Page 39 of 40 and Flirting (with Disaster)
“He did,” she finally agreed. Adam turned his gaze in her direction. “But it doesn’t have to stay fucked up.”
Adam’s brow rose at her use of his word. The mother he’d known never cursed.
A lot had changed since then.
She reached over and smoothed a finger along his eyebrow, tracing the dark arch. “What he did changed all our lives, but I’m okay now,” she assured him. “I’m happy.” She thought of Chloe and the joy she’d given Adam. “You’re happy.”
Adam hesitated, took her hand, and gave the back of it a kiss. “Now we just have to get Krista happy.”
Iris shook her head and sat back, sighing. “We can’t get her there. It’s something only she can do.” That was the problem—Krista had to want to get past this, and Iris didn’t know if she ever would. She drank down the last sip of her coffee. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Nineteen
Iris had agreed to dinner at Lily’s house with her friends the following Tuesday night, for which she was grateful. Hopefully it would keep her mind off her daughter. And Jamie. Because now that they’d been together, he was even more dominant in her thoughts, but Jamie was working tonight and she couldn’t let him take up all her brain space—or her life. She wouldn’t let any man take over like that again.
No matter how good the sex—and everything else—was.
“Iris!”
Claire’s squeal as she opened the door pierced Iris’s eardrums. She stuck a finger in one ear and jiggled it around. “Eh? What’s that you said?”
Claire laughed. “Sorry! A little too excited there, huh?” She opened the door wide, gesturing Iris in. “Lincoln comes into town tomorrow and construction at the resort has this week off, so I opted to close everything and do the same. I haven’t taken time off in ages. I’ve been buzzing all day.”
Iris gave her friend a hug. “I totally get that.”
“Good, because I’ll probably be just as loud when Erin gets here.”
“Maybe I’ll go see if Lily needs help in the kitchen.”
Claire’s laughter followed her down the hall, bringing a smile to Iris’s lips. She didn’t know what she would do without these women who had gathered around her since the divorce. So many of her friends had dropped off the radar as soon as they heard the news, as if divorce was contagious and they didn’t want to catch it. Not Scarlett, though. They’d become close after working together at the Halloween event last year, and the other woman had pulled Iris into this circle as if she belonged here. By now she felt like she did.
Lily was putting together a charcuterie board when Iris entered the kitchen. “Ooooh, cheese straws!”
Lily grinned. “And Claire brought them, so you know they’re good.”
“What does she call them again? Cheese cookies?” Iris dared to reach for one of the small orange circles that were indeed shaped like cookies.
“Yeah.” Lily added pretzels to the tray. “She says that’s what her family always called them.”
“They’re delicious,” Iris said around a mouthful of fluffy, cheesy goodness.
“Yes, cheese cookies!” Erin hurried through the kitchen door, one hand supporting her bulging stomach, the other reaching for a cookie.
Claire snorted as she followed Erin into the room. “Maybe I should have brought more.”
“Yes!” Erin declared, mouth full of cheese cookie. “So we’d have leftovers to take home.”
Lily finished laying out the food while Iris poured drinks; then they all sat at the kitchen table to eat. It took no more than two bites for Lily to say, “So, Iris, anything you want to tell us?”
“Yeah,” Claire threw in, wiggling her brows. “Anything at all?”
Iris gave them both a frown. “Like what?”
Erin sat back in her chair, rubbing up and down along her belly as if it ached. “We want to know how Jamie was in bed.”
Iris choked on her sip of sweet tea. The table erupted in laughter.
It took a few minutes to get herself back under control. When she lifted her brows at Erin, her friend shrugged. “Hey, we were all thinking it; I just said it out loud.”
