Rock Bottom (Dawson Family 6)

“I can’t even imagine walking in on that.”

“I can’t either. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I lack boundaries and overshare, so I am, but I never liked his ex-wife. I’m not happy with how things ended, but I think he’s better off without her because I never thought they were meant to be. Archer agrees, though he’ll never admit that to Dean.”

“So Dr. Jones—Archer—is Dean’s friend?” I ask, trying to piece the little info I have together.

Quinn nods. “Yes. They were college roommates, and I had a huge crush on Archer throughout all my teen years. Blah, blah, blah, we finally hooked up, I got pregnant, and we’ve been happily married since.”

“You do overshare,” I laugh.

“I like to think it’s one of my better qualities.”

The SUV bumps along the road, and Quinn slows as we drive over another snow drift.

“Your brother, Sam, is nice,” Quinn says after a minute of silence. “I’ve met him a few times.”

“He went to your wedding,” I say, remembering Sam’s relentless teasing about going to Disney World to be a groomsman in his friend’s wedding.

And Dean mentioned his sister got married at Disney World.

I don’t know how I didn’t put the two together, though it’s not exactly like I was looking to follow the trail of breadcrumbs even if it was laid out in front of me.

Though now that it is, I’m thinking I should look for a new job in another new state. On the other side of the country. Because I keep messing things up, getting tangled in webs of drama I desperately want to avoid.

“Archer was excited when he took that job in Chicago.” We slow to a stop and both grimace, watching a teen driver slide through the intersection in a minivan. “I still go to Chicago a few times a month for work.”

“What do you do?”

“Simply put, I develop software.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“I love it. I left a big company a few years ago to start up something with friends. Right now, we’re working on creating robots.”

“Like robots that could potentially take over the world?”

Quinn laughs. “If they do, I’ll be able to control them. I’ll give you the cheat codes too.”

“Thanks,” I laugh. “I went through a phase where I was sure the world was going to end and made it my mission to learn all the survival skills I could, but controlling world-dominating robots wasn’t something they taught us in prepper-camp.”

“That’s a real thing?”

“It is,” I laugh. “I still feel like completing a week of it is one of my proudest accomplishments. Not graduating nursing school with honors or the lives I’ve saved using CPR, but surviving a week in the woods shooting zombie-targets with a bow and arrow.”

“Okay, but that is pretty badass.” She takes her eyes off the road for a second to look at me. “I had a panic room put in our house in case something like that happened. Though now I’m realizing I didn’t think it through since I’m pretty sure my house is haunted.”

“Ohhhh, I love haunted stuff! What’s going on in your house?”

“Just weird noises and creepy feelings. I set up thermal cameras and am just waiting for evidence now. You believe in ghosts?”

“I do. I was a junior ghost hunter with a local ghost-hunting group in my youth.” Amber McMillan called me Spooky Rory that year, which was stupid. If you’re going to give me a mean name, at least make it rhyme or have some cool alliteration.

“That’s awesome! Maybe I should start one here in Eastwood. You’d have to join, of course.”

“I’d love that.” I twist my hands in my lap, almost hating how much I like Dean’s sister. She shouldn’t be this awkward and cool at the same time.

I shouldn’t want to hang out with her after Dean made it clear he didn’t have any interest in seeing me again, which is fine. Fair. I didn’t expect to see him again either.

And by tomorrow those feelings I thought were real will fade away, I’m sure. Or at least I hope.Chapter 15Dean“I think you’re blowing this way out of proportion,” Quinn says, picking Aiden out of the highchair. All three kids had a meltdown after she left, crying for Mommy, and I couldn’t leave Archer alone to deal with that.

They were meeting Weston and Scarlet here for a late breakfast, and they showed up before I had a chance to run out of here. And now that Quinn is back, everyone knows how last night unfolded.

“She gave you a fake name at a bar.” She sits back down, and Aiden snuggles up with her. “Do you want to know how many times I gave fake names to guys at bars?”

“No,” Weston and I say at the same time.

Archer turns to her. “I do.”

“Like once,” she says. “I didn’t go out much.”