“Never thought I’d see the day you entered the wellness industry.” He pauses and offers me a half-smile. “This is nice, Arch. I’m impressed.”
“The industry is crowded, but not too crowded. Plus, wellness is exploding right now. It’s a wise investment. This one won’t be my last.”
“If Talia is responsible in any way, shape, or form for how nice this place looks, you’d better hire her for each one of them.” He arches one eyebrow when I rub my bottom lip in thought. I don’t know if I can hire her because I’m not sure she’ll be around to be hired. “I’m not trying to make you nervous, man,” my brother says, calling me on my shit. “But I recognize what it looks like to meet the woman who stops time.”
“You chased Vivian hard.”
He chuffs. “I had to. She wouldn’t stop running away.”
“You never could take a hint.”
He laughs before giving me the side-eye. “William liked Talia, you know. And Lainey loves her.”
“That’s new. Dad hasn’t liked any woman I’ve brought home. How do you know he liked her, anyway? He tell you?” I step around him and lead us to the wading pool. He follows. “Pool guy came out yesterday to fill it. We can’t swim for a few days, but there she is.”
Nate doesn’t let me change the subject. “He did tell me. Right after you dropped an F-bomb and stomped off the portico.”
“He had it coming.”
“You don’t know how good you got it, kid.”
I glare at my brother. I respect his opinion on my work, but I don’t like when he talks to me about how lucky I am. And I really don’t like it when he calls me “kid.”
My glare bounces off his hard jaw. “You have a dad who isn’t a piece of shit. Who didn’t sell your furniture out from under you because he had to get high one more time. I’m not trying to tell you I had it worse than you—”
“Really, because that’s what this is sounding like.” I bend and swish my hand in the water, simply to expel some of my agitated energy. “You had a shit childhood, and Will and Lainey found you and shined you up. You’re whole. Congratulations.”
“You know damn well I’m not the golden boy in this family.”
“No, that’s Benji.”
“That’s you, dumbass.”
I stand and shake the water off my hand, consider hitting Nate, and then reconsider. He’s taller than me by a few inches and wider by a few more. Not that I’d actually fight him. The last time we had a physical altercation was when he first came to live with us and borrowed my bike without asking. It ended with both of us grounded, and worse, we had to share a bedroom until we didn’t hate each other anymore. We reconciled fast.
“This isn’t about favorites.” He shakes his head. “You don’t understand because you’ve only had one dad, but Will’s a good one.” I open my mouth to argue, but Nate cuts me off. “He’s also wrong.”
That caught me off-guard. I snap my jaw shut.
“Nightclubs, night spas, hell…” He waves a hand like he’s trying to think of a third thing, and then he does. “Night gyms. You do what you love because you love it. It’s admirable. If Will wasn’t constantly trying to hew you into a perfect replica of himself, he’d see that too. You’re your own person, Archer. A damn good one.”
I swallow thickly, weirdly emotional after hearing such bald approval.
“What women have you brought home?” Nate asks.
“What are you talking about?”
“You said Dad hasn’t liked any woman you’ve brought home. Who have you brought home?”
“Monica. Jennifer. Leslie,” I rattle off, annoyed he can’t remember them.
He lets out a boom of a laugh that bounces off the walls. “The girls you dated in college?”
“Why’s that funny?”
“Because you dated them for about three and a half minutes each. You weren’t serious about them. They sure as fuck weren’t serious about you.”
“Thanks a lot.”