“Well, Darcy, what about you? Beer? Wine? I’m sure we’ve got vodka around here somewhere.”
It didn’t slip my notice that her options weren’t the same as mine, that assumptions had already been made where shewas concerned, however well-intended or accurate they might’ve been.
Before she could say anything, I added, “Or water, or soda?”
Confusion, surprise, and appreciation warred on her face for a moment before she slipped a smile that mirrored my own onto her face and answered her mom. “Actually, some water would be great. Like Arch said, it’s been a long day.”
Arch? Since when had she decided to use a nickname for me? Logically, I knew it had to have been part of the act, but a very real part of me liked the way it sounded coming from her lips.
“But I’m not a guest, Mom. I can get us water.”
Shelby waved her hands at her daughter. “Well you don’t need to. Go sit with your brother and Cory. Dinner is almost ready.”
I grabbed the waters from Shelby, and followed Darcy to a large, round oak table that was clearly well-used and well-loved. There were scratches in the finish, and holes from where I imagined a feisty and hangry Darcy jabbed her fork into the table’s wooden surface while she impatiently waited for meals.
“So, Archer,” Cory started, as we all took our seats. “Darcy has told us almost nothing about you.”
I cleared my throat, and was surprised at how easily the lies blended with the truths. “Yeah, well, Darcy and I had a bit of a rough start, so I imagine if she had told you anything, it wouldn’t be good.” Darcy’s knee rammed into the side of my leg under the table where her brother and his wife couldn’t see. I forced a smile and continued on. “I’m actually from here, and went to school with these two, not that they’d remember me.”
“I remember you,” Garrett chimed in, leveling me with a look that said he rememberedexactlywho I was. I took Cory’s glare at Garrett as a sign to press on.
“Yeah, well, I’m a firefighter back in town now. Other than that, there really isn’t much to tell.” I took a long sip of water,desperately hoping the topic would move on from me, but of course it wouldn’t—I was the newcomer.
“That’s cool. How’d you meet Darcy?” Cory’s tone was pleasant, but I got the distinct impression that they were playing good cop/bad cop to decipher what was going on here.
Thankfully, Darcy jumped in and saved me from having to answer that one. “He put out a fire in my oven a couple of months back. Turns out, I’m not that great of a cook.”
It was my turn to gently hit her with my knee this time. Really? A fire in her oven?That’swhat she wanted to go with? I could already hear the jokes her family would make at Christmas once we clued them in on our situation.
“What the hell were you trying to make? You’re not that bad of a cook, Darse.” Garrett reluctantly moved his eyes from me to Darcy.
She rolled her eyes, a gesture that I was quickly realizing was a Darcy staple. “I am when I forget I’m cooking, and take a nap on the couch. Anyway, that’s enough questioning Officer Nosy. How’s married life?”
The subject change wasn’t subtle, but it worked, and I took a minute to steal a glance at the woman beside me. Without a doubt, she was gorgeous—anyone with eyes could see that—and she was also fiery, witty, and didn’t take any bullshit, but there was this hardness, this defensiveness to her that I couldn’t understand. I hadn’t been in the Adler house for more than thirty minutes, but as I sat at the dining room table with her brother, and eventually her parents once dinner was ready and we began passing food around, it was hard to reconcile that hardness with all the genuine love at the table. The Adlers felt like a Hallmark movie family, I mean they were berry farmers for starters, but there was an easy banter between all of them, except for when it came to Darcy. Sure, she smiled, and responded, but it felt practised—rehearsed, and I didn’tunderstand why. I didn’t understand how someone who grew up like this could end up so similar to myself. It didn’t make sense.
“Garrett, I was just talking about you to Louis, do you remember him? Older guy from a couple houses down?” Jack started, and I noticed a subtle slump in Darcy’s posture. It wouldn’t have been noticeable if it weren’t for the fact that, over the course of dinner, I’d become hyper-fixated on her. I glanced at Jack, running his words over in my head to figure out what he’d said that caused her to deflate, however marginally.
Dropping my hand beneath the table, I squeezed her thigh lightly. Her posture stiffened, eyes snapping to the side of my face, but I didn’t look at her. I didn’t want to give us away. I let my thumb rub circles on the outside of her leg, not letting myself question what the hell I was doing, because, truthfully, I didn’t know. But then she relaxed.
“Well, if we’re all done, we can break out the chocolate chip cookies. Darcy, want to help me?” Shelby asked. And just like that, Darcy was gone, my palm feeling colder in her absence. It was a good thing though because it startled me out of whatever the hell that moment was.
Jack started grabbing empty dinner plates, and Cory jumped to help him out, which left Garrett and I sitting alone. I watched him watch his father and wife exit the dining room, and then he pinned me with a hard stare. If I hadn’t grown up on the receiving end of looks precisely like that, I might’ve squirmed. As it were, I took a sip of my water and waited him out.
Time for the real interrogation.
“What are you doing with my sister?”
“Dating her?” Lie.
His gaze narrowed on me. “Why?”
“Because I find her interesting. She’s clever, funny, and, yeah, she’s beautiful.” Truth.
Garrett’s eye twitched slightly at the last part, and I smirked. If he didn’t want to hear that I found his sister attractive, he shouldn’t have asked.
“I don’t mean this offensively,” he started, which meant that the next words out of his mouth were absolutely going to be offensive. “But you’re not exactly her type.”
I leaned forward, resting my arms against the table. “What do you know of her type?”
