Page 14 of My Darling Mayhem

"Nice of you to join us," Archer leaned over and whispered so only I could hear.

I snarked back as I reached for my book and started prepping it for reading. "How are you even here? Don't they do background checks?"

His eyes snapped over, and instead of humor, there was more mirth—more of what I'd caused last week when I offended him by commenting on his club. My heart felt a little jolt of regret, remembering my peace offering and how I'd wanted to mend fences.

He started reading and kept the children's attention by animating voices and changing the tone of his voice for certain characters. Listening to him read was enchanting in a way. His little brother was completely enraptured by him and clung to every word he spoke. When it was my turn to read the same story but in Spanish, all the kids turned to watch me.

I expected Archer to leave or hang out in his chair, but he shocked me by moving to the floor to sit beside his brother. Knees up, his arms around his legs, and those sharp blue eyes entirely focused on me.

Inhaling a sharp breath, I started reading through the text, doing the best I could to animate my voice like Archer had, but my nerves made my voice rattle a bit. It also didn't help that my brain kept focusing on Archer's intense gaze and how his jaw looked today. It looked the same as it did the other day, but forsome reason, after a whole weekend of not seeing him, it was as though my brain wanted to examine it.

Finally, my face felt pink once I was finished, and my stomach was knotted up. Cruz ran to me and threw his arms around my neck.

"Buena mamá," Cruz said excitedly, settling some of those nerves in my gut. My son was learning Spanish, and it was beautiful. It was not perfect, but he could say "good," and Mom, that was huge.

I squeezed him to my chest, which made him giggle before I released him. "Let's go, bud. Your teacher said I could take you early."

"Okay, I'll go grab my backpack." He ran off, and I stood, putting the book back and aptly ignoring how Archer was still in the area with his brother.

Cruz ran back toward me but stalled near his deskmate, Kane.

"Did you get our pie?"

Ohmygod. My feet shifted faster than my brain, causing me to nearly trip on the carpet to stop my son from telling my neighbor about our peace pie.

Archer's eyebrows shot up, staring down at my son. "Pie?"

"My mom made it for you. We walked it over two days before yesterday." His head tilted until his eyes found mine. "That's how you say it, right, Mom?"

My face was on fire, and I avoided Archer's gaze while grabbing Cruz's hand. "Yep. We better go, say bye."

Archer moved with us. "Wait, you made pie?"

Cruz halted, turning back toward him. "As a welcome gift, it was cherry. You weren't home, so Mom left it on your porch."

Earth, please open and swallow me.

I felt my neighbor's gaze but kept mine on my phone, shoes, and walls. Anything but him.

Finally, Archer crouched down to be at eye level with my son. "Did you help make it?"

Cruz nodded. "Mom, let me stir the cherry sauce and add sugar."

Archer clicked his tongue. "Well, I'm super bummed I missed out on it. I love pie. Especially cherry pie. Thank you so much for thinking of me. It was very thoughtful."

I felt he was trying to communicate with me by saying everything to Cruz, but I couldn't be sure.

"You're welcome, but you should thank my mom. She's the one whose idea it was."

Archer stood, and my eyes finally lost the battle of avoiding him. He gave me a smile, and then his lips moved. "Thanks, Wren."

"It was nothing…just a way of saying welcome to our neighborhood. I do it for everyone."

His eyes narrowed as if he knew I was lying, but before he could say anything else, Mrs. G. called the kids who weren't returning to their seats. I left with Cruz without another glance behind me or to see if my neighbor was on our heels.

FIVE

WREN

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