Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY

Archer

I can tell East is nervous, and honestly, I am too. I’m fairly certain our reasons are different, though. I just want everything to be perfect for him today. I want him to have fun and feel loved. Like he has a family in his corner because that’s what my family will become to him. Once they get to know him, they’ll fall for him like I have, and even if things don’t work out between us, we’re connected for life, like Cora said. They will always be good to East.

“You okay?” I ask. We took my car, and East is in the passenger seat, folding one of his butterflies. He brought paper with him that he has in his back pocket.

“Yep.”

His one-word answer doesn’t sound too convincing. I’m so damn curious to ask him about the Ella thing too, but we haven’t talked about it since the night he told me. I’ve done some research, and I wonder if he has some kind of PTSD from what happened with Ella. East seems to have a lot of the symptoms—negative thoughts about himself, difficulty with close relationships, mood swings, self-destructive behaviors—and I read that some people have auditory hallucinations. Though in this case, he said he knows she’s not really there.

And despite him never mentioning it, I’ve stayed with him enough to see that he doesn’t sleep well, sometimes making noises and mumbling to the point where I wonder if he’s having nightmares. That usually stops when I pull him into my arms.

On the other hand, what the hell do I know? I’m not a psychiatrist.

“East?”

“Hmm?” He turns to me, all blue eyes and fear.

“You’re a good boy, coming with me today. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

I swear it looks like he melts in response, like me saying that builds him up and helps him fight back some of that fear.

“Your good boy,” he says, making my heart swell. That’s the last thing I ever expected him to say to me.

“Yes. Fuck yes.” I reach over, threading our fingers together, holding his hand until I have to pull into the driveway of my childhood home.

“Meadow and Cass will be here?” he asks as I park.

Cass had called when I was with East to ask what I was doing this weekend. When the topic came up about them joining us, something they’ve often done, it was actually East who said they should. I’m not sure if that was the best decision, but it seemed to take some of the pressure off him, so I’m all for that.

“Yeah, and Miss Meadow has a surprise for you.”

He frowns. “Wait. What? For me? What is it?”

“I can’t tell you, sweetheart. Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He nods before I get serious for a moment. “If you want to leave, tell me. You need a minute to yourself, you can take one, okay?”

“Why do I like it when you do that with me?”

“Care about you? That’s all I’m doing, East.”

“Seems like it should make me feel weak, but it doesn’t.”

“Letting someone care about you is the least weak thing you can do.” I cup his cheek the way I like doing. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“Let’s go before your family wonders what we’re doing out here,” he replies, and I let it go.

The second I knock on the door, it’s immediately pulled open. It doesn’t surprise me to see my sister standing there. “Hey, big brother.” She gives me a hug before turning her attention to East. We’re a family of huggers, and I made sure to tell them to go easy on East—to try and read him or ask him before they did anything that could make him uncomfortable. “Hi, Easton. It’s good to see you. In case you didn’t know, I’m the cooler Thorn sibling.”

He chuckles as I roll my eyes. “She wishes.”

“She seems pretty cool to me,” East replies, and I have to bite my cheeks so I don’t smile too big. I love him joking around with her this way.

“Hey. Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” I tease, then tell my sister in the same playful voice, “Move your butt out of the way and let us inside.”

Mom, Dad, and Simone are all waiting in the living room. “Hi, son.” Dad hugs me, then holds his hand out for East. “Good to see you, Easton. We’re glad you could join us.”

“Thanks for having me,” he replies, not making eye contact, but it’s a start.

“I’m cooking sauce. I hope you brought your appetite,” Mom tells him.

“She’s Italian, which means she shows her love with food.” I nudge him with my arm. “East is a good cook too. He’s been trying to teach me a thing or two.”

She looks at East. “Does it work? Because it was hopeless when I tried.”

East chuckles. “He does all right.”

“Hey, now. Just all right? First you take Cora’s side and now my mom’s.”

“Smart boy,” Mom tells him, and I know it’s killing her not to hug him, but she doesn’t.

“I’m sorry I’m not getting up to say hello. I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m as big as the house, and it’s a lot of work to move,” Simone says from the chair where she’s sitting.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to get up.” East walks over to her, my sister moving to sit on the arm of the chair. “I’m Easton.” He shakes Simone’s hand. In a town like Birchbark, they’ve heard of each other, but they never met.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” Cora says. “We have about nine weeks to go before this little baby joins us.” She rubs Simone’s belly, the pride she feels shining out of her.

“You don’t have to answer that. I’m sure being with Archer you know how they are, always so damn sweet.” Simone looks at my sister with love in her eyes.

“They’re friends, baby, but I appreciate the sentiment,” Cora says.

Hearing her say that makes my chest burn. East isn’t just my friend. I have to hold myself back from saying so.

“You’re, um…you are beautiful. And congrats, on the baby. Archer will be a great uncle.”

Damned if hearing that doesn’t make me feel ten feet tall. “Thank you.” I put my hands on his shoulders, standing behind him. Is that too much? Hell, I don’t know the etiquette here, so I pull back just as there’s another knock on the door.

“That’ll be Cass and Meadow. I’ll get it,” Mom says. She goes to the door, and there’s hugging and chatter, before my best friend and his daughter come into the room. Dad and Cora hug them both, before Cass goes over and kisses Simone’s cheek and gives her a hug too. There’s a closeness with my family and Cass, a familiarity that I want so damn much for them to have with East.

“How are Pretty Girl and Casanova doing?” Meadow asks East, holding a gift bag.

“Good. He’s a whole lot more comfortable now. She’s teaching him the ropes.”

“Easton adopts dogs no one else wants. He doesn’t care if they have stuff wrong with them. Dad said maybe we can do that too.” Meadow beams proudly.

“Aww,” Simone says. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“They’re lucky to have you.” Mom smiles at East.

“Nah, it’s me who’s lucky to have them.” His response makes me want to pull him into my arms and kiss him.

“I made these for them.” Meadow hands him the bag, East looking at me, then at her, like he’s not sure what to do. He knows she was bringing him something, but it’s almost like he thought it was a joke, like she would change her mind and not do it.

“Um. Thank you.” He pulls the first dog shirt out of the bag.

“I had Uncle Archer measure them when you weren’t looking, so they should fit. I made them with my sewing machine. It’s for them to wear when it gets cold.”

They’re matching shirts, each with their names on them, with matching ruffles at the end.

“Uncle Archer said you wouldn’t care if Casanova’s has ruffles too. Boys can like ruffles.”

East grins. His hands are shaking. I’m not sure if anyone else notices it, and my own twitch, wanting nothing more than to reach for him.

“Yeah,” he finally replies. “Boys can like ruffles. These are amazing. Thank you for thinking of them.”

Cass squeezes his daughter’s shoulder, clearly proud of her.

“You’re welcome.”

“Maybe you can come over with Archer sometime and see the dogs in them.”

We talked about her spending time with them before, but it never happened.

Meadow grins. “Ooh, can I, Dad? Uncle Archer?”

“You can come too,” East tells Cass. “Or if you want me to bring them to you or something, we can do that.”

I see the moment it dawns on Cass that East thinks Cass might not trust him, like he’s afraid the trouble East has gotten into will come back to hurt Meadow. “She can come over if that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” East replies. I wonder if he realizes how incredible this is. The fact that he’s here with my family, that he invited Meadow over to play with the dogs, and that he’s planning on having Morgan, Dusty, and Rhett over too.

When everyone loses themselves in conversation again, I whisper in his ear, “Good boy,” and to my surprise, he takes my hand in his, giving it a brief squeeze before pulling away.