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“Come on, Jorge, you know the Brambles. They’re good people.”

Jorge shook his head. “I don’t though. Lily is usually the one here with the girls. I used to only come for a week or two at most, and I was always working.”

Archer pressed his lips together. Jorge was furloughed in April from his job at the Minnesota Conservation Lab. Archaeology research wasn’t seen as a necessity during a global pandemic, even though everything that was happening would certainly go down in history. Jorge mentioned they had some savings, but Archer could tell he was stressed about what was to come—and if selling Cabin G would be in their future.

It was one of the reasons he was delaying asking cabin owners for their Silver Falls Lake Association fees. Everyone was struggling in their own way, and the last thing Archer wanted to do was cause more turmoil.

The screen door down at Cabin B inched open. Jorge was still watching his oldest in her clumsy attempts at flirting, but Archer’s eyes were locked on the figure now making her way to the Adirondack chairs by the fire pit. Bottle of wine and glass in hand, book tucked underneath her arm.

“Jorge!” Lily called from inside their cabin. “I think I did something wrong to the mole, it’s starting to burn.”

“Shit.” Jorge turned to Archer. “Give me a few minutes to help Lily, then I’ll grab the cocktail stuff—”

“Actually…” Archer blinked, eyes still on the woman taking a seat. “I haven’t, um, checked the fire pit yet today. Need to make sure it’s clean.”

“That should take, what? Four seconds?”

He turned to Jorge. “Rain check, okay?”

Jorge peeked around Archer’s shoulder. He saw the shift in Jorge’s face.

“Sounds good, man,” Jorge replied. “My rain checks are only good for a week though.”

Archer smiled and nodded as Jorge stepped into Cabin G, then took a deep breath and tilted his head to the sky. Was he really going to do this?

Yes, he thought. No more hiding. You have a whole summer with her. It’s been eight years, for shit’s sake. Get over it.

He felt his flat brim lift from his head and fall behind him. He snatched it quickly, scratching his head before placing the hat back on and turning toward the fire pit. She wasn’t paying attention to him. She was too engrossed in whatever she was reading.

He shook his hands, cracked his neck, then put one foot in front of the other.

Tea didn’t notice his approach as she scanned the pages of her book. He squinted to get a look at the title.

The Loon Song: Understanding the Mysteries of North America’s Favorite Bird

He took a step closer to spy the cover art and a twig snapped underneath his foot.

Tea looked up, then her eyes widened. She shut the book and tucked her legs to her chest, like she was trying to get out of his way. “Sorry, need me to leave?”

“…Leave?”

“Yeah, am I in the way of your cleaning?”

“Oh.” He eyed the fire pit, realizing that was technically his excuse for coming over here. “Um, no, yeah, I need to make sure everything looks good.”

“Sure, yeah, okay.”

Archer took his time examining the area. Once he concluded that it was indeed spotless (and silently cursed the Bramble twins for actually keeping their promise), he looked back at Tea. She had her face in her knees, her arms tight around her legs.

He smirked. “Uh, you good over there?”

“I don’t have a mask,” she said, her voice muffled from the fabric of her pants. “And you’re closer than six feet, so—”

“Tea, we’re outside.”

She stiffened at his use of her name. It was the first time he’d said it to her in a long time. The first time he actually acknowledged that she was here.

He didn’t want to think about it too hard, so he continued talking. “These scientists say it’s safe to be outside without masks. Plus, numbers are down—” He paused, realizing what he was doing. Was he really defending himself for being closer to her? He spent the majority of his days making sure everyone else at Wild Pines kept their six feet from him. Yet, now…