Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“You should know, I’m not hurting money-wise, I never have. And I wasn’t in deep with her emotionally. It wasn’t cool what she did, but it also wasn’t that big of a deal.”
She nodded. “I hear you. But letting you in on the girl side of things… that dress is for you, Jagger. You said you’re not going back there. I believe that. But you and I are exploring things, so straight up, a bitch needs to know where shit stands.”
And there it was.
“Right then, so you know, when I thought you were Vengeance Archie, it was hot.”
She smiled.
“Staking Her Claim Archie might be hotter,” he continued. “I haven’t decided. I’ll be sure to let you know when I do.”
She started laughing.
He cupped her jaw and bent his face to hers.
“Now that you made your point, and since I already made my point, I think we both need to cut her some slack. She’s miserable.”
“I noticed that, baby,” she murmured. “But honest to God, I don’t know how to make it better. It is what it is. Her bed, she’s lying in it. But I’ll try to come up with something.”
Her eyes that close, her mouth that close…
Shit.
“Christ,” he grunted. “I wanna make out with you, like, all the time.”
“That isn’t gonna help her be less miserable,” she pointed out.
“No,” he was grunting again.
“We gotta be good, boyfriend.”
He just shook his head, grinning, but said, “Yeah.”
She shifted away, but not too far away, and Dutch was at the table, grabbing the salad bowl.
“You sure I can’t help?” Archie asked Dutch.
“There can be too many cooks in the kitchen, not too many to clean up, though,” Dutch replied. But on a glance to the sisters and back to the table, he said, “Maybe give them some time, yeah?”
“For sure,” Archie replied.
Dutch looked to Jag, to Archie, gave her a tight smile, then moved to the kitchen.
She turned to Jag. “Something there I’m missing?”
“He’s pissed he didn’t know about you.”
“Until today, there wasn’t a lot to know.”
“Yeah, there was.”
She conceded that point with a dip of her chin and then said, “Fair warning, the family stuff is probably gonna be stepped up a dozen notches. We get too deep before I take you to see him, Dad’s gonna be pissed. He’s mentioned you, like, five hundred times.”
Say what?
“He has?”
She reached for her wine, nodding, took a sip, then slid her eyes to him and said, “Yep.”
“How does he know who I am?”
“Your note.”
“Oh, right,” Jag muttered.
“He was…I was…” She set her glass back down. “The timing was perfect. I needed that. Elijah did too. Dad didn’t know what to do. He was in it with us. Not down the road where he knew what to say. You knew what to say and that helped all of us. Even Dad. So, in the meantime, considering he’s hated every guy I’ve dated, he would say things like, ‘I don’t see why you’re with this schmuck. What about that Arby’s guy?’”
“Great,” Jagger sighed. “I’m ‘Arby’s Guy.’”
She grinned at him. “Hey, don’t knock Arby’s. And bee tee dub, that’s Dad’s favorite fast food joint. So you scored points you didn’t know you were scoring.”
He grinned at her, doing it thinking he hadn’t smiled this much in…
Well, ever.
And he was a pretty happy guy.
“I fear the meal wasn’t all that great if you guys are talking about Arby’s,” Georgie joked as she rejoined them at the table. “More wine?” she offered Archie, extending the bottle.
“Yes, please,” Archie answered, extending her glass. “And we’re talking about my dad, not Arby’s,” she corrected.
Dutch and Carolyn were also back, and it seemed they were going to sit and gab, instead of having dessert and then he and Archie could get gone.
Which sucked.
This wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable.
He just wanted Archie to himself.
“And Dad semi-met Jagger outside an Arby’s. We had a lot of fast food after Mom died,” Archie carried on.
And with that, she got the acute attention of everyone at the table.
“She’s buried, I don’t know, twenty, thirty yards from your dad’s grave.” She said this to Dutch. “Jagger was hanging out with your dad during Mom’s funeral. We caught each other’s eyes and,” she shrugged, “we got each other right away. Didn’t know his name. Didn’t know if I’d ever see him again. Still, with that, he was my person for the rest of my life, you know? It’s just the way that shit works.” Pause for a sip, then, “I’m just really freaking happy I saw him again. And the first time was at an Arby’s.”
Again, this was casual.
But it packed a massive punch.
It said to Dutch, Don’t worry, I got this and he means something to me.
It said to Georgie, We’re on the same team.
And it said to Carolyn, Sorry, but he was meant to be mine.