Page 157 of Maple Mountain
“Okay?No push back?No telling me I’m being overly protective?”
“A thirteen-year-old boy drew her a bouquet of flowers on a bakery napkin.”I smirked at him.“What was that about her being thirty before she had a boyfriend?”
Archer groaned.“Yeah, but we’re in complete control of that.It’s just a childhood crush and they don’t even live in the same state.We’re having boys.No more girls.Girls are terrifying to raise.”
“Okay.”
“No, don’t do that.You just used the same tone that tells me you know something more than I do and you’re pretending to let me have my way, but really, you know better.”
“You do know it’s the sperm that chooses the sex of the baby, right?”I quipped.
Archer looked down at his crotch.“Boys, we gotta have a talk ...”
“And if I recall, you were something of a young stud.Weren’t you,Bandit?”
He looked up at me and blinked.“I’m screwed either way, aren’t I?”
“Well, technically I’m the one who’ll be screwed.”I flashed a grin.“But I think we can sort it out.”
The bedroom door hadn’t been closed all the way and Mildred’s snout appeared before her long noodle body.Lenni was right behind her.
“Hey.”She studied Archer.“You don’t look so good.Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he wheezed, finally collapsing onto the bed.
“Don’t worry about him,” I said.“He’s still a bit rattled from the talk he had with my father.”
“Rattled?I’m not rattled.”
“Right,” Lenni said with an arch of her brow.“I just got off the phone with Wyn’s dad.”
Archer sat up and peered at his daughter.“Why did he call you?”
She blinked.“For a character reference.Aboutyou.”
Archer flopped down onto the bed again.Mildred yipped.Lenni scooped her up and put her on the bed.She went to his side and snuggled against him.
“And Mildred just became Archer’s emotional support animal,” I said.
“How did he get your phone number?”Archer asked.
“Wyn gave it to him,” she said.“They’re coming out this summer, you know.Mr.Larsen said he’ll take me fishing.”
I waved her over.“Come see my progress.”
Lenni came to stand next to the sewing machine.I snipped the thread and held it up.
“It looks great,” she said.
“Show me,” Archer stated.
I turned it toward him.
“Is that?—”
“My old Aerosmith T-shirt,” I said with a nod.“It was one wash away from completely falling apart, but I didn’t want to throw it away.Now it’s been immortalized.”
“That’s pretty rad,” Archer said.
