Archer's Voice (A Sign of Love Novel)(73)

I squeezed his hand back and held it, driving with one hand the whole way back to his house.


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The next day at work was one of the busiest I'd worked in a while. At about one thirty, when it was finally slowing down, Melanie and Liza came in, sitting down at the counter where they had been sitting the first time I met them. "Hey there!" I grinned when I spotted them.
They greeted me back, smiling big. "What's up, girlfriend?" Melanie asked.
I sagged against the counter. "Ugh. Day from," I brought my voice to a whisper, "hell. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off."
"Yeah, it gets busier this time of year because all the people who worked on the other side of the lake all summer now spend more time here. Norm talked about hiring someone to work dinner shift and keep the diner open after three, but I guess they decided not to do that. Of course with all the expansion plans, no one knows what's going on, so who can blame them." She shrugged.
"Hmmm, I didn't know that," I said, frowning slightly.
Liza nodded and it snapped me back to reality. "So what can I get you girls?"
They both ordered burgers and iced tea, and I turned around to the iced tea machine behind me and started getting their drinks. A couple seconds later, I heard the bell on the door and a few more seconds after that, Melanie squeaked out, "Holy crap on a cracker," and Liza's voice behind me whispered, "Whoa."
I dropped a lemon in each glass. A hush seemed to fall over the place. What the heck?
My brows came down slightly, and I turned around on a small confused smile, wondering what was going on. And that's when I spotted him–Archer. I sucked in a breath, a grin immediately spreading over my face. His eyes were focused solely on me as he stood in the doorway, looking… oh God, he looked gorgeous. He had obviously bought himself some new clothes–jeans that fit him perfectly, showcasing his long muscular legs, and a simple, long sleeved, black pullover with a gray t-shirt just showing underneath the collar.
He was freshly shaven and his hair lay perfectly, even though he had gotten a kitchen-chair cut from a girl who was so turned on, she could barely see straight. I grinned bigger. He was here.
"Who is that?" I heard Mrs. Kenfield say loudly from a table by the door. She was about 1,000 years old, but still. Rude. Her grown granddaughter, Chrissy, shushed her and whispered loudly out of the side of her mouth, "That's Archer Hale, Grandma." And then more quietly, "Holy hell."
"The mute kid?" she asked, and Chrissy groaned and shot Archer an apologetic look before turning back to her grandma. But Archer wasn't looking at her anyway.
I put the iced teas I was holding down on the counter, my eyes never leaving Archer's and wiped my hands down the sides of my hips, my smile growing even bigger.
I walked around the counter and when I cleared the side of it, I increased speed, fast-walking the rest of the way to him and laughing out loud before I jumped into his arms. He picked me up, a relieved looking grin spreading over his handsome face before he put his nose into the crook of my neck and squeezed me tightly.
If there was ever a time to let someone know that they were wanted, this was it.
As I stood there holding onto him, it occurred to me that not all great acts of courage are obvious to those looking in from the outside. But I saw this moment for what it was–a boy who had never been made to feel that he was wanted anywhere, showing up and asking others to accept him. It made my heart soar with pride for the beautiful act of bravery that was Archer Hale stepping into this small town diner. 
You could have heard a pin drop around us. I didn't care. I laughed again and brought my head back, looking into his face. "You're here," I whispered.
He nodded, his eyes moving over my face, a gentle smile on his lips. He placed me down on the floor and said, I'm here for you.
I smiled. They were the same words he had said to me the day he met me outside the diner several weeks before.
"I'm here for you, too," I whispered, smiling again. I meant that in so many ways, I couldn't even begin to list them all.
We stared into each other's eyes for several long seconds as I realized that the diner was still quiet. I cleared my throat and looked around. People who had been staring at us, some with small smiles on their faces, others looking perplexed, looked back to what they had been doing. Chatter in the diner slowly started up again, and I knew exactly what the chatter was about.
I took Archer's hand and led him to the counter and went back around to the other side. Melanie and Liza looked over at him, replacing their still slightly shocked expressions with big smiles.