When dessert arrived, Archie cut a look to me. “We’re boring the hell out of you, aren’t we?”
“Not boring me so much as worrying me.”
He raised his eyebrows, and for a moment, we were back in the car again and he said those three words that had rattled around me as he kissed me and buoyed me through most of this meal.
“How so, babe?”
“It’s your birthday, and Eddie makes you miserable. I’d rather you were having fun.” Try as I might, I couldn’t help a bit of a reproachful look at Ted. “You two are together again, surely there’s something else fun you can talk about.”
The two men shared a look, then they both chuckled. Lifting his wine glass, Ted said, “I told you she was a keeper. She lasted about as long as Mary did when my father and I had this debate.”
“Excuse me?”
Archie covered my hand. “Grandpa likes to test people.” There was a glimmer of apology in his eyes. “If you haven’t noticed, my family is filled with hard heads and stubbornness.”
“No?” I deadpanned. “Really?”
Chortling, Ted dabbed at his mouth with his napkin before setting it aside. “Blame me, pretty girl, not Sprout. I did this to Muriel and she failed it abysmally, but Junior wouldn’t listen to me. Thank God for that now, though then I was pretty cross.” He lifted his chin. “Don’t get me wrong, Muriel was a good woman, and she gave us Archie here. But she and Junior were ill-suited from the beginning. You’re good for Archie. You look out for him, but you’re also trying to support him. I see him doing the same thing for you.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “He’s one of my best friends,” I finally said. “I’d pretty much do anything for him.”
“Ditto, babe,” Archie replied, dropping a kiss to my bare shoulder before he pressed a kiss to my ear and whispered, “Just another reason I love you.”
Shivers chased up my spine. It was one thing when he said it in the heat of the moment over the song in the car. This was different.
“It’s a good thing. Hold on to that. But enough with the business talk. I heard there are congratulations in order for you.”
Archie grinned. “I told him about your acceptance letters…and mine.”
“Yours?” I gaped. “You didn’t tell me about yours.”
He ducked his head a little as he twisted his glass on the table. “Mine aren’t anywhere near as amazing as yours. Really, they aren’t.”
Before I could argue, the waitress returned with a cake topped by lit candles along with a host of the other servers. They sang a beautiful a cappella version of a birthday song as they set the cake in front of him. Archie blew out the candles as they applauded and squeezed my hand. When he turned to me and slanted his mouth across mine, I sank into the feverish kiss, half-forgetting we even had an audience.
Soft chuckles popped the bubble around us, and Archie lifted his head with a smile. Heat rushed to my face, but I didn’t really care so much. It wasn’t long until we had slices of tiramisu cake in front of each of us.
“Don’t tell Jeremy,” I admitted two bites in. “But this is amazing.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” Archie told me with a wink.
“Okay, now spill. Tell me where you got in.” My stomach knotted. I was over the moon that Jake had gotten accepted to the same schools I had so far. We still had more to hear from. Coop hadn’t gotten his letters, and neither had Ian. But that didn’t mean they weren’t coming. Maybe they got them today, and we just hadn’t heard yet.
“It’s really not a big deal, babe,” Archie said, cutting into his cake.
“How can you say it’s not a big deal?”
“Because he’s a legacy,” Ted said bluntly. “And he has money. Most schools are going to leap at a chance to take him, thinking it will get them endowment money from the family.”
“Which it probably will,” Archie admitted. “You getting in is way more interesting to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re important to me.”
“Sprout just means you getting in is a reflection of your hard work and merit, Frankie-girl. He’s very proud of you.”
“Well, I’m proud of him, too.” Pointing my fork at Archie, I said, “So tell me. I want to know.”
“NYU,” he admitted. “Fordham. MIT. Harvard.” He ticked them off one after another, and when he got to the last two, pride surged through me. I dropped the fork to turn and hug him. He wrapped his arms around me.