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Archer
I had thick skin. I didn’t get embarrassed easily. It came from when I was pudgier than the other boys in school and had to hear their jokes and laughs. I rarely let a comment get to me.
But what Harrison said at breakfast left me flustered. I kept my feelings to myself about most things, and did not appreciate having them carelessly expressed in front of others. Especially in front of Trish, the subject of the comment.
Jordy went back inside, then returned to the garage. He hopped in the passenger seat and said, “Okay, let’s go.”
“No coffee?” I asked.
Jordy tilted his head like a confused German Shepherd. “Coffee?”
“Your excuse for going back inside. You said you wanted to get a mug of coffee to go. Yet here you are, without coffee.”
“He wanted something hot and stiff all right,” Harrison said in the back seat.
“Just start driving,” Jordy said with a smile.
I pulled out of the garage and began the quick commute to the peace conference.
“Please tell me you didn’t do anything in front of our daughter,” I finally said.
“Of course not,” he replied. “I made sure she was in another room.”
“At least you have enough sense for that,” I muttered. “Don’t need Kaylee asking questions about that. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
Jordy rolled his eyes. “It’s not a big deal. We can tell her that daddy has a special lady friend.”
“Who happens to be her nanny,” I added, “which is already a motherly position in her life. It complicates things.”
“I’m agreeing with you! That’s why I made sure she was in another room. Chill out, bro.”
“Archie hasn’t been chill since we got in the car,” Harrison said.
I glanced at him in the rear-view mirror. “Because I don’t appreciate what you said at breakfast.”
“What’d he say at breakfast?” Jordy asked.
“That I had a crush on Trish too. Which is completely untrue.”
Harrison barked a laugh. Jordy gave me a skeptical look.
“It was aminorcrush,” I said defensively. “I fancied her whenever we saw her at the gym. That’s it. And it doesn’t matter now, since she’s with Jordy.”
“They ain’t married,” Harrison replied. “Just a hookup so far.”
Jordy twisted around. “Hey! It feels like more than a hookup.”
“She don’t belong to you,” Harrison reiterated. “Unless you’re official. And if you aren’t willing to be public around Kaylee, then you aren’t official in my book.”
“I’m certainly not going to make a move on our nanny, not least because she’s now involved with my best mate,” I said. “And I’m sure Trish feels the same way.”
Harrison snorted. “If roles were reversed, and I was bunking with three Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders for a while, I’d have as much fun as I could. That’s all I’m saying.”
I thought about that on the drive into the city. Harrison had a point, but it was still an oversimplification. We weren’t cheerleaders. We were mercenaries. Sure, we rarely took dangerous contracts anymore, but we still led a rough life.
And our second contract will put us in more danger, I thought.And the third…
The rest of our contract in Oslo was delightfully uneventful. Aside from a few false alarms, we didn’t see anything suspicious at the conference. That bored Harrison to death, but it was exactly what I had hoped for.
