Bound to Be His (The Archer Family Book 2) by Allison Gatta Page B

sipping her coffee. On the glossy page in her hand, his own image smiled back up at him.
    "So you're obsessed with me?" he asked. "You missed me so much you had to read about me while I was gone?"
    "You caught me." She rolled her eyes, the faintest hint of a smile tinting her lips. "I just can't get enough."
    "Who could blame you?"
    "Nobody reading this." She lifted up the magazine. "This interview is incredible. The best you've ever done."
    He shrugged. "I was just my normal charming self."
    "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She grinned.
    At that grin, he faltered. There it was again, that sincerity. That affection.
    And seeing it, he knew what he had to do.
    "Hey, you wanna come with me on a little trip?" he asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant despite the sudden pounding of his heart.
    "Sure. Where we going?"
    "It's a surprise," he said, and to his surprise, she didn't bother asking any follow-up questions. Maybe the slight edge in his voice told her all she needed to know. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for it.
    When they were in the car, he blasted his music, and she didn't touch the knob. He glanced at her, but when he saw her mouth moving, miming every word to the Aerosmith song, all he could do was smile. When the song wound to a close, he checked the time and then pulled into the parking lot of a tiny, tropical park.
    Underneath a massive group of palm trees, there was a playset complete with swings and a slide, some bouncing horses, and a set of monkey bars. And there, on the monkey bars, was a little girl with dirty blonde hair, swinging back and forth while a woman with the same dark blonde mane cheered her on.
    He cut the engine and then sat there, staring at the pair while Shay glanced from the woman to Matt and back again.
    "You had an urge to hit the swing set?" she asked.
    "That's my mother," he answered simply, and then tilted his head to the woman.
    "That's …” Shay stared after her, and Matt took in every detail along with her.
    He remembered the first time he'd seen her, too. Remembered how shocked he'd been at how normal she looked. She wasn't some drum-banging hippy or strung-out smoker. She wasn't thin, but she wasn't fat either. She wore a ponytail and tennis shoes. Jeans and a T-shirt.
    In short, she looked like a mom. And now she was one. For real this time.
    "And that's…?" Shay said, but he knew the end to the question.
    "My half-sister." Matt nodded. "Yep, they call her Jay. Her name is Jacqueline."
    "And you know all this because…."
    "She asked me to meet them here once—when I was here on tour with the team. She had both the kids with her that day. There's a boy, too. His name is Nick."
    Shay let the silence hang between them, so Matt went on. "I never ended up walking over to them, but I watched. Just for a little while. To see what she was like."
    "Right," Shay whispered.
    "So, when I didn't show, she wrote me another letter letting me know that they came here every Sunday afternoon and that she knew it would be hard, but she'd love to see me. That was that."
    "That was that," Shay repeated.
    The whole time he'd been speaking, she stared at the woman in front of them with no attempt at hiding the stare. Maybe she was shocked by how normal she was, too.
    "The twins are nine now," he added. "They seem like good kids."
    As he said it, the little girl dropped from the bars and ran toward her mother, her arms outstretched.
    "I'm glad that they have this. I always…well, I always sort of wondered what it would be like. Having a mother." He watched as Jay enveloped her mother in a hug. "I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I see how nice Jay's clothes are or how well she's dressed and I get angry. I wish Andy had had that. A mother. Someone to look after her."
    "And what about you?" Shay asked.
    He shrugged. "I had my dad."
    Shay was quiet, her mouth contorted strangely for a minute before her impassive expression returned.
    Shit, he thought.
    "Sorry. I know..." he tried, but he