Wild Wind: A Chaos Novella (Chaos #6.6)(24)

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.

For Jagger, she’d just announced to two of the most important people in his life that he was her person.

So yeah.

A massive punch.

Awesome all around.

She returned her wineglass to the table.

When she sat back, Jagger tucked her tighter to his side.

Dutch cleared his throat.

Carolyn was twisting her wineglass back and forth by the stem.

It was Georgie, who had a flair with laying things out in an honest but thoughtful way, who stated, “That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard.”

“I know, right?” Archie replied.

It was then, Carolyn rallied. “Sorry about your mom.”

Archie looked her right in the eye and said from the heart, “Thanks, sister.”

“I haven’t been to your shop, I heard it was great, but I’m kinda, you know,” her eyes darted to Jagger, then back to Archie, “on an epic money diet. But maybe the three of us girls could go out for coffee or something.”

“Hell no.”

That was Dutch.

And everyone looked at him.

He didn’t hesitate to explain.