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“Have you told your mom yet?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “She’s been, um, really busy at the hospital. Haven’t been able to get her on the phone.”
Archer’s hand paused for a brief moment, then continued playing with her hair.
Astor popped up from his chair. “This calls for more margaritas!”
Larissa and Wayne lifted their glasses and cheered. Nan kept a close eye on Tea, hands in her lap.
Archer pointed to his father as he stood up. “Don’t you dare touch that shaker. I’m making it.” He then turned to Tea and held out his hands. “Time to learn how to make a proper margarita.”
She took his hands and let him lead her into the cabin. He slid the door shut, then pulled her deeper into the cabin, away from listening ears. He cupped her face with his big hand. “Hey, you good?”
She hesitated.
He brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. “Talk to me, Tea. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She leaned into his palm. “You don’t want to leave my side?”
“Does that scare you?”
She could have said no and kept things good between them. She wasn’t ready to tell him the truth about what she woke up to that morning. But this was Archer in front of her, her best friend of many, many years. She knew she could trust him to hold her honest thoughts.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m scared.”
He leaned down to kiss her cheek. “We’ll figure it out. One day at a time, remember?”
She didn’t say anything at first, then simply nodded. Her thoughts were too muddled in her head. The look of Nan’s face across the table. The fact that she still hadn’t talked to Mom. The internship. New York. The man in front of her who wanted to be by her side but also had big dreams of his own. Did this mean Archer wanted to give up his dreams? What did he actually mean when he’d said that?
He laced his fingers through hers with a beaming smile. “Come on, let’s have your first cocktail lesson.”
Tea stood at the counter as Archer grabbed all of the ingredients, as well as a cocktail shaker, a jigger, a small cutting board, and a knife.
She pointed to the latter two. “What are those for? I thought we are making drinks?”
“For the lime juice.”
“Can’t we use the bottled stuff?”
He looked at her like she’d just committed a major crime. “And this is why we’re having a lesson.”
She shook her head.
He chuckled. “What?”
Tea shrugged. “It’s fun to see you passionate about something.”
He beamed, then moved to stand behind her and kiss her shoulder. “I’m passionate about a lot of things.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, Casanova, show me how to margarita.”
He remained behind her as he pointed to the different objects and bottles. “Most people assume when making a cocktail that you put the spirit in first, but you actually want to do it last. It’s the most expensive product going in the shaker. So if you screwed up your measurements and the tequila was already in there, then you wasted quite a bit of money.”
“Got it. So what’s first?”
He had her cut and juice a fresh lime, then add in the simple syrup and orange liquor.
Archer stepped up to the counter beside her. “You could use blue agave instead of simple in margaritas, but we’re working with what we got.” He lifted the bottle of silver tequila. “Now this is the part where we add the spirit.”
