Toe the Line(23)

Growing anxious, I asked, “Do you think you will…stop someday?”

“Stop having sex? Never.” He laughed.

“That’s not what I meant.”

He arched a brow. “Like settle down, you mean?”

“Yeah. With one person.”

“I don’t know. That’s not something I really envision for myself.”

I swallowed. “Really…”

“Yeah. Just being honest. I don’t see myself settling down or having kids.”

“Okay.”

“That’s something you want?” he asked. “A family and all that?”

“Of course. I mean, way down the line, you know?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “That’s cool. Good for you.”

The tiny glimmer of hope that had dwelled deep in my subconscious, the same one that had been planning my wedding to Archie a decade from now, had just been destroyed.

“Are you headed down to the beach?” I asked.

Archie grimaced. “Not feeling it tonight.”

As we sat in silence for a bit, an ache remained in my chest. Was I still reeling from Archie’s cancer news? Or the fact that I’d confessed my lack of sexual history to him? Or was it something more? He’d given me the biggest reason ever not to get my hopes up. Not wanting to settle down or have kids was a dealbreaker for me. His feelings could change over time on that, but I couldn’t waste time developing feelings for someone who, as of now, intended to play the field for the rest of his life. That was a recipe for heartbreak.

Archie interrupted my thoughts. “You want to skip the beach tonight with me? Stay home and watch a movie?”

Boing! Just like that, my stupid hopes were up again. That didn’t take long. “Won’t Bree miss you?” I asked sarcastically.

“I could invite her to come over, too.”

He must have noticed the look on my face.

“I’m just kidding, Noelle.”

“Well, I had no reason to think you’d be lying.”

“I wouldn’t be able to relax with her around,” he said.

I nodded. “A movie sounds good. But where should we watch? Our parents hog the television downstairs in the living room at night.”

He flashed a devilish grin. “I got a better idea.”

“What?”

“You’ll see. Give me like half an hour.” Archie stood and abruptly left.

Butterflies swarmed in my stomach as I putzed around the room and waited for him to come back.

About twenty minutes later, he texted.



Archie: Come out to the yard.



I descended the stairs and went out back.

My eyes widened when I saw what Archie had set up on the lawn: a movie screen. A projector was hooked up to his laptop.

“How the hell did you put all this together so fast?”

“Magic.” He winked.

“Seriously…”

“The previous owners left all this equipment in the garage. How cool is that? I saw it the other day when I was in there working on one of the bikes.”

“No freaking way. This is amazing.”

He pointed to a blanket on the grass. “I brought snacks, too.”

There was a basket filled with plastic Easter eggs in pastel shades.

I laughed. “Easter eggs?”

“Those people left behind so much shit. I found two huge bags of these giant eggs. They must have had an Easter egg hunt or some shit here. So I filled them with surprises for you.”

“Should I be scared?”

“No. It’s just snacks.”

I bent to grab one and opened it. There were a handful of gummy bears inside.

“Are these edibles?”

“Believe it or not, those are normal gummy bears.”

I pretended to be disappointed. “Damn.”

“Are you looking to get high? Because that can be arranged.”

“I’m not. I’ve never done that, actually.”

“Ah.” He flashed an evil grin. “Lots of ways to corrupt you this summer.”

That statement went straight to my loins, of course.

We were laughing when Archie’s mom interrupted us.

“What’s going on out here?” she asked.

He turned and straightened. “Hey, Mom. We’re about to watch a movie. Wanna join?”

She smiled. “How fun!”

Then she turned to me. “Have we met?”

I glanced over at Archie in confusion, but it hit me what her question might have meant. “It’s Noelle, Mrs. Remington.”

Before she could respond, my mother came out.

“There you are, Nora! You had us worried for a moment. We couldn’t find you.”

Nora smiled. “They’re watching a movie.”

My mother surveyed the lawn. “Pretty nice setup you have out here.”

“Archie found the equipment in the garage.”

Then Archer came out of nowhere. “Archie’s resourceful when he wants to be,” he announced. “It’s getting him motivated that’s the issue.”

No way I was going to let him berate Archie tonight. “I think he’s quite motivated,” I defended. “Archie has gotten up at the butt crack of dawn to go running with me, which is not easy when you’re on summer vacation. And he goes to that internship, too. He’s one of the most motivated people I know.”