Page 26 of Deja New
“It’s basically the same thing,” he protested. To his credit, he wasn’t whining. Much.
“Do you not understand basic physics?”
“He doesn’t,” Jack stage-whispered.
Leah made a sound Angela couldn’t place at first: the combination of a yelp, a giggle, and a shriek of rage, all while simultaneously grinding her teeth. “How are moving and stopping the same instead of being, oh, I don’t know,total opposites?”
“This really isn’t a big deal.”
Oh-ho. Rookie mistake, Arch.Heck, even Jack knew that, and he was in high school.
“Do not presume to tell me that flagrantly frequently flouting the law—”
Flagrantly frequently flouting, can she say that three times fast? I can’t eventhinkit three times fast. Fragrant flou— Nope. Not even once.
“—is not a big deal. Especially given what we’ve been up to today. We just got back from seeing your severely incarcerated father and your go-to move once we left was to break the law? How did I miss the fact that the father of my child has a criminal mind?”
“I don’t know,” Archer admitted. “I did help you kill a guy, remember. After your dead mom hired me to spy on you.”
Argh, don’t bring that up! I warned the Horde not to ever bring that up!
“It’s been his go-to for years,” Jack broke in, possibly to shift the subject away from murder, or to stick it to Archer. Though there was no reason it had to be one or the other. “You know he did that the day after he passed his driver’s test, right? Think about that for a second: The guy didn’t even have the laminated license yet, yet his thirst to flout the law wasthatstrong. Tragic.”
Leah jabbed a finger in the boy’s direction. “This brother or cousin of yours is helpful and makes a great point!”
“I have a name,” Jack huffed. “It’s Arianna Kissmybutt. The second ‘t’ is silent.”
“Get bent, Arianna,” Archer snapped.
“Whoa! Do you kiss my mother with that mouth?”
Archer turned back to his fire-breathing fiancée. “Leah, you’re acting like you’ve never been in a car with me before.”
“Ha! I wish. And putting up with something isn’t the same as condoning it.”
“Those two things? Are exactly the same thing,” Jack pointed out.
“Jack, enough,” Angela muttered. “This is not the time to instigate loved ones into a full-blown WWE wrestling match.”
“That’snevertrue, cuz. Particularly now. It’s the perfect time.”
“I’m telling you right now, Archer Asshat*Drake, I’m not tolerating your— Oh shit!”
Wow! So irked she can’t even finish sentences now! She just randomly swears. Jack was right: Ishouldbe filming this.
Leah had frozen in place, then looked down and grabbed her belly with both hands like she was trying to tickle herself. When she looked up, she looked astonished and thrilled and afraid. “There it is again! I felt her, she’s kicking!”
“You can tell it’s a foot?” Archer managed to look impressed and puzzled at the same time.
“Well, kicking or punching. It sounds malevolent if it’s a punch, though, so I’m not sure that’s fair.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘again’?”
“I didn’t know for sure the first time,” Leah replied defensively. “I’d just had alotof ginger ale. I didn’t want to jump the gun.”
Ginger ale = maybe not a kicking or punching baby. Got it.
“In that case, I’m thrilled you’re temporarily gas-free.” Archer reached out and pulled Leah to him, which was tricky since she was still frozen in the act of tickling herself and she’d set her feet.
