Page 64 of Archer
She stared at her red and white sneakers, her lips curved downward. “But… it’s all we have.”
“I know…” I gulped and I put my hand on her lower back to guide her out of the office and into the main area of the bakery. I could still smell bread that must have been baked that morning. “But please.” I paused in my step quickly to look her in the eye. “Trust me that… it’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.Wewill.”
A weak smile twitched on her face at the word “we” and she took a deep breath. “Fine. If… if you think it’s what we need to do, then… guess we’ll burn it down.”
I sighed with relief, and immediately the gang took action. Clapping his hands together, Crow announced, “All right, Maverick, Ripper, Rooster. Wanna burn this place down?”
“Haven’t done that yet,” Maverick said from the corner. “Why not?”
“Come on, I think I’ve got gasoline in the van.”
Just then, the bell chimed to the entrance. With her back facing the door, Rose’s face looked horrified at the intruder, but I gave a friendly wave. “Hey, Vet.”
“Oh my god,” she said, looking at Ron, paling immediately. “I can’t help him. He needs a doctor.”
“Don’t worry, we know,” Wrench said, speaking much more tenderly to Samantha than he ever did to us. “But… can you take him?”
“Oh. God, yeah, no problem,” she said and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. “So glad you’re okay, baby.”
“Told you so,” he said, and kissed her lips. Watching them made me feel the need to be alone with Rose, but there was so much going on. I couldn’t just pull her away for a minute to talk in private.
“Wrench, you and Rooster load him up. Go with Samantha to the hospital. We’ll take over from here.”
“Dad,” Rose said, rushing over to her father. A couple of tears welled in her eyes as he squeezed his hand lightly in hers, whispering, “I’ll see you soon. I love you.”
Wrench and Rooster hauled him away, and I watched Samantha smile at Rose. “He’ll be okay. Trust me. Are you Rose?”
Rose nodded.
“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you. Apparently, this guy won’t shut up about you,” she winked at Archer and held out her hand to Rose. “I’m Samantha. Pretty wild world, huh?”
“Y-yeah,” she said, and I found it adorable how nervous she looked, shaking Samantha’s hand. It was probably her first time in alongtime that she interacted with a girl her own age.
“It’ll be nice having another girl around,” Samantha said, and Rose beamed, her eyes lighting up.
“Yeah.” She repeated the same thing throughout the conversation, but eyes showed more emotion than her words did right then. Rose had a friend.
“Samantha, we’re good to go,” Wrench called from outside and Samantha quickly said her farewell.
“Let’s grab a drink sometime,” she said. “See you guys, good luck with everything.”
On her way out the door, Crow almost knocked her over with two jerry cans of gasoline in his hands. Giving her a small nod, he said, “Vet.”
“Crow,” she said as she jumped into the van, the engine rumbling soon after.
There was an eerie silence that took over the bakery until in a dark voice, Tank said, “Things are going to get a lot worse from here.”
“Meddling in the Freeways business, they’re going to be after us now. No more peace.” Tank said, then noticed Rose’s dejected face. “But it was for a good cause.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
“All right,” Tank said. “Let’s get this over with. Er, Archer.” He glanced at me. “If you wanna keep an eye on her out here while we get ready, you can. Shouldn’t take long.”
My heart quickened, knowing I’d finally get my time alone with Rose. “Sure.”
Chapter Thirty
Rose
