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He heard someone call his name in the distance. He scanned the lawn, leaving Tea to herself as she sat down at the table.

“Archer!”

He turned, then felt his heart fall to his feet.

Janelle stood before him in a black tank top and cropped shorts, her dewy brown skin exposed and her braids hung loose by her shoulders.

His eyes widened. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Clench. Unclench.

She smirked and crossed her arms. She didn’t wear a mask, and he was thankful he still had his on. “What a coincidence, huh?”

He cleared his throat and looked down at his sneakers. “Not really. You know my family has a cabin up here, and yours isn’t far either.”

When he looked back up at her, Janelle’s head was tilted to the side, that smirk still on her face. Of course she knew. This run-in didn’t seem like a coincidence in the slightest. She looked…pleased. Like she meant for this to happen. She reached up and squeezed his arm, then stroked her thumb back and forth against his bicep. “You look good, Archie.”

Clench. Unclench.

He rubbed the back of his neck to stop himself. He could have told her everything—about Dad handing resort management to him, about everything that happened at Hermes Lounge before lockdown—but he didn’t feel the need to. Even if Janelle’s demeanor was warm and inviting, their relationship felt safe. Comfortable. Easy. Drama free. Plus, if she didn’t want to play any part in his life back in January, why would he expect her to care now?

He stepped out of her grasp. She slipped her hands in her back pockets. “Are you taking care of yourself, Archie?”

Archer dropped his hands to his sides. Clench. Unclench. Hearing her say his nickname made this entire interaction even more unsettling. When he opened his hands again to clench his fists, his left hand came around slender fingers.

Archer whirled his head around, finding Tea beside him. She stood there with that stubborn look in her eyes, mask still on as she held his hand. “Your beer is getting warm.”

He looked above Tea’s head and found Rhonda and Steph, four bottles of beer on the table. Rhonda did a little shimmy. Steph gave him a thumbs-up.

“And…you are?”

Archer turned back to Janelle. “This is Tea,” he answered for her.

Janelle’s eyes widened. “Tea? As in your childhood friend Tea?”

Heat crawled up his neck. Janelle didn’t know everything about Tea, but she knew enough. Like how she was one of his closest friends growing up. How he developed a crush on her, then she disappeared. He’d conveniently left out the rest. “Yep.”

Her eyes dipped to their joined hands. “Very…interesting.”

Tea stepped back, pulling on Archer’s hand. “Nice meeting you,” she said to Janelle.

Archer followed Tea, hands still joined as they made their way to the picnic table. When they sat down, Tea made sure to sit right beside him, thigh to thigh, and placed a hand on his knee. He looked across the lawn. Janelle watched them from afar, head tilted. Then she stepped back and vanished into the thick crowd.

Chapter 11

Tea

Loons can perform territorial rights when gliding across the lake, by lifting their bodies and flapping vigorously, which can happen when someone or something threatening gets too close.

Tea watched it all happen from a distance with a frog lodged in her throat. The touch of his arm, the reassuring smile, the stroke of her thumb. She would have left him alone if he seemed relaxed by this woman’s sudden appearance, but she saw the way his hands worked by his sides and knew enough. He was uncomfortable and needed saving. Knowing Archer, he was too polite to save himself.

Rhonda and Steph clinked bottles beside her.

“To making our son’s love life more complicated,” Steph said.

Rhonda groaned. “Oh god, do you really think so? I thought it was common knowledge that they kiss now. I’ve seen it twice, and I’m afraid it’s burned into my memory.”

“Do you really think Ashley is running into Cabin G and saying to her father ‘hey, guess whose tongue I swallowed today’?”