Page 18 of A Reckless Memory

“I like them a lot,” I answered.

“Hon, let’s go wait outside.” Laney tugged on Emmaline’s other hand until Archer let her go. “Daddy needs to talk to Uncle Ansen.”

Uncle Ansen. What a mindfuck. I’d just met my niece, and she was almost six.

“What are you doing here?” Archer asked quietly, his attention swiveling to Aggie. “A job?”

Aggie stepped forward to offer a firm shake. “Aggie Knight. I work for your uncle at the refinery.”

He smiled as he clasped her hand and let it go. Some of the tension drained out of the room. “Uncle Cameron?”

He sounded fond of the guy. My mental feet were slipping off a cliff. I was facing my brother, who used to dress impeccably as an adult, in a way we’d never been able to as kids, and he was now full of dust with the bottoms of his jeans frayed and he acted fond of relatives our dad wanted nothing to do with. “I thought we weren’t talking to him,” I murmured.

Archer’s grin fell. “He’s different than he used to be. You’d know if you called once in a while.”

Any more guilt and shame and I’d need some luggage just for antacid. Hell, maybe the guy working the counter knew more about my family than me, and it didn’t matter if he overheard.

“I’m in town now. For a while.” I ignored the way Aggie arched a reddish-gold brow at me. “She opened a horse rescue, and I’m her new employee.”

“You find a job up here just because or...” Archer had never been an obtuse guy. Unfortunately.

“Aggie and I go way back, and she heard I needed work.” I was her bitch until I got my feet back under me somehow.

The solemnity in his expression told me enough. He’d talked to Dad and heard it all.

If I wasn’t so distracted by my brother’s reaction, I would’ve sensed the building storm at my elbow. She let out a sarcastic laugh and swatted the back of her hand across my shoulder. “Yes, we’re old friends.”

Ah, hell.

Archer’s alarmed gaze lifted to mine, but again he was smart and didn’t say anything as Aggie stalked to the chicken feed and stooped. I almost jumped to help her, the bags were fifty pounds, but she hauled one over her shoulder and marched past me.

“I bought two. Grab the second one when you’re done catching up.” Her caustic tone hung in the air.

The employee was silent as a field mouse under a circling hawk, watching everything.

I sighed and met Archer’s bemused gaze.

“I’m not an expert,” he drawled, “but if Delaney talked to me like that, I’d be under the impression she was pissed with me ’bout somethin’.”

The absurdity of today and his ill-timed tease made me laugh, the type of laugh that could lead to crying if I were the type to shed tears. I learned as a kid they did no good. Shit happened anyway.

The co-op employee pushed off his stool. “I’ll grab that second one for her. You two take your time.”

“I got it,” I said, going to a bag and pitching it to my shoulder like Aggie had done. “Gotta earn my wages.”

Archer followed me out. Aggie was in the cab, her mouth set in a cantankerous line. Laney was standing at the end of another pickup, and the kids were playing in the bed of the truck.

“Dare I ask how you two know each other?” Archer asked only loud enough for me to hear.

I could brush him off, but after the last six months, I was tired of the avoidance game. “We were going to get married.”

Archer jolted like my words were a physical shock. “Married?”

“When I was working in Montana. It turned into a thing and didn’t happen.” I slapped the bag down in the back of the pickup next to hers and closed the tailgate. Half-truths were wearing me out. “I fucked up. Bad.”

He nodded like he’d expected that was the case. I hated that he was right. “When? Then or now?”

“Both.” I draped my hand across the back of my neck. “When it comes to the women at least. Not the other bullshit.”

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