around him does. And that has to
be…well, it has to be torture. To be of something so good and pure, and never
having known the touch of it. Except as a phantom. A ghost. A story someone
tells that is integral to who you are, but to you, it will only ever be just a
story.”
Oh God.
Archie thought about her mom.
All the amazing things about her mom.
The way she’d smile at her dad.
The way she did voices when she read stories to them when
they were little.
The time she sat in bed with Archie when Archie’s first
crush decided he liked some other girl and she told her story about how her
first crush went through the entire second grade, starting with Bryn. So she
had to watch as he went through the rest of them, and that was so much worse
than Archie’s story, Archie felt better. But how her mom told it, by the end of
it, they were both laughing.
How, every time they went to the grocery store, she made a
game of them picking a treat, and made a point of teaching them how to share
that love, because they each got to pick a candy bar or a bag of chips, but
they also had to pick something to take home to their dad. And they couldn’t
pick something they wanted, they had to think hard and pick something
their father would like.
And the totally bonkers and insanely loud way she’d shout
and cheer at one of Elijah’s games that was so embarrassing when
Archie was thirteen, but looking back, Archie saw the love and pride in it, how
open her mother was in sharing it and how beautiful that was.
The thought of not having those memories…
Having her dad or her grandparents share things about her
mother, but never knowing them herself.
God.
Unthinkable.
She knew that Jagger didn’t have this, but until that
moment, it never really sunk in just how much he’d never had.
“Haley,” her father bit again when he watched Archie’s eyes
fill with tears.
And again, Haley ignored him.
“Watch that movie,” she advised firmly.
“Haley!” Andy clipped.
Haley was not to be denied.
“Watch it, doll. And I will never advise anyone to keep
something from someone they love, especially not a partner. So tell him you
intend to watch it. But watch it. You need to. For him. For you. And,” she
cocked her head, trying to take the intensity out of what she was saying,
“because it’s a really good movie.”
“Mom would say that.”
Haley grew still at Archie’s words.
Andy went solid.
“She would advise me to be strong. She would expect it,”
Archie said.
Neither Haley nor Andy replied.
Archie got up from her seat and went to her stepmom.
She then hugged her and said in her ear, “Thank you.”
At first, Haley seemed surprised, and until that moment,
Archie hadn’t realized she hadn’t been ugly or mean, but she might have been
standoffish.
This meant Haley was stiff, until Archie spoke those words
into her ear.
She then curved Archie in her arms and relaxed in her hold.
And damn, being held in Haley’s arms felt nice.
Shit.
Maybe the still-nervous-after-all-these-years wasn’t just
about Elijah.
But about her too.
Archie kept hold but she shifted her head so she could catch
Haley’s eyes and she shared, “I asked him if he minded if I watched. He said he
didn’t. But he was weird about it when we talked about it, so I think he
would.”
“Then you two need to have a conversation about why that
would be. Because there is a good deal of history behind that Club that’s
concerning, but they’re beyond that. So unless he thinks you’ll be judgy.” She
kept Archie in her arms even as she shrugged and concluded, “And I know you two
are new, but the one thing he has to know about you is the last thing you are
is judgy.”
That was such a nice thing to say.
“Thank you for telling it like it is,” Archie said.
Haley looked cute and kind of embarrassed when she replied,
“My pleasure.”
Their hug couldn’t have been more different than one from
her mom—and make no mistake, Archie did not forget an iota of what a hug from
her mom felt like.
But her mom was tall and thin, not average height and
rounded.
Her mom wore Tom Ford perfume.
Haley wore Chloe.
But dang, how did Archie miss that, when her dad found
someone to love, he’d given the same thing to Archie?
“I can’t wait for you to meet him, I think you’re really
gonna like him,” Archie told her.
And Haley looked her dead in the eye when she replied, “If
he’s anything like his father, I know I will.”
Yeah, she had to watch that movie.
This meant ditching the shop so she could watch during the
day because Jagger had her nights.
She gave Haley a squeeze, Haley squeezed back, and when they
let go of each other and turned to Andy, they saw his eyes were bright with
tears.
“Such a lovable lug,” Haley said softly.
She was so right.
Archie went to her dad, kissed his cheek, got another hug,
and felt like a loser bitch that she’d made him wait this long to witness his
two girls connecting.
She’d make amends later, starting tomorrow night.
Now she had to get to the theater.
She’d already blown off a pickup from Jagger, who wanted
them to go to the movie together.
And by the time she hit the Chez Artiste theater, she was
cutting it close to the movie starting, and was five minutes late for when they
agreed to meet.
Jag was waiting for her with the concessions he’d already
bought.
And Archie felt that sleeping dragon shift when Jag saw her,
and she knew he wanted to ask why he couldn’t pick her up and why she’d barely
made the screening time.
Giving him permission not to share, she’d somehow taken away
his ability to ask.
She didn’t push about something important, and he was
returning the favor—with everything.
But she hadn’t asked for that favor.
More, she didn’t want it.
After giving him a greeting kiss, she grabbed her drink and
the nachos, he had the popcorn and his own drink with the Milk Dud box poking
out of the back pocket of his jeans, and they hit the theater.
They were seated and settled before she leaned to him and
shared, “I had to pop by my dad’s. I needed to talk to him about something and
it ended in me bonding with Haley. Also realizing I’ve never really bonded with
Haley. That’s a longer story I’ll tell you after the movie.”
“Cool, cool,” he muttered, grabbing a chip loaded with
ridiculously yellow cheese and more jalapenos than she’d be able to deal with,
and she liked it spicy, and shoving it in his mouth.
“Baby,” she called.
He looked to her.
“You know you can ask me anything, right?” she queried.
“Yeah,” he said, going back to the chips and turning again
to face the screen as he chewed.
She caught his jaw and brought him to face her again.
“I’m serious, Jag.”
“I didn’t think you weren’t.”
The lights dimmed, and since they couldn’t get deep into
this during a film (not to mention, she was a trailer girl), she let his jaw go
and went after her own chip.
But she couldn’t focus on the trailers.
Because somehow, she’d messed up.
Now she needed to figure out how to fix it and evidence was
suggesting going right to the source, that being Jagger, wasn’t the way she
could do that.
It was clear he was a get and give kind of guy.
She gave him headspace, and he was determined to return it
no matter that she didn’t need it.
And that was all kinds of sweet.
But that didn’t negate the fact she didn’t need it.
So she needed to find another fix.
Archie had the feeling she’d find the path to that fix
watching a documentary she really, seriously wanted to see.
And she was completely dreading watching.