Page 14
Sandy scrunched her nose. “I hate my computer.”
Tea furrowed her brow. “Why does no one ever touch a computer around here?”
“Because apparently they are the work of Satan,” Archer quipped.
Tea lifted her cup in front of her mouth, trying not to laugh. Archer raised a brow at her in what could have been comprehended as a teasing manner. But his expression shifted right back into something cool, calm, and closed off.
Sandy rolled her eyes, not taking Archer’s shit. “If there’s really a baby loon out there, then how could you allow all of those boats out there? It’s creating a disturbance.”
He flashed Sandy a gleaming, charming smile, and though it had been eight years since Tea had seen Archer Vincent, she knew him enough to know that smile was his fake one. His “Minnesota Nice” one.
“Sandy, you know we’re within the window that people are allowed to take their boats out on the lake. It is their right to do so. I don’t oversee that.”
Sandy harrumphed. “We’re going to scare them away.”
“Will they leave the lake?” Tea asked.
Sandy and Archer both looked at her like she’d grown a third head.
She sunk deeper into her chair. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Of course they’ll—”
“They won’t leave,” Archer cut in, his chocolate-brown eyes finally acknowledging her for more than a second.
Her face flushed and sweat trickled down her back. She was boiling inside her robe, and Archer was actually looking at her like she did, in fact, exist.
This was not how she’d envisioned her morning going.
“What do you mean they won’t leave? Look at these boats!” Sandy exclaimed, clearly distraught.
Archer crossed his arms in front of him, forgetting that he was trying to hide them from Tea. “Once loons claim territory on a lake, they won’t leave. It’s not in their nature.”
He was staring at her again. He was no longer smiling; his gaze was fierce, like she was simply another problem at the resort that he needed to handle.
She wiped the sweat on her brow and averted her eyes, hoping he would walk away first so she could escape into the cabin.
“Oh, well, that’s good then,” Sandy replied, oblivious to the tension. “Did you find out how to bear-proof the dumpsters?”
Tea’s brows shot skyward. “Bears?”
Archer’s gaze lingered on Tea for longer than a beat. “Don’t worry, I’m handling it.”
She squirmed in her chair, her mind beginning to spiral. No masks? Bears? Archer? Was Silver Falls really the place she should be all summer? New Jersey had its risks, sure, but it sounded safer to Tea than being by the lake.
Archer coughed, then flashed Sandy one last Minnesota Nice smile. “Excuse me, I have things to do.”
They watched him walk away and Tea counted to five in her head before she exhaled and leaned back against the chair.
“How are you not baking in that robe?” Sandy asked. “It’s a million degrees out here.”
“No kidding,” Tea grumbled. She stood up on wobbly legs. “I’m going to put on my suit.”
Chapter 6
Archer
Everyone across Silver Falls lost their minds looking for the loons, but at least it left the resort relatively quiet so Archer could finally get shit done. By five o’clock, he was pulling eight sticky notes off his wall, a small weight easing off his chest with each rip. Until the last sticky note peeled a good chunk of paint along with it. He cursed, grabbing the yellow square pad, and scribbled Paint this depressing cabin before slapping it on.
