I was shocked when she reached out to hug me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been hugged like this—by someone who actually meant it, and not just some fleeting, one-armed hug from my parents, or in the hallways at school from a friend.
“Of course,” I said, finally remembering that I was supposed to hug her back.
“Give Archer your number, and I’ll have him call you and let you know when we can get you in for your training.”
“Sounds great, Regina.”
“Come on, Hadley.” Archer crooked his finger at me and gestured toward the front door. “I’ll help you catch a cab home.”
I bit my lip, unsure of how to react at hearing this. Archer was actually offering to do something nice for me. What had Regina said to him? “Or I don’t have to help you find a cab,” he said, giving me an exasperated look. “Your choice, really.”
“No, no, that’s—um. Great,” I said awkwardly. “Thanks.”
I said good-bye to Regina again and grabbed my coat and bag off the couch, then followed Archer to the door. Neither of us spoke as she shut the front door behind us and set off down the four flights of stairs to the back of the coffeehouse.
The moment Archer reached the bottom of the stairs, he rounded on me with the furious reaction I’d been waiting for.
“Archer—” I began, but his voice quickly overpowered mine.
“Just what were you thinking, coming here and spending the afternoon with my mother? That’s really freaking creepy, and I distinctly remember saying that we would hang out one time and maybe sit together at lunch, and I don’t think that exactly includes coming back when I’m not here to—”
“ARCHER, WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP A MINUTE AND LET ME EXPLAIN?”
Archer snapped his mouth shut, his eyes hardening as he glared at me.
I was definitely walking on thin ice here. From his perspective, I could see where I looked like some crazy wannabe girlfriend, stalking him to get his attention. It was so far from the truth it was laughable, but I couldn’t tell him the reasoning behind my actions. I needed to settle for somewhere in between.
“Look.” I took step down on the staircase, closing the distance between us. “I came to apologize. I didn’t plan on staying for so long, helping out your mom. It just happened. And anyway, your mom is a nice person, and she’s easy to talk to.”
“You came to apologize?” Archer looked momentarily confused. “Apologize for what?”
Wasn’t it obvious? “For . . . what I said at lunch the other day,” I forced out. “You were right; I shouldn’t have said anything to Ty. You’re a big boy. You can take care of yourself.”
Archer was quiet for a moment. “You know what?” He let out a harsh breath, squeezing his eyes shut, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “Just forget it, okay? Ritter is a jerk. He makes everyone do stupid things.”
I almost snorted. He had a point there. “Then just . . . don’t listen to him, Archer,” I said without thinking. “He talks a load of BS, and you don’t want to damage your ears.”
Archer actually cracked a smirk at that. “I know.”
I felt a flood of relief rush through me when he smiled. “Right,” I said, taking a deep breath. “So about the job . . .”
The smile vanished and his usual annoyed expression took over his face again. “Yeah, about that,” he said sarcastically. “You’re that desperate to spend time with me you had to beg my mother for a job?”
“No,” I snapped, slightly offended. “For your information, your mother was the one who offered me the job. I’m not desperate to spend time with you at all.”
Archer rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue, and I suspected he saw right through my lie. “Right.”
I shrugged off his comment and instead asked the question that had been bothering me for two days. “Why didn’t you come to school yesterday and today?”
Archer, in the process of opening the back door, turned to stare at me with this crooked grin that made my stomach do an uncomfortable flip-flop. “I was at school. I was just avoiding you.”
I felt my cheeks fill with color in embarrassment. It was bad enough Archer was avoiding me, and it was even worse that he knew I’d been looking for him. It made me feel so creepy.
“Come on,” Archer said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s get you a cab.”
I headed after him, hoping my new job would give me a chance to get to know the real Archer. I had to show him that I wasn’t some crazy girl following him around all the time but someone genuinely interested in getting to know him, because I wasn’t going anywhere for the next twenty days.
CHAPTER 11
Accidental Revelations—19 Days Until
Son of a— Hadley! You burnt my hand!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I wailed as Archer sprinted for the kitchen to run his very red hand under a stream of cold water. “I told you, you shouldn’t have made me do anything with making coffee, I—”
“You weren’t supposed to be making anything—you were supposed to just empty out the espresso grounds,” Archer snapped. “How did you manage to spray hot water everywhere?”
“I don’t know!”
My first official shift at Mama Rosa’s was not going well. Yesterday was starting to seem like beginner’s luck.
I’d accidentally dumped half a bag of their imported Colombian coffee beans in the sink, nearly spilled a bowl of soup on some poor man’s lap, messed up on more than one order, and I’d just burned Archer’s hand. I’d been so nervous the entire time, what with Archer hovering around me as he barked out orders, telling me how to do this and that. It was a miracle I hadn’t burned down the whole building. This afternoon was completely different than working with Regina the other night, and not nearly half as enjoyable.
I had high hopes for this job at Mama Rosa’s. Getting to spend extra time with Archer outside school, with little interruption, had seemed like a blessing when Regina offered. But really, the only thing I discovered about Archer was that he had a future career as a drill sergeant. I’d never seen someone boss people around without any hesitation and with such ease.
I had to hand it to Archer, though. I’d always assumed any work environment was a stressful one, but he kept business running smoothly and with little difficulty—save for the difficulty that was me, that is.
“Well, you’ll definitely be sticking to waitressing, that’s for sure.” Archer twisted off the faucet and gingerly dried his hands off with a towel before turning back to me with a frown. “I’m not so sure you’re cut out to be a barista.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that myself,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Third time’s the charm, though.”
“Sure,” Archer said sarcastically. “Look, go clear off the tables and wipe them down. I’ll finish up back here.”
“Okay.”
I grabbed a large plastic tub from under the counter and got to work stacking dirty mugs, bowls, plates, and cutlery into the bin. After I finished with that, I grabbed a wet cloth and wiped down the tables, then flipped the chairs upside down and stacked them on the tabletops.
I carried the now-full bin into the kitchen, ready to hand it off to Archer and help Regina, but Archer wasn’t in the kitchen. Deciding not to annoy him more than I already had, I rinsed off the dirty dishes and stacked them in the dishwasher. At least I could handle the cleaning aspect of the job with no trouble.
When I finished, I left the kitchen and joined Regina up front, where she was counting the day’s earnings in the till.
“I think that’s about it for today,” she told me. “You can go ahead and go home. We’ll let you know when you’re scheduled to work again.”
“Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “Um. About today . . . I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mess up so much—”
Regina held up a hand to cut me off, smiling. “Don’t even worry about it, sweetheart. It’s your first day on the job, and sometimes first days don’t go smoothly.”
To say things hadn’t gone smoothly was putting it lightly. Today had been horrendous.
“And about Archer?” Regina took a step closer, lowering her voice. “Listen, it’s just going to take time for him to get used to working with other people. It’s been him, my mom, Rosie, and me for the longest time. He doesn’t do well with change.”
That I could understand better than anything else about Archer. Change was difficult. Sometimes change wasn’t always for the better. I hoped that my being hired wasn’t one of those cases.
“Right,” I said. “Well, I think I’ll head out now, then.”
Regina nodded and squeezed my forearm. “Of course. I’ll see you later.”
I said my good-bye and walked through the kitchen, to the back room where the stairs led up to the apartment. I pulled my jacket off one of the hooks and slipped into it, pulled on my knit hat, and slung my bag over my shoulder.
I opened the back door and stepped outside into the cold night air, only to let out a shriek of surprise when I nearly tripped over Archer sitting on the curb right beside the door.
“You scared me!” I gasped, clutching at my chest.
“You scare easily, then.”
Archer looked . . . different underneath the yellow glow of the porch light. His shoulders were slumped over as he leaned back against the brick wall. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t been getting a good night’s sleep for a while now. He didn’t really look seventeen. He looked much, much older than that.
I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t noticed it before. So far, all I’d seen from Archer was his stay-away demeanor. But catching him with his guard down like this made me realize that there was more behind Archer than a prickly attitude.
I blew out a sigh, suddenly feeling old myself, and took a seat on the curb beside him. “I’m just tired, sorry.”
“Yeah, ruining drinks and burning people’s hands can be exhausting,” Archer said sardonically.
I had no comeback to this, seeing as that was exactly what I’d done.
We sat in silence, listening to the sounds of noisy traffic on the next street over. Archer’s mind was obviously somewhere else, and so was mine. I was thinking about what Rosie told me the other night, about their dad being dead. I’d been trying to find a way to bring it up with Archer, but now didn’t seem like the right moment.
I decided to keep silent.
“You can go home, you know,” Archer said after a while.
I shook my head. This was one of the few chances I had to talk to him away from work and school and everything else. “I’m good,” I told him. “Why don’t we just talk or something?”
“Talk about what?”
“You,” I answered honestly.
“And why would you want to talk about me?” Archer asked, and I couldn’t tell from his tone whether I’d made him angry or not.
“Well, I’m really just . . .” I bit my lip, hesitant to continue. “Trying to understand you.”
Archer’s eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment he looked as if he didn’t know what to say. I had the thought that this was the first time someone ever said that to him.
“Rosie told me your dad died.”
I immediately clapped a hand over my mouth, squeezing my eyes shut. What had I just said? The words had just fallen out of my mouth without preamble. I forced myself to open my eyes, anxious to witness Archer’s reaction.
He was now on his feet, his back turned to me. One hand was on his hip, the other hand fisted in his hair; and when he finally did turn around to face me, his shoulders sagged and his hand dropped from his hair to cover his eyes as he let out a long, slow breath.
“Rosie and I don’t have the same father.” He moved his hand, looking defeated. “But she’s right. He is dead.”
Did that mean Ty had been right in saying that Archer’s real father was in prison? My mind flew into overdrive, thinking of all the thousands of possibilities that could be the answers to the new questions cropping up because of what I’d just heard.
“I’m so sorry,” I managed to say in a faltering voice. “That’s terrible.”
Archer gave a harsh, bitter laugh. “You don’t know the half of it.”
He sat down on the curb again, leaning his head back against the brick wall of the building. After a hesitant moment, I moved over to sit beside him, making sure to put a few inches of space between us.
“You don’t have to say anything to me,” I said, even though my mind was screaming, Liar, liar, you want to know everything!
“I know I don’t,” Archer said, giving me a sideways look. “I never do anything I don’t want.”
I didn’t doubt that.
“But . . .”
A small surge of hope ran through me as Archer kicked at a pile of pebbles on the ground with his shoe, scowling. He shrugged. “I’m not as crazy as I might seem.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. I’d made a deal with Death to go back in time to stop Archer from ending his life, which so far had consisted of following him around and all but pining for his attention, and he thought he was the crazy one? The thought was ludicrous.
“Archer, you’re not crazy,” I told him confidently. “Trust me.”
“What would you know about crazy?” Archer said, and he suddenly sounded bitter. “From where I’m sitting, it looks like you have the perfect life.”
I was laughing before he even finished his sentence. “I do not have the perfect life, Archer. You know my parents make lots of money, but what good does that do when they’re so busy all of the time? Most days, it feels like I spend more time with the doorman at my apartment than with my parents.”
“You have a doorman?”
“Yeah, and you have your mom, Rosie, and your grandmother.”
Archer didn’t have an answer to that, and I was surprised at myself for admitting something so personal. So far, it had been all about Archer, and I had been positive that was the way it needed to stay. I had more or less put myself on the back-burner, but maybe opening myself up to Archer, sharing things about my life, would show him he could do the same with me. Friendships were all about give and take, weren’t they?
“And I know I’m going to need a lot more training, but I think this job will do me some good,” I continued, smiling as I glanced over at him. “Get me off my high horse or whatever it is you think about me. A fresh new face around the coffee shop can’t hurt, can it?”
“Well, my mother likes you,” Archer said after a moment, “but the real test is getting my grandmother to like you.”
I tried and failed to hold back a shudder. “Yeah, that might be a bit more difficult, but I think I’m up to the challenge.”
I had a lot more challenging things to tackle for the foreseeable future. Winning over Archer’s grandmother seemed like a piece of cake in comparison.
CHAPTER 12
High School Clichés—18 Days Until
Archer was not at his usual table that next day during lunch.
I stood there, holding my ham and cheese sandwich and fries tightly in my grasp, trying not to take notice of the sinking feeling in my stomach. Where was he? Surely he wasn’t avoiding me again?
After the discussion we’d had last night after my disastrous first shift at Mama Rosa’s, I’d thought things were going to return normal between us. Well, things had never exactly been normal between us—and they probably never would be—but at least I was under the impression we would no longer be at each other’s throats like we had been so far.
My chest tightened as I set my food on the table and looked around, hoping to catch at least some small sign of Archer here or there.
I unwrapped my sandwich and took a bite, ignoring the few stares that came with sitting alone during lunch in high school. Archer would be here soon; I had no reason to worry. I knew he was here because I’d seen him at his locker earlier in the morning, so he was probably just running late.
“He
y there, pretty lady. What’s the matter? Did your boyfriend ditch you already?”
I looked up, and much to my dismay saw Ty Ritter standing at the front of the table, flanked by two of his companions—Hayden Keller, another football player, and Aimee Turner. I’d hung out with Aimee before and she wasn’t so bad, but I didn’t like seeing her with Ty. She could definitely do better.
“What?” I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. “I’m not sure I—”
“Where’s Archer?” Aimee plunked down into the seat across the table from me, resting her chin in her hands, giving me an indulgent smile. “You guys are such a cute couple.”
“We’re not dating,” I said. “I think you—”
“Ty told us about everything the other day,” Hayden said as he took a seat beside me, ruffling his hair in that stupid jock-ish way. “Said you two were looking at each other with gaga eyes the entire time.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s true,” Ty said with a shrug, now sitting on the other side of me and sliding my fries toward him again. “No offense, Hadley, but it was a little gross.”
“Oh, come on, Ty,” Aimee said. “They’re obviously in love. Gaga eyes are required. Don’t worry,” she added, giving me a wink. “I think it’s adorable.”
I was positive my face had never been as red as it was at that moment.
“Look,” I said sharply. “Archer and I are not together. We’re just friends. I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but it’s not true.”
“Oh, honey.” Aimee was staring at me with obvious pity. “You don’t need to lie about it. It’s okay.”
“I’m not—”
“But since we’re your friends, Hadley, we all agreed it would be best to warn you,” Hayden said, nudging me with his shoulder. “You know, for your own personal safety and everything.”
“Exactly,” Ty said, nodding. “We have your best interests at heart.”
“And we don’t want to see you get hurt,” Aimee added. “Of course we don’t.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically. “I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. Your worries are unnecessary, though. You don’t need to warn me about Archer.”
In 27 Days Page 9
