Page 35 of My Darling Mayhem

Archer’s eyes snapped up. “I don’t want to impose.”

We seemed to both silently communicate something as we stared at one another. I was pissed at him, at his choices, and I was viscerally angry about the fence. But underneath that, some strange part of me also wanted him to stay. I felt like our conversation from earlier wasn’t finished like there was more I wanted to say, and I needed him to tell me.

“This recipe is my mother’s…she cuts the larger chunks of chocolate up, and we use the fat flakes of salt.”

The glass slider slowly closed as he silently accepted the invitation. Archer looked down at his feet as if he wanted to ask if he should slip out of his boots.

Cruz pulled on his wrist. “You can keep them on.”

I followed both boys as they moved into the kitchen. Archer’s waist met the counter as he leaned over and washed his hands. It was so weird watching him do something as mundane as hand washing. Once he was finished, he twisted to dry his hands on the homemade towel my abuela had made me when I was a teen. His expression softened as he patted his hands dry, and his unguarded eyes met mine again.

It felt like his gaze prodded and inspected for some personal thing I’d be willing to share. With a blink, I turned away.

“Here, you should have one with milk.”

I handed him a cookie with a napkin, then turned to grab the milk from the fridge.

Archer accepted and brought the cookie up to his mouth while watching me. He was a few chews into his first one when his eyes closed, and he moaned. “These are the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Why did I suddenly picture him between my legs, tasting me and saying that exact same thing?

“Mom makes these whenever she misses my grandma,” Cruz said, looking at me sympathetically.

“You don’t see her often?” Archer asked, finishing off the rest of his cookie and milk. Cruz hurriedly moved to the fridge to grab the carton again.

“No, she lives in North Carolina. She came for Cruz’s birthday last year, but since then, no.”

Archer took the milk from my son with a smile before pouring himself more. Cruz filled in all the remaining details I didn’t necessarily want to share.

“We never go see her, though, because she lives in the same city as my uncle, and we don’t see him because he’s making poor choices right now.”

My chest seized as I snapped. “Cruz!”

His face crumpled into a wince. “But we don’t talk about it with strangers.”

Archer’s lips quirked up as if he already knew what my son was about to work out.

“But you’re not a stranger!”

“Cruz, talking about familial things with new acquaintances is still not polite.”

My son came over and threw his back against the front of my body, so I had to catch him. He did that often, and it always felt like he was having random trust falls with me.

“What’s a new acq—acquent.” He tilted his head back, silently asking me for help.

Archer stared at the tray of cookies as if he wanted to go in for another but was holding back. Then he glanced over at us with a smile. “She just means new friends, Cruz. Sometimes, we have to give our new friends a little time to be in our lives before we share really personal things with them.”

Cruz started rambling off details about the school week that Archer had missed, which somehow had him moving to the little stool under the counter's lip. The two talked about the week, and Archer shared that he’d gone to an old friend’s funeral inVirginia. I moved around the counter to start washing dishes. Archer glanced up a few times as he talked with my son, but I liked that they were talking.

Cruz only lasted about twenty minutes before he was up and asking if he could show Archer his room and the toys he couldn’t wait to show Kane.

Archer hesitated, glancing over at me.

“Cruz, Archer might need to return to his friends. We can’t keep him captive.”

Archer laughed, covering it with his hand as his eyes found my floor, then traveled up my legs, softly landing on my chest and face. “I sent them all home. When I go back, it’ll be to an empty house, so if you don’t mind…I don’t.”

Nodding, I turned back toward the counter to calm down. My face was on fire, and my heart felt like it was hammering out a warning not to be stupid about letting Archer anywhere near it.

---