Toe the Line(41)

Waiting? He was waiting for things to end between Shane and me?

“I’m sorry…” He shook his head. “You’re right. I need to stop.”

Nothing good could come of two people with a ton of unspoken baggage trying to work things out while drunk. I could’ve poured out all of my feelings. I could have chosen to complicate his already-complicated life—turned it into a goddamn soap opera. But I loved him too much. I loved him. So I wouldn’t do that.

“Goodnight, Archie. Get some sleep.”

I left him standing in the kitchen next to a chocolate cake that looked like it had been ravaged by wild animals.

Then I went to my room and cried myself to sleep.

? ? ?

After a quiet breakfast together the next morning, Archie and I waited for our respective rides to show up. We were flying out of different airports—him from Portland and me from a smaller, closer airport since my flight was only a commuter one back to New York.

From the road outside, we both took one last look at the beautiful house.

Archie finally broke the ice. “I apologize if I said anything weird or out of line last night. I drank too much. Everything is hazy this morning. I just remember feeling nostalgic and emotional. I’m sorry if I got carried away.”

My stomach twisted. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He nodded as his eyes lingered on mine. “You’ll be there, right?”

“Where?”

“The wedding. You’ll be there?”

Oh. The question felt like a jab to my heart. I took a deep breath. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”

“That means the world to me.”

You mean the world to me, Archie. You really do. I know you’re gonna be an amazing dad. And I’m not going to stand in the way of that.

A car pulled up, and I received a text. A sinking feeling came over me. “That’s my ride.”

I didn’t want to leave him. I wanted to stay in this house forever, without a care in the world and go to the beach every night and then come home and fuck Archie’s brains out. In that perfect world, there would be no Mariah, no baby. Nothing but Archie and me and this island. Our happy place. I wanted to go back to that fateful day before everything changed.

I shook the delusional thoughts from my head. God, I was losing it. I lifted my hand. “Well…bye.”

Archie’s eyes were red and a bit sunken, marring his beautiful face just a bit. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked so sad.

“Oh. I almost forgot…” He bent to take something out of his bag. “I sketched this of you last night.”

My heart filled with bitter joy as I looked it over. My hair was a mess, and I had smudges on my face. The caption read, Drunken Chocolate, AR.

“Holy shit. Is that what I looked like?”

“Yeah.” He laughed.

“I didn’t know you still drew.”

“I don’t typically.” He flashed a sad smile. “Anyway, it’s a snapshot of the grand finale of our weekend. I wanted to remember it.” He reached out to take it back. “I’m keeping this one, though, okay?”

When he took it, he also pulled me to him. My heart pummeled against his chest, and I knew he could likely feel it. If there were ever a moment that I’d blown my cover, it was now.

“Have a safe trip back,” he whispered in my ear, sending shivers through my body.

“You, too.”

He took my hand and brought it to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles. It was the most intimate thing he could have done at the most inopportune time.

Forcing myself away, I got into the Uber.

Even looking his worst, Archie was painfully handsome as he stood on the curb with his hands in his pockets, watching me leave.

When the car began to move, I blew him a kiss and waved. I knew I’d see him again soon enough—at the wedding—but in so many ways, this was goodbye. My head knew it. My heart just hadn’t caught up yet.





CHAPTER 15


ARCHIE


PAST



IT WAS A week and a half after Noelle’s friend Ashley had gone back to New York. Our parents hadn’t left the house for any great length of time recently, and I was this close to booking a room somewhere just to be alone with her. The summer would be over in a couple of weeks, and I was obsessed with the idea of living out my fantasy of going down on Noelle. Since when had this thing become about what I wanted?

That night, I woke up, feeling something move beside me in bed. It freaked me out for a second…until I realized it was Noelle.

“What are you doing?” I asked groggily.

“I can be quiet,” she whispered. “I figured I’d take a chance.”

“I’m glad you did.” I got up carefully. “Hang on. Let me lock the door.”

The one good thing about having this bathroom between us was that it would serve as an escape route if someone ever needed to quickly disappear. Why didn’t I think of that before?

When I returned to the bed, I hovered over her on all fours and teased, “Is there a specific reason you came in here?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I was going a little crazy.”

“Me, too.” I sighed. “They’re always here.”