“Justice…can you come over to the diner? I think someone’s trying to break in.”
“I’ll be right there. Call 911 after we hang up.”
Archie hadn’t followed my instructions, with good reason—at least to him. What I found when I arrived wasn’t an intruder, but rather the walkway around the back lined with candles and roses. At the end of it, shivering in no winter coat, only a tuxedo jacket two sizes too big worn with blue jeans and a bowtie at his neck as crooked as his smile, was Archie.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!”
“Archie…”
“I know you don’t love me that way…not yet. Maybe if I didn’t say things like that, if I didn’t say everything I think, you could.”
I pulled at my puffy jacket, frustration and other feelings that needed a release of some sort. “I’ve told you a hundred times, you don’t
