“Follow me.” She didn’t want Archie there at all. She didn’t want his two cents on her business or one finger on her hand-crafted space.
“Yes, ma’am, yes, Girl Boss.”
“Just boss,” Hope said. Her jaw clenched as she guided Archie back outside to the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.
She didn’t want Braylon, Camila, Lila, or anyone to hear whatever Archie wanted to say. She didn’t want to hear it either. But maybe it was best to face this, start clean, and move on.
“Where’s Bambi Carla? She give you permission to come all the way to Michigan?”
“That was a mistake, a blip. You were gone all the time. I’m sorry, you have to believe me.”
“What, it’s not love?”
As she talked, Archie leaned to the side. He was looking over her shoulder. He was scanning the block, seemingly taking in information about something. Even when he wasn’t focused on her, he was working something else out.
“Oh, come on, don’t be bitter. We’ve been together for decades. We have built a family. I know what love is.” He put his hand out and grabbed hers.
Hope softened a little.
The Archie leaning on the car, back when they first met, the one who listened to her about her parents, the one who didn’t try to run when she was pregnant—that Archie was still there. She’d sacrificed things for Archie, a lot of things. And she supposed he’d sacrificed for their family too. He hadn’t envisioned selling cars for thirty years, but he had. He paid bills, and he tried to make sure the girls had what they wanted.
Theyhadbuilt a family. She owed Archie this conversation. She just wished it wasn’t here, outside her new restaurant.
“So, the girls filled you in?”
Hope should be annoyed that they’d told him where she was, but they were trying to help. Trying to see if their parents’ marriage could be saved. They were used to Hope supporting Archie, their dad. Hope had never once laid her own disappointment on them. From their perspective, things were fine, fixable.
“They did. They’re adamant that they want us back together, that I should be forgiven, but also, what did Julia call me? Oh, yeah, Jack Wagon. I’m a Jack Wagon and need to apologize.”
Hope laughed at that characterization but then became serious. “I’m going to file for divorce. We did make a go of it; we did have good years. Decades even. But I’m done. If you want to be with Bambi, uh, Carla, go do that.”
“You’re being ridiculous. I’m not divorcing you. I’m here to help you!”
“I don’t need your help.”
“From what the girls said, you’re getting this place rent-free. I did a little digging, and real estate here is about to pop off. We’re in a perfection position to cash in, here, to have the business of our dreams.”
Something started to come unhinged in Hope. She felt her anger rip away from the moorings that held it down over the years.
“Ourdreams? What are you talking about?” Hope’s momentary softening toward Archie evaporated. “You wanted to flip the house, own a storage facility, sell website domains, own a harness racing horse and—what was that other one? Oh yeah, alpacas! Those are just some of your dreams. You had a shot at every single one of them.”
“But now we’ve got the capital, don’t we? Smart of you to have it in a separate account for business purposes. Very smart, but think about it, we’re married fifty-fifty. No prenup. Those didn’t really even exist back when we had nothing, now did they?”
Hope felt cornered. It felt familiar. She was close to opening a restaurant. To doing it her way, and here was Archie, standing in the way.
“You are ridiculous, completely out of your mind. You squashed my dreams for the last thirty years, cheated on me, and now, you want to take this from me!”
“Calm down. You’re acting insane,” Archie said. He reached out for her again.
“CALM DOWN?” Hope was livid. For a moment, she couldn’t see Archie in front of her. All she could see were spots.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around to see Greg McQueen.
“Are you okay? Is he bothering you?” His eyes were deadly serious, and they locked on hers.
Archie did not like that question one bit. Nor did Greg appear to like Archie’s hand on Hope’s elbow.
“Bothering her? Get your hand off my wife!”
