Page 61 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

This was why he never drank tequila.

‘Don’t worry,’ she went on. ‘I didn’t take any liberties.’

‘Liberties? With me?’ He couldn’t help his smile. At the moment, he was feeling like she could take whatever she wanted from him. ‘I thought you didn’t remember what happened.’

‘It’s coming back to me.’

He waited for her to elaborate, but she just added, ‘I get snuggly when I’m drunk.’

‘I think you might be the only person on earth with that drunken trait.’

‘Probably.’

‘Are you wearing my T-shirt?’

Iris smiled sheepishly. ‘I got syrup on mine.’

There was no reason to point out that she had a room full of clothes right across the hall. They obviously had not been thinking clearly last night. And besides, she looked so damn good in his T-shirt, his resolve to not kiss her was weakening. Would it really affect Olive all that much if he did? Would she even need to know about it? Parents kept stuff from their children all the time.

Iris yawned dramatically. ‘You wake up so early.’

‘I know. This used to be when I went to bed.’

Her face was tender when she looked down at where he was still lying in the pillows. His life was upside down, but he was feeling less and less bad about it.

‘Iris?’

‘Yeah?’

‘I had a fun night.’

Her smile grew, lighting up the dim room. ‘Me too.’

And then she leaned down and kissed him, soft and sweet on the cheek. It took all of his strength, every ounce of ‘trying so hard to be a good dad and not fuck up his kid’s life’ to not pull her down on top of him.

She was rightthere…

‘Dad!’ At the sound of Olive’s voice outside his bedroom door, Archer had three immediate thoughts: One: she’d called himDad! Two: was she hurt/sick/scared or some combination of the three? Three: what the hell would happen if she found Iris in here?

Iris for her part was frozen halfway between kissing him and sitting up, her eyes wide and terrified like they were about to get busted by the feds or something.

‘What do we do?’ she hissed.

‘I don’t know,’ he whispered back.

‘Dad?’ Olive called again.

‘Be right there!’ he croaked.

‘Where’s Iris?’ she asked through the door.

Iris winced. ‘Oh God. She knows! She knows! What do we do?!’ she whispered, and jumped off the bed, looking around the room frantically for a place to hide.

Archer got up and grabbed her by the shoulders. ‘Calm down. She doesn’t know anything,’ he whispered back.

Iris nodded, but still looked like she was ready to jump out the window. So apparently, her head was not in the same place as his. Iris did not wake up this morning picturing a cozy life together. Of course she hadn’t.

This was just a job.