Page 61 of Getting Lucky

“It’s just…” He paused and took a breath. “I don’t want to offend Lee.”

Twisting her lips, she seemed to reconsider, then turned and looked him in the eye. “If he rejects you because you gave his girlfriend a candle that smells like a cinnamon roll that was left out for days in a pile of wet towels, then he doesn’t deserve you either.” She lifted one shoulder dramatically. “But he’s notmybrother, so feel free to blame it all on me. Guys have the women in their lives buy their gifts all the time.”

“I’m not like those guys, Iris.”

She turned and looked up at him, her eyes softening. “I know, Jack. Trust me. I know.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that, but the salesclerk gave him his total, and he paid for the purchase. They grabbed their bags and headed out the door.

“I’m starving,” Iris said. “Let’s eat at that place with the great Southern food.”

Jack laughed. “Which one? There are several here.”

She named a restaurant a block away, so they headed over, enjoying the walk in the cool evening air.

“Remember our Magnificent Mile trip four years ago?” Iris asked with a laugh. “It was so cold we had to keep going into stores to get warm.”

He laughed too. “I remember going into that Victoria’s Secret store and buying a bra for the woman I was dating so I wouldn’t look like a pervert shopping with a preteen girl.”

“I was thirteen, so I was very much ateenager, not a preteen.”

“I still looked like a pervert.”

She laughed again. “Everyone knew you weren’t comfortable being there. But Sally got a new bra out of it.”

“Celia. And we’d only been dating a few weeks, so giving her a bra for Christmas wasn’t the best move.”

“You gave it to her for Christmas?” She shook her head, her eyes dancing. “Maybe you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

“Let’s just say I’m smarter now.”

There was a ten-minute wait at the restaurant, so they stood on the sidewalk, watching the shoppers pass by. And while it wasn’t the Magnificent Mile, there was a festive feel to it. Decorations and lights hung from poles along the streets, and the stores all had inviting displays. Iris seemed more relaxed than he’d seen her since she’d come to Asheville, but he knew better than to mention it.

Two women were walking toward them, carrying shopping bags, and the blonde leaned into her brunette friend, whispering something Jack couldn’t hear. They stopped and giggled before one of them said, “Hey, you’re the guy with the dogs on Instagram, aren’t you?”

Iris practically bounced out of her skin. “Yes! He is!”

She’d been posting photos of Jack every day in her Dog Days of Christmas campaign, and the reach had been steadily growing, but this was the first time a stranger had recognized him on the street.

They eyed her curiously, and Jack realized they were trying to figure out Iris’s relationship to him. She was too old to be his daughter and too young to be his girlfriend, and although they had similar coloring, few people put together that they were siblings.

“She’s my little sister,” he announced.

Iris shot him a dark look. She hated being called hislittlesister.

“Oh!” the women exclaimed, both of them relaxing.

“He’sverysingle,” Iris said.

Jack groaned inwardly as the attention on him intensified.

“I thought about adopting that black and white dog you were holding,” the blonde said, tilting her head. “Shirtless.”

“Most dogs are shirtless,” Jack said.

“Oh, you’re so funny!” the blonde said, then turned to her friend. “Isn’t he funny?”

“Most of the photos were of Jack shirtless,” Iris said. She shot him anI told you it was a good idealook. He was glad she thought so, because he was now having serious misgivings.

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