“How’s your wrist?”
I draped the wet towel over one of the chairs. “Better. I don’t have the wrap on anymore.”
“I noticed.” He grabbed something on the counter and handed me a large canister filled with suckers. “I brought you these. Thought you might be getting tired of potato chips.”
“This is sweet. Literally.” I accepted the suckers and set them on the table. “I canneverget tired of chips. Do you want to sit?”
Archer pulled out a chair and sat across from me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Better. Perhaps a little stir-crazy from the rain.”
“You’re welcome to come in the house anytime you want. You know that, right?”
“I guess I’m just not comfortable yet.”
“At least come for dinner. Tak thinks you need to be left alone, and maybe he’s right. But I feel weird sitting up there at dinner and thinking about you eating in here by yourself.” He leaned back and stared at his lap. “You can even raid the fridge between meals if you want. Nobody cares.”
“It’s not my kitchen.”
Archer glanced up at the wall to my right. “I see you’ve got another vision board going.”
“The girls brought magazines,” I said, cringing when I thought about the scraps littered on the sofa behind me. “They said it was okay for me to cut them up.”
Archer smiled handsomely. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. This is your space. Do whatever you want.” He stared at the board. “I like seeing you dream again. It makes me wonder what I’m doing with my life.”
Thunder rumbled overhead, and the rain beat down harder on the roof.
“I love the rain.” Archer hooked his arm over the back of the chair, his white T-shirt saturated. “Everyone in the house is allboo-hoothat they’re stuck inside, but rain makes people come together. They’re playing board games and talking about setting up the game room with a pool table. Some of us are finishing side projects, and we even had a dance party you missed out on.”
I laughed softly. “I can’t dance.”
“Sure you can. Everyone can dance. Except me.” He raised hisleft upper shoulder. “I can’t lead, and women sure as hell don’t want to hold on to this.” Archer looked around nervously. “Your hair looks pretty.”
I felt the woven locks behind my head. “Thanks. Melody did it this morning during breakfast. Do you think it’s better this way?”
“I like it however you want to wear it.”
A maelstrom of emotions came over me when he said that, and I rested my elbows on the table so I could shield my face. “I used to wear it up a lot, but Noahalwayswanted me wearing it in a ponytail. I keep looking at pieces of my life, trying to figure out what’s me and what’s him.”
Archer heaved a sigh and rested his arm on the table. “Milly said it wasn’t the first time you’d seen her.”
“No.”
Archer rubbed his face, and I recognized anger, which made me ease back. When he caught my reaction, he leaned back too. “You said the first time he hit you was a couple of months ago. Is that what happened that night we met? I’ve been wondering why you were in his car and where you were going. You said you were just passing through.”
I played with the drawstring on my sweatpants. “We had a fight about laundry, of all things. He came home drunk, and the clothes were still in the hamper. That time was different. I talked back to him, and he hit me. Not a punch, just a slap.”
“Just.”Archer scoffed.
“Normally I might have gone straight to bed or slept on the couch, but…”
He frowned and locked those honey-brown eyes on me. “But what?” Then he nodded. “It’s because you were going into heat.”
“It’s not just that.” I shook my head. “I can’t say.”
Archer extended his arm across the table. “You can trust me, Cici. I know it sounds crazy because we hardly know each other,but I swear you can trust me. Nothing you say will leave this room. I’m not forcing you to tell me. Maybe you can talk to Hope.”
“No.” I rested my chin in my palms. “I’m just scared to talk about it. Noah warned me that people will kidnap me if they find out.”
