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“Why him?” Dad finally asks, staring out across the street. “There’s a ridiculous number of eligible young men in Autumn Ridge.”
“And you’d disapprove of every single one of them if I showed any interest in them.”
“Not Luke Walker.”
“That’s because he’s your best friend’s son. But I bet if he started kissing me and holding my hand in front of you and talking of marriage, you’d have a hard time with him then.”
As if on cue, Dad pulls back with an uncontrolled look of disgust.
“See?” I say. “You just have a problem with Archer because he likes me.”
“That’s not true. Not completely anyway. I would have an easier time if I didn’t know he’s been arrested twice.”
“I told you there were deeper reasons behind his acts.”
I’ve a mind to tell him what those reasons were. After all, Archer gave me permission on that first horse ride. But I want Dad to put in some effort—to receive the answers from the source for himself.
“It doesn’t matter what he’ll say,” Dad returns. “A crime is a crime.”
“But doesn’t everyone deserve forgiveness? You don’t know what he’s done to make up for his actions. In Texas and in Autumn Ridge. He’s not perfect, but is anyone?”
“I’m very near it.”
I shake my head, amused. “He doesn’t want to come between us. You must have noticed the difference in him.”
He averts his gaze. “Taking over the dunk tank, sneaking out with my daughter, hiding in her room...”
“Those were all my doing. He’s been the one telling me to talk to you about it all. You should give him a chance.” I pause. “Maybe...maybe you could come with me to the Sleepy Holler event this Saturday.”
He grimaces.
“For me, Dad,” I press.
With a pent-up breath, he closes his eyes. “Fine. I’ll go. For you. But can I ask for something in return?”
“Of course.”
“Can we spend some time together this week? In between my duties and the festival, I feel like we haven’t seen each other.”
His request is reasonable, even though I want to say, “We haven’t seen each other because I’ve been with Archer and you’ve been with your girlfriend,” but I hold my tongue.
Things are going well right now. Dad’s actually compromising. About Archer, for Heaven’s sake. I’m not going to bring up anything to ruin it.
“Sounds great,” I say.
He nods, though a frown still mars his brow. I ignore it this time, leaning into the smidgen of hope I feel that this event might be just the thing to change Dad’s heart for good.
Because if not, I don’t know how I’m going to live a life where my only living parent hates the only man I’ve ever been in love with.
Archer
Last week, Juliet was busy with the festival. This week, it’s my turn to be busy—so much so that I hardly see Juliet.
She’s applying for a few jobs in town, but in between that, she stops by to lend a hand—along with James, Sadie, Reese, and Dom. I’m so busy I’m hardly able to sneak in a few words with anyone.
The Langfords hired a wedding planner, coordinator, and decorator to pull off the wedding of the century, so my job is probably the easiest. But I’ve still got cleaning, fence repairs, safety-checks, parking areas, scent reductions, power and lighting issues, and bathroom installations to deal with—not to mention prepping and desensitizing Shadowfax, my white gelding.
By the time the wedding arrives on Thursday, I’m a ball of nerves. The actual ceremony is a success, as far as I can tell. Mr. Langford does a great job leading Shadowfax toward the aisle with Landrie riding sidesaddle, then he helps her off to walk her down the rest of the way toward Jaxon and the pastor.
