“Not really. I’ve driven all up and down the West Coast but never out of the country.”
“Why not?”
Archer scratched his neck. “I don’t know anything about foreign laws or Councils. I might get thrown in jail for a thousand years.”
I chuckled. “Did you plan on breaking the law?”
He gave me a wolfish grin. “It’s illegal to be this handsome.” Then he turned his attention back to the board. “Why the pie?”
“I guess it makes me think of home.” A smile hovered on my lips. “I also love apple pie.”
“Did your mom make pie?”
“You don’t want to hear all this,” I said quietly.
“Try me.”
I touched my bracelet and played with the charms. “I never met her. My father wanted an heir, so he found a woman and made an arrangement.”
Archer’s eyes lit with interest. “Like adoption?”
“No,” I said, turning my focus to the paints on the table. “He offered to take care of her if she would give him a child and raise it. Only… she never got the chance since she died in childbirth.”
He gently touched my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
It was considerate of him to offer his sympathies for a woman I’d never met, and the sincerity in his voice quickened my heart.
“This is great, Cici. I’ll have to come check out the final version when you’re done. Maybe I need a vision board. I can’t seem to figure out what I want in life.” On a sigh, he lowered his gaze to the folding table where I’d been painting. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s a sign—for the store.”
I joined his side and stared at the picture I’d been creating for the past hour on a flat piece of cardboard. Around the store name, the letters of which I’d painstakingly decorated, I had painted a green worm reading a book, a pair of glasses on his gigantic head. I’d seen the image somewhere before, but I couldn’t recall the details.
Not that I had one iota of artistic talent to pull it off.
The laugh that suddenly pealed out of Archer was loud enough to wake the dead. The harder he tried to stop, the worse it got. He doubled over, flattening his palm on the table. Just when I thought he’d settled down, he glanced up at the sign again andlaughed so riotously that a flash of irritation raced through my veins.
I crossed my arms and frowned at my picture.
Archer pulled himself up, but when he saw it again, tears streamed down his face. “I can’t… I can’t,” he managed to say between fits of laughter.
“It’s notthatfunny.”
Perhaps I’d been staring at it for so long that I was blind to what he saw.
Archer finally got up and took out his phone. After snapping a photo, he waited, staring at the screen. It suddenly chimed, and he showed me the message.
Krys:
Stop sending me your dick pics
Archer laughed again but buried it deep. “Sorry, Cici. It’s just that you’re not an artist. I’m not, either, if that makes you feel better. You don’t want to hang up anything that’s shaped like a… Well, let’s just say it doesn’t resemble a worm.” He scrolled through his phone. “Book Haven is a great name though. It’s simple, fits the town, and people won’t mistake it for a candle shop.”
When I saw him typing on his phone again, I swiped my hand to grab it.
Archer pivoted. “Relax. I’m just sending it to Robyn. She might have ideas since she’s an actual artist.”
“It’s only temporary. What does it matter?” While looking at the sign, my bottom lip quivered.
