“That nurse won’t leave me the hell alone.”
I sighed. “Pops, we’ve been over this. You have to take your meds.”
“I did. She says I’m lying.”
“Did you hide them under your pillow again?”
He paused. “How’d you know about that?”
“Because I knowyou. You’ll get no sympathy from me. She’s just trying to do her job, okay? Don’t make it harder than it has to be. She’s there to help.”
“I thoughtyouwere going to help.”
Guilt shredded my insides. “Hiring herismy way of helping right now. Until we can get you moved in, I still have to work. Someone has to fund our lavish lifestyle.”
He snorted. “Lavish, my ass. Tell me the last time you bought yourself anything.”
“I bought groceries yesterday. That’s as big of a splurge as you can get right now.” I shuffled the stack of papers to the side and tried to ignore Archer as he sat silently in the chair pressed against the wall ofmy tiny office. God, he made that thing look half its size, with his legs spread out and his arms crossed over his wide chest.
“Can I still watch my show when she leaves?”
“Yes. I’ll be over later to get you some dinner and do the laundry she can’t get finished, all right? Gavin has soccer practice, so I’ll have about an hour at your place while he’s there.”
“Okay. Love you, bug.”
Allowing Archer this glimpse into my life made me want to crawl under my desk. It seemed like he knew it, too, because he kept that knowing gaze leveled at my face.
“Love you, too, Pops. Go take your meds,” I added, just before he hung up.
“He gets to call you a nickname?”
My glare was unavoidable. “He’s my grandfather, and I likehim. Did you get the yard cleaned up?”
“How much do you feed these dogs? Or did you plant some extra shit just before I got here?”
“Oh, Archer. I’m thrilled you think I have that kind of foresight. Alas, they just poop a lot.” I smiled. “Lucky for you. You’ll be a pro by the end of your time here.”
He shifted in his seat, widening the spread of his legs. “Can I do a few long days here and get this over with?”
I shuffled some papers into a neat pile. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want you disrupting as little as possible while you’re here. This isn’t a circus, where people can come gawk at the sideshow. We’re trying to run a rescue, and I don’t need your dwindling fan club lining up for autographs.”
Archer expelled a sharp punch of air. “‘Dwindling fan club,’” he said quietly. “I’ve still got a few.”
“Less than you did last week, I promise.”
His jaw tightened, but when he looked away, I felt a sharp twist of victory. It was short-lived, though, thinking about Gavin’s face when he’d brought the jersey into my bedroom.
“Fine. I work out early right now. I’m done working with my QB coach by nine.”
“No practices or anything?”
“Not yet. We start OTAs at the end of the month, so I’d like to be done by then. Everything until then is voluntary.”
I sighed. “I don’t know what OTAs are, but fine.”