“I want to assure that you do. School is important. More important than sports.” She shook her head before she could stop herself, but Archer didn’t see her.
“But I like playing sports,” Archer said. “And I do my work. And my grades are good. Better than all my friends.”
“Then maybe you need to hang out with friends who spend more time studying.”
“Tucker,” she interrupted. “It’s not your place to tell Archer who he can be friends with when you’re two hours away and have met none of them. Now if you’d like to come to town and meet them and their parents, I’ll gladly arrange it.”
“Yeah, Dad. That’d be cool.”
She shouldn’t have said that because now her son looked as if he was excited over the possibility.
“I can’t do that, Farrah. You know better.”
She put her hand on Archer’s shoulder and rubbed it. “I’m just offering a suggestion for you to know more about your son. Is there anything else you need to say to him? He’s got schoolwork to finish and I need to start dinner.”
“Archer, your other grades were good. Keep up the hard work, but put more time into science. I mean it. It’s important to get into good habits now. You’re going to have to prioritize. Fun is for after your work is done, not before.”
“Yes,” Archer said and put his head down. “Can I go finish my math homework now?”
“Bye,” Tucker said. No nice soft endearment for his son.
She picked the phone up that had been on the counter and took it off of speaker. “Better than I thought you’d be, but still uncalled for. He’s trying, you heard him. He’s still a kid and you know as well as I do physical and social interaction learning is just as much a part of academics. Maybe you should take a page from his book and you’d have more friends.”
“Don’t piss me off, Farrah,” Tucker said.
“Seems as if I do it just by existing. Now, is there anything else you need or want?”
“No. I’ll be in touch once I see his report card next week.” He hung up after that.
She dropped the phone on the kitchen counter where she had walked.
She wasn’t going to hold her breath because she was positive Tucker would forget next week and it’d be weeks or more before he remembered.
Unless Archer got an A in science. Then maybe her son should call his father and tell him.
Best not to start any shit and let it lie.
She wouldn’t be the one to bring it up if he wanted to do it.
After a few deep breaths, she squared her shoulders and pulled out the chicken breasts that had been marinating all day.
She didn’t want to be in a bad mood for Jayce’s visit and hoped Archer wasn’t either.
There was no way she could cancel and didn’t want to.
In her mind, the visit might be the best thing that could happen after Tucker’s call. It’d at least have them both laughing before the night was over.
20
BEST VERSION OF YOU
Jayce pulled into the driveway of Farrah’s house after work.
He’d had time to run home and shower quickly, then dash back out the door.
His mother hadn’t asked what he had going on and he hadn’t volunteered. Just said that he wouldn’t be home for dinner.
When he heard the laughter in the back of the house, he detoured that way.
