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When he didn’t respond, she peered up at him. She expected hurt and anger, but was only met with a familiar gentleness.
“Let me in. Please,” she whispered.
He sighed, shifting his head back, the brim of his hat shading his eyes from the bright sun. “What does that mean?”
She squeezed his hands. “Friendship, like the old days. You actually tell me things. Catch me up on the last eight years. Talk to me. You’re so surface level, and it’s killing me.”
“Maybe I feel like I have to be. What if you run again?”
When she didn’t respond, he shifted toward her and looked into her eyes. “Low blow, sorry.”
“You’re right, low blow. Does that mean you’re ready to talk about it?”
He shook his head. “But I can give you friendship. Only if you promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“You have to get in the sailboat by the end of the summer.”
She pursed her lips. “Okay, maybe not anything.”
“You can’t ignore it forever, Tea bag.”
She scowled. “That’s not my nickname.”
He frowned. “I don’t have a nickname for you.”
She pointed a finger in his face. “Yes you do. Don’t pretend like you forgot.”
He shrugged. “I did forget.”
“You son of a—”
“Promise me, Tea.”
She exhaled.
He cocked his head. “If you’re going to make me get uncomfortable with you and let you in, then it seems only fair, don’t you think?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “By the end of the summer?”
This time his hand squeezed hers. “Yes. You have all summer. And we’ll do it whenever you want.”
She inhaled sharply, letting it out slowly as she blinked her eyes open. Then she nodded.
His face split into a smile, but his response was cut off by Rhonda and Steph returning with four more bottles of beer.
“Favorite cocktail?”
Archer gave her a face. “That’s like asking if I have a favorite child.”
“Everyone does have a favorite child. They just don’t want to admit it.”
“Says the only-child kid.”
Tea cocked her head. “But am I wrong?”
He grinned as he pressed his hands back on the dock, his legs dangling along the edge, bare feet trimming the water. “Naked and Famous. But it has to be made with Chichicapa or it’s not worth it.”
