He lifts it and brushes a kiss across my knuckles before he lets it go. “You didn’t know. And technology has gotten a lot better. I’ll get a better camera with more lenses.”
“This house is big enough to turn one of the living rooms into a darkroom if you wanted to,” Archer suggests.
Torin looks thoughtful. “That actually sounds like fun.”
I perk up. “Can you show me how you develop film?”
Torin nods. “Once I remember how, I’ll show you.”
“We’ll go shopping and replace your camera and lenses. Baking can happen whenever, so we won’t spend all day in here. Do you know which camera you want?”
He stares down at me, a soft smile playing on his lips and an inscrutable look stamped on his face. “I think I get it now.”
I tilt my head. “Get what?”
“How you collect people who would do anything for you. We’re very lucky to have you, June.”
“We definitely are,” Archer says while Callum nods his agreement.
As Torin and Callum talk about the nearest stores that sell camera equipment, I peer up at Archer, who's stroking one hand up and down my back. “What about you? What do you want to do today?”
He shrugs. “Whatever. I don’t have a hobby.”
I stare at him in disbelief. “Everyonehas a hobby.”
Callum has pulled his cell phone out and is showing Torin something on it when he turns to me and confirms, “He really doesn’t. He just joins in with whatever everyone else is doing.”
“But you played sports with Callum,” I say to Archer.
“Yes,” he says, “because his dad was paying me to. It was something I did, but it was never my thing the way it was his.”
Archer told me his childhood wasn’t the best, and Callum said he didn’t grow up with much. What if he never learned to play the way the rest of us did?
Grasping the front of his shirt, I tug him down to press a kiss on his lips. “Then we’ll do something different every weekend until we find the thing thatyoulove to do.”
His eyes soften as he cradles the back of my head, and a smile tugs at one corner of his mouth. “Have I told you that I love you?”
I sniff, wanting to cry. “No. I love you, too.”
“Well, I do, so damn much I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m doing it with you.” He kisses me. “I noticed you haven’t mentioned your job. What do you want to do about that?”
“You don’t need to work, June.” Torin stops talking with Callum to tell me, his brow furrowed. “We can look after you. Whatever you need or want, it’s yours.”
“I quit,” I admit. “I was going to find?—”
Archer kisses me and repeats. “You don’t need to work, June,seriously.”
I smile at him. “I wasgoingto say that I want to do something. Maybe not clean hotel rooms, butsomething. Jack helped so many people even though he barely had time or money, and I want to do more than I did when I was living with my parents. Jack told me what you did, by the way. Where did the money come from?”
“Callum’s dad paid me to watch him, but I never felt good about spending that money.” Archer shrugs. “He’ll put it to use better than I would have.”
“Well, thanks. You changed his life, and I will be forever grateful. So will he.”
“Part of me is going to miss walking you to work every morning.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to hide my smile. “Yeah? And not the packed bus?”
He lowers his head and says into my ear. “I saw you trying not to laugh when a guy who smelled like he hadn’t showered in five days stuck his armpit in my face. That was very cruel of you.”
