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Leaning back in his seat, he tilted his head so he could watch me. The first strains of piano and guitar came across. Ian had played both when we were at the studio, mixing one with the other. It was a little on the ballady side and not quite what Archie liked to listen to, but I was already half-in-love with it and over the moon that I’d gotten to help do it.
“The first step was the hardest one. You walked in and I invited you to sit and talk. I smiled at you and you joined in. You were a stranger then you were a friend.”
I bit my lip at the sound of my own voice. Ian had worked with me on every line recording it until I hit every single note. Archie’s eyes widened.
“The second step was harder still. You wanted me and I was blind. Whispers and wishes, so many misses. Dancing. Playing. Laughing. Crying. You were the one who wanted to take my dreams flying.”
He reached over to catch my hand as the music played. It was awful.
It was cute.
Did I sound as terrible to him as I did to me?
I mean, it wasn’t as awful as that karaoke night, but the beats were there.
“The third step and we fell off. My whispers became shouts and my wishes so many doubts. You were there every step of the way and when I tumbled you had to have your say.”
Archie raised his hand to my cheek and stroked it.
“But here we are, crash and burn, rise and fall, song and singer, friends and lovers…”The last word trailed off.“If I have my way, this is where we’ll stay but I want your whispers and your wishes every day.”
The music rose again and then trailed off.
“Happy birthday, Archie. I always want your wishes to come true. So whisper them or shout them, but this song? It’s just for you.”
Then it ended, and I sank my teeth into my lower lip, alternately horrified and delighted at the raw expression on his face. He kissed me. No room for thought or hesitation, just a kiss that stole every ounce of my breath.
“God, I love you,” he admitted, and my heart did a fist bump with my ribs. But before I could say anything else, he was kissing me again.
We were late to dinner.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When You Need Someone to Lean On
We were late, but Ted—or Grandpa, as he kept insisting I call him—had been more amused than annoyed by our tardiness. As soon as we were seated, a waitress brought over drinks. Wine for the whole table, and I cut a look at Archie. We drank at his place…
“Don’t worry,” Ted assured us both. “They aren’t serving you, and Mary would have wanted me to toast your birthday, young man, and she would have wanted you to toast along with us.”
“A sip won’t hurt,” Archie told me. I hadn’t taken any pain meds today, so I nodded. Once Ted had poured the wine, he set the glasses in front of each of us. The restaurant we were in was expensive, exclusive, and we didn’t sit out in the main dining room, but had this private room to ourselves surrounded by tropical plants and artwork.
The place didn’t even have a name. You couldn’t walk in off the street. It was just the kind of reservation-only exclusivity for people with more money than I would know what to do with.
Archie and his grandfather fit right in, but they were both including me, which helped to ward off the sensation that I didn’t belong.
Lifting his wine glass, Ted said, “I’m proud of you, Archie. You made it to eighteen, but you remember what you said at eight?”
With a groan, Archie said, “Grandpa, are you really bringing that up?”
The older man laughed. “Damn straight, my boy. Mary laughed for a week after you proclaimed at your eighth birthday that you were of the right age to be Pharaoh, and by eighteen…”
“I’d be a real god.” Shoulders slumping, Archie actually looked moderately embarrassed. Even the tips of his ears had gone red. I’d never seen him so self-conscious. He was almost always the picture of confidence.
It was adorable.
“Exactly,” Ted continued, extending his glass. “Welcome to your godhood, Sprout. May it be everything you dreamed of.”
We clinked our glasses together, and I was grinning so hard my cheeks hurt. “A god, huh?”
