Page 20 of Terms Of Un-Endearment
“What’s this?” Archie opens my sketchbook I left on the table.
I jump up and yank it away from him. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? That was a big reaction for nothing.” He laughs and bites into his toast.
I close my book and sit back down. “Yeah,” I snort. “I may have over-reacted. Sorry. It’s just some ideas I’ve been playing with.”
“Ideas?” He tips his head, reminding me of a curious puppy with overgrown red hair framing his big green eyes.
I have an irritating weakness for puppies.
“For my own designs. They’re still pretty rough.” I poke at my eggs, avoiding any teasing that may be in his eyes.
“Your own designs? So not for Valente?” His genuine interest draws my gaze to his.
“If they hire me after the internship, maybe…” I glance away, then take a risk sharing my secret. “But I’d rather put them out under my own name.”
I keep thinking about Archie sharing a bit of his own insecurity yesterday. He gave me an insider’s view of his life. I guess I can give him a peek at mine.
His eyebrows arch into his shaggy bangs as he studies me. “You’ve got things figured out, don’t you?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Good on ya’, Piper. I can’t wait to brag that I was the bloke who made Piper Quinn’s life miserable before she wasthePiper Quinn.”
I laugh. “Don’t hold your breath. That’s years down the road…if I’m lucky.”
Archie smiles and shrugs. He opens his mouth, but whatever he’s about to say gets lost in the sound of the Darth Vader song fromStar Wars.Bom bom-ba-bom, bom-ba-bom.That one. Where the bad guy marches into the picture, all evil and heavy-breathy.
Archie swears under his breath and takes his phone from his pocket.
“It’s Dad. I’d better take it.”
He goes out the back door before answering, leaving me giggling over the ringtone he’s chosen for Malcolm. I had no idea Archie could do subversive, but he’s on point with that sound.
But it also makes me wonder if he doesn’t worship Malcolm the way he used to.
If that’s the case, I feel bad for Archie.
I understand exactly how it feels to lose faith in a parent—Malcolm, in particular.
Chapter 9
Piper
While Archie is outside, I pick at my eggs and open my sketchbook. I’ve missed my window for watching the sky change from a hazy gray to bright blue while sipping coffee on the patio, but I’ll take my sketchbook out there once he’s done talking to Malcolm.
He’s left the sliding glass door slightly open, and while I can’t hear all of Archie’s words, I hear his tone. There’s a careful, pleading vibe to it that makes me even more sympathetic to Archie. Malcolm is a master of manipulation and control. I shouldn’t be surprised that he uses both with Archie, who suddenly sounds like a little kid.
When Malcolm and Mom first got married, Malcolm made a big deal about being my “dad.” He showered me with praise and gifts in front of Archie and Frankie—especially Frankie. He’d say things like, “You’re the daughter I’ve always wanted” And “You’re the kind of daughter who would make any father proud.”
At the time, I loved the attention and thought he was teasing Frankie. Now I understand that he’d used me to hurt her. I wonder if Archie realized it before I did. Maybe that’s why he was so hard on me.
I would have hated me, too.
The dynamic between all of them is messed up, and I don’t want to be part of it again. I do miss Frankie, though. When I moved to New York, I just sort of stopped talking to her as much as I once had. Her life blew up around the time the divorce proceedings started, but I had every excuse I needed to forget about all the Forsythes, including Frankie.
I still feel bad, though, about not staying in touch with her.
Archie may not have been nice to me when our parents married, but Frankie stoked my obsession with fashion by taking me to thrift stores around LA, mostly along Melrose, but to some more obscure ones, too. Malcolm wouldn’t have cared if she’d taken me to the high-end stores on Rodeo Drive—in fact, he encouraged it—but Frankie insisted that buying vintage was cooler.
But what I really learned from her is that vintage wasn’t only cooler, it was also less wasteful. Her philosophy was to invest in something classic rather than a microtrend that would be gone in a few months. I credit her and those shopping trips for inspiring upcycled and repurposed clothing designs.
