Page 22 of Beach Cottage Kisses
Just like any other night that she’d joined Sage and Scott for an impromptu dinner. The food was all takeout. Other than his crab preparation, there’d been no dishes.
And…she’d never been inside Scott’s home.
Not that she couldn’t be.
The occasion had just never arisen.
Angel, as though understanding that things were back to normal between her and Morgan’s owner—clearly sensing the lack of tension that had been present on occasion that week—trotted alongside Iris with a happy gait.
All they’d needed was for Iris to take a drive to Fullerton. She knew better than to try to avoid her emotions. Had grown complacent after her years on Ocean Breeze.
And that complacency had almost cost her one of the most valuable aspects of her life. Her friendship with a man who knew when she wanted to talk, and when she didn’t. Who made her laugh. Was able to sit in silence with her. Whose conversation always interested her. Who saw more in her photography than most, catching nuances that she wasn’t always even sure were anywhere but in her imagination until he pointed them out. A man who’d sworn off commitment long before she’d come along with the same life choice.
Diane had a nice home. In a lovely neighborhood with lots of green grass, dog parks and a couple of community parks, too. The two-car garage was a sign that her stepmother had someone else living with her.
Had perhaps remarried.
It wasn’t uncommon anymore for women to keep their own names after nuptials.
Not that Diane’s life choices were one iota of her business.
Regardless, she’d absolved herself of any guilt in that area. All on her own. Not even Angel knew.
And she’d come home to be fire on wheels at her worktable.
Saturday was as good a day, spent on a private boat following a school of dolphins. Catching shot after shot of the marine mammal family having fun together.
Still feeling the day’s energy when she got home, she had her camera slung over her shoulder when she headed out to the beach with Angel.Anxious to show Scott her photos.
If Sage had been home, she’d have arranged for her friend to take Leigh out on the same boat the next day. The little girl loved the dolphins at the San Diego Zoo.
As it turned out, Scott was at Sage’s old place. Morgan told her so when the girl came galloping in her corgi way toward her and Angel from the cottage up for sale.
Heading up the beach to the building, she was just stepping up to the porch when Scott came out.
“Hey, I’m glad you’re here. I’ve got to hang around for a half hour or so. The realtor who showed the place today just called. The couple wants to see it a second time and write a full-price offer. They have to catch a flight back to Ohio tonight. They’re about fifteen minutes out. You wouldn’t happen to have a beer, would you?”
He sounded upbeat. Sage really wanted the cottage sold, and Scott had joked that getting it done while she was gone would be his wedding present to her.
But at the same time, an era was ending…
For Iris, as well.
“Two beers coming up,” she said, leaving Angel with him and Morgan on the beach as she traipsed across the sand back to her place an acre away.
Inside, she quickly picked two bottles of beer off the refrigerator shelf, grabbed her bag of cut-up veggies, too, because they were there and she saw them, and was out the door. She wanted Scott to have a chance to get at least a sip in before meeting with the people who were likely going to be taking over his sister’s home.
Joining the Ocean Breeze family.
Did they have a dog?
The thought hit as she saw Scott, still in dress pants,shirt and tie, sitting on the bottom porch step petting both dogs at once. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Wanted to.
Did he keep things light with them, offer his affection in teasing ways, as he did with her and Sage and Leigh?
Or did they get more of his heart?
Stopping at the sudden longing to know, Iris watched him haul both dogs up onto his lap and hug them both at once.
