Page 44 of Love from Pretty Beach

T he Monday after the weekend of silence, Darby had had a gutful of everything, and to be frank, Archie was the last of her worries.

His lack of response to her message had moved down her list of priorities because Lily had had a small but traumatic medical crisis involving cutting her finger to the bone when she’d opened a new knife set.

Darby had spent way too much of her time dealing with the fallout from it.

Then, Lola had been poorly and the washing machine had decided to pump water all over the utility room floor.

On the Monday, she’d done a double shift at work, had been to the Spar and was on her way home when she caught sight of Archie outside the bookshop in the laneway.

Laughing and chatting away to the owner, Daisy, all seemed good in his world.

On seeing him, right away she realised that he didn’t have a problem with her.

She smiled to herself, pleased that he was back in Pretty Beach.

She’d clearly imagined the whole thing. He’d obviously been away for work and was probably about to message her or pop around.

As he turned away from the bookshop, in a flash her opinion flipped and she could see that things were not good.

There was something wrong with him and whatever it was, it was written all over his face.

He hesitated, she quickened her step and automatically lifted her hand in a small wave.

He gave a strange, odd, dismissive nod in her direction.

Instantly, she knew his silence had been for a reason.

Her stomach dropped. ‘Hi! Sorry. Have you had bad reception? You’ve not called or replied to my messages at all. ’

Archie didn’t smile. ‘I’ve been busy.’

‘Oh, right, okay.’

Archie went to walk on.

‘What? Sorry, have I done something wrong? Are you avoiding me? Duh!’ Darby tried to make a joke.

Archie didn’t laugh; his hand went to the back of his neck. ‘Nope, I’m not avoiding you. I wouldn’t do that. I just need time to cool off.’

‘What have I done? You’re just not answering calls or messages? Sorry, are you playing games or something? What?’

Archie didn’t answer for a second and just stared at a point just past Darby’s shoulder. ‘Apparently, I am a boyfriend on a video that has been viewed many, many times. Yeah, not impressed about that.’

‘What?’ Darby frowned. ‘The night market video. It was a clip. You were just there. It was real life.’

Archie did not smile. ‘Not my real life.’

Darby tried to lighten the mood and chuckled. ‘Oh dear, I'm really sorry. You’re not identifiable! I thought it would be okay.’

Archie did not mince his words. ‘You thought wrong. I didn’t agree to be in it and I don’t like it. You didn’t even ask me.’

‘You weren’t in it, as such, not really. You were, umm, you’re blurred.’

‘One of my sons has seen it.’

Archie’s words landed with a thud. Darby blinked. ‘I…’

‘I told you I’m private and suddenly I’m a trending topic or something. I cannot stand social media.’

‘Hardly! Oh come on, one of your sons has seen it! Really? How? I didn’t name you.

I didn’t even film you properly. Honestly, I thought things between us were, well, whatever.

’ Archie shook his head. ‘Do you not get this town? Everyone knows everything about everyone. You don’t know who is watching your stuff and I don’t want to be part of that. ’

‘I, err, right, you’re annoyed.’

‘Whoever recognised me in that beer tent saw enough. I had someone from work ask me if I was moonlighting as an influencer's toyboy. All banter, of course. I don’t like it.’

Darby flushed. ‘That’s not fair! I am not even an influencer.’

‘Whatever.’

Darby felt as if she was going to bawl. Her voice came out very small. ‘I thought you liked me.’

‘I did.’

‘Right.’

Archie shook his head, as if to clear it. ‘I didn’t sign up to be a segment in a show, and yep, I am not happy. Very much not happy.’

‘It’s not like that! I didn’t think anyone would recognise you or that you would be annoyed. Ahhh!’

‘No, you weren’t thinking. That’s my point.’

‘So now what? I thought, well, I thought this was different.’

‘I’ll have a think.’

Darb’s hackles stood up on end. She wasn’t having that. ‘Oh, please. What? You’ll have a think? Do I wait for you as you think? How long do you want me to hang around while you think? Or what happens?’

Archie narrowed his eyes. ‘I couldn’t give a stuff.’

‘You’re totally overreacting! It’s one blurred video.’

‘That’s not the point. I don’t do social media and I don’t want to.’

Darby shook her head. ‘You’ve said.’

‘Let’s just leave it.’

Darby rolled her eyes. ‘You know what? Yes, let’s. Let me know when you’ve climbed down off that high horse of yours.’

Archie tutted and started to walk away. ‘Don’t hold your breath.’

Darby stood in the laneway for a minute, not sure what to do. The drop from Cloud Nine with a huge bump wasn’t a pleasant one.