“Of course he’s coming back, love. Did he not tell you that?” If he hadn’t reassured her of that before he left…
“Archer, he wants me to move in with him. Before he left, he said he wanted me to move back to his home. With him. That he wouldn’t be leaving again without me with him. I…I…”
Holy shit. He could feel her panic from here. What was Issy thinking, laying that on her right before he left?
Jesus Christ.
“Poppet, breathe. Just breathe. It’s all right. He doesn’t expect that right away. That was just Issy’s way of telling you how serious he is about you. How much you mean to him.”
“What if I want that too?”
“What?” Whoops. He hadn’t actually meant to say that.
“What if I want to be with him. He’s only been gone half a day and already I miss him like crazy. I feel so lost. First you left, now him. I don’t know if I can be here on my own anymore. But it’s too soon, right? And what about Dave? How am I meant to leave here? Leave Dave? Leave it all? Archer, I…”
He heard her sniffle.
“Poppet, listen to me. It’s all right to have doubts. It’s okay to feel conflicted.”
“Is it? I feel like I’m being torn apart. To choose one option seems to disrespect how much I loved Dave. But to choose the other option, to not have Issy in my life, I’m not sure I can do that, Archer.”
“Because you love him.” He felt so happy for his brother. Yet at the same time, it was like his heart was breaking.
“I love him,” she said the words on an amazed breath. “It’s too early to feel that.”
“Nobody says there has to be a certain timeframe in which you fall in love.”
“Everyone says that. Everyone has an opinion.”
And she had experienced firsthand how much people’s opinions could hurt.
“Well, fuck them,” he said.
She drew in a breath. “Archer, you swore. First you yelled, then you swore. Are you sure you’re all right?”
He ran his hand over his face. “I’m fine, poppet. I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” she said quietly. “I’m scared, Archer. It’s not just letting go of Dave. It’s leaving here. It’s my safe place. It’s scary out there. I’m such a coward.”
“You are not a coward,” he said fiercely. “And I do not want to hear you call yourself that again, understand me?”
“O-okay.”
“You have every right to be scared after what you’ve been through. It’s understandable that you would be worried about leaving your home. It’s what is familiar to you. But, baby, you have to know that Isaac is not going to let anything happen to you.”
“He can’t be there to always protect me.”
“Not always, no. But it isn’t often that he leaves the ranch. And everyone on the ranch will be there to watch out for you.”
“But what if…what if they don’t like me or who I am?”
He was struck silent for a moment. “Has Issy not explained about Sanctuary?”
“Explained what? How most of the people who work for JSI live there?”
“That’s it?”
“Uhh, yes.”