Chapter Thirty-Six
A few days later, Iris somehow found herself at the monthly meeting of the Dream Harbor Book Club. Well, actually, she knew how she got there. Isabel had come over and physically lifted her from the couch and insisted that she get out of the house and now here she was listening to Linda and Kaori debate the appeal of ‘the single-dad trope’.
The single-dad trope.
Somebody kill her now.
‘Sorry!’ Isabel mouthed from across the circle. She apparently hadn’t had time to read this month’s book and had no idea it featured a sexy single dad.
‘I don’t know, I still don’t see the appeal,’ Linda said, leaning back in her seat. They were in mismatched chairs in their usual corner of The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore. It wasn’t a Sunday so there were no actual cinnamon buns to be found but Iris would swear the whole place smelled like cinnamon sugar and she could really go for a gooey treat right now.
‘Kids aren’t sexy. I really don’t need them in my romance novels,’ Linda went on.
‘Agreed,’ Nancy said with a nod, and if Iris was a retired kindergarten teacher she probably wouldn’t want kids popping up in her romance novels either.
‘Yeah, but there’s something about the juxtaposition of a strong, masculine man cradling a baby in his arms that just does something for me,’ Kaori argued.
Isabel and Jacob practically purred in agreement and then burst out laughing.
And now Iris had the very unhelpful image of Archer holding a baby flashing through her mind. Seeing him hug Olive was bad enough, but what would he look like rocking a baby? Their baby.
Okay, maybe she understood the appeal.
‘What do you think, Iris?’ Jeanie asked, turning toward her, and the whole group followed suit. She hadn’t told anyone else about the pregnancy, but if anyone could figure it out it was this crew. Iris felt their stares boring through her.
‘I … uh … I didn’t read the book.’
Jeanie smiled. ‘That’s okay. I was just wondering in general if you like kids in romance novels.’
‘I personally don’t think a baby epilogue is required for a happy ending,’ Isabel chimed in in a valiant attempt to save her.
‘That’s different than the single-dad trope, though, don’t you think?’ Jeanie asked, pulling her gaze back to Isabel and Iris breathed a little sigh of relief.
‘True,’ Isabel agreed. ‘The baby epilogue implies a couple can only be happy if they bring a baby into the mix, whereas the single-dad trope is more about a hero who is nurturing.’
‘Unless we throw breeding kink into the mix,’ Jacob said with a grin.
‘Oh God, breeding kink has way too much semen talk for me!’ Kaori nearly shouted and Hazel’s head shot up from where she was working behind the counter.
‘Guys, please, keep it down,’ she whispered, wide eyed. ‘There are kids here!’
‘And how do you think they got here, Hazel?’ Jacob asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. ‘Semen,’ he stage-whispered, and the book club cackled in delight. And Iris knew she was safe. This meeting had officially gone off the rails. But as she sat back in her worn out armchair, pulling another saltine cracker from her bag, she noticed Nancy and Linda watching her with knowing smiles.
She felt the panic rising in her chest. She hadn’t made up her mind yet. She hadn’t told Archer anything. She couldn’t have the whole town knowing her secret.
But Nancy just held a finger to her lips and tipped her head in a silent nod. A promise to keep her secret safe.
Iris mouthed a silent ‘Thank you,’ and the older woman just smiled in return. She was safe for another day, but who was she kidding, walking around with a sleeve of saltines was a dead giveaway! This town would sniff out her pregnancy in no time and then what? Archer couldn’t hear about this from anyone but her, that much was true.
She just…
A familiar head bobbing by the book display in the front window stopped Iris’s thoughts in their tracks. Olive. And Archer was right beside her. And they were coming into the bookstore. Now.
Iris skittered from her seat and hid behind the closest bookshelf before they entered the shop.
‘Olive!’ The book club halted their bodily fluids discussion to greet Olive as she skipped into the shop. Iris pulled a book from the shelf she was hiding behind so she could peek through. Olive held a gift bag in one hand and a giant cookie in the other. Her hair was up in lopsided pigtails, but her hair ties perfectly matched the shorts-and-tank-top set she was wearing. She looked adorable.
And it felt like a kick to Iris’s softest places.
Archer had done her hair. He’d picked out that outfit. He’d bought Olive that cookie. And Iris had missed all of it. She thought she would suffocate from the longing and that was before she made the mistake of looking up.
Archer.
She couldn’t breathe. She was going to die here in the self-help section. How ironic.
He still looked so damn good. His hair was messy, but his face was cleanly shaved. A tight white T-shirt hugged his biceps, and on his arm hung a canvas bag filled with wildflowers. They must have just come from the farmers’ market. It must be Archer’s day off. It must be summer vacation. So many little pieces of their life that she was missing. Missing, because she was hiding, because she was a coward. Afraid of loving this man and his little girl. Even though they clearly loved her. Even though her mother had never shied away from love, even if it didn’t last.
‘We brought you a gift!’ Olive said, reaching up to the counter to pass the gift bag to Hazel.
‘A gift?’
‘A wedding gift! My dad said you and Noah got married on your trip and he said that when people get married you get them a gift. So we did!’
Hazel came around the counter to give Olive a hug and Iris’s arms ached with the memory of holding the little girl.
‘Thank you so much. That’s very sweet.’
‘We were going to bring it over later, but Olive really wanted to give it to you now,’ Archer said, his voice low and familiar. It was the first time Iris had heard it in weeks and it burrowed into her heart and she never wanted it to leave. She wanted to hear it every day. She’d been so foolish.
‘And Dad said I can get a new book!’ Olive said, racing off between the aisles.
‘One book!’ he called after her.
Hazel laughed. ‘Good luck with that.’
He gave her a rueful smile and then turned and noticed the entire book club was still staring at him. Iris held her breath, praying they wouldn’t say anything about her being there.
‘Uh … hello, everyone.’
‘Hi Archer,’ the group said in unison.
He blinked. ‘Right. Okay, well…’ he pointed in the direction Olive had disappeared like he planned on following her, but Kaori stopped him with a question.
‘How’s that new nanny working out?’
Oh God, did this store have an emergency exit so she could crawl out right now?
Iris watched Archer swallow, watched his Adam's apple bob above his shirt collar, remembering the way his T-shirts smelled, how soft they were against her skin.
‘The new nanny is good, thanks.’
Good.
Fine.
It was good that the new nanny was good.
But was he Iris good?
‘It’s too bad it didn’t work out with Iris,’ Kaori continued, and Iris made a mental note to murder her later.
Archer winced. ‘Yeah, it is too bad.’ He opened his mouth as if he was going to say more and Iris wished he would say more, if only so she could hear his voice for another minute. He turned to walk down the children’s book aisle but then stopped and turned back around. The book club waited.
‘Have you seen her lately?’ he asked. ‘Iris, I mean. Is she…’ he shook his head like he was being ridiculous. ‘Is she okay?’
To their credit, not a single book-club member glanced toward the shelf she was hiding behind. But still Iris was scared of what they were about to say.
‘You should probably ask her yourself,’ Isabel said.
Traitor!
‘Yeah, give her a call,’ Nancy said. ‘Or text, or whatever you people do now.’
‘You people?’ Jacob laughed. ‘Just text her, Arch! I’m sure she would like to hear from you.’
Archer stood considering the book club’s advice, a torn look on his face. ‘Yeah, maybe,’ he said before wandering off after Olive.
Maybe.
Why would he text her? She was the one who left. She was the one who messed with his kid’s feelings. With all of their feelings, actually.
She was the one who had to fix it.
Because there was one thought that wouldn’t leave the whole time Archer and Olive were in the store, as they picked out books and chatted with everyone, and Iris watched from her cowardly position behind the books, there was one word that echoed loud and clear through her heart.
Mine.
They were hers.
Archer.
Olive.
And this little baby that apparently was currently the size of a gummy bear, were all hers. And she wanted them. All of them.
Now she just had to hope that Archer did, too.