Page 60 of Beach Cottage Kisses
Scott figured life could be one hell of a lot worse.
* * *
Dawn was breaking by the time they got back to Ocean Breeze. Scott allowed her to help him from the car to the house, but then wheeled himself off to bed. The man was stubborn as hell.
Her heart ached for him, reaching toward him even as he rejected any hint of sympathy. She had to let him go. To fend for himself per their agreement. To respect his choice. Doing what was right didn’t take away the sting.
What was up with that? With the over-the-top emotions she was feeling around him since the wedding?
If she didn’t care so much about Sage, and treasure her friendships with the twins, she’d head home right that minute, just to get herself back in sync again. But if experiencing vicarious emotion was the price she had to pay to have them in her life, she’d do so.
It was a whole lot less than Scott was paying for his own personal choices, that was for sure.
He’d left his door open, per protocol, and once she saw him settled in bed, she took the girls and went out to the beach. He had his phone within reach. And her number on speed dial. Only for the moment.
She didn’t go anywhere. Joel would be arriving in a few hours and that would be her chance to head home.To get back into her real life for an hour or so to get herself on track.
To rid herself of the shards of fear that were still reverberating through her—the replay of that first second she’d seen the blood soaking Scott’s bandage, her frantic drive to the hospital—and get back into the peace that defined the new life she’d invented for herself.
She walked down to the water with Morgan and Angel. Talking to them. Conversation between her and Angel was a norm in their home, and Morgan had been with them often enough over the years that the corgi showed no surprise when Iris started in with “The good news is—well, first, that aside from two ripped stitches, there was no other damage.” Morgan seemed to glance her way at that.
“I don’t know yet what happened,” she told the girl. “He was too busy getting himself through everything to talk much, but I know for certain that if you had anything to do with what happened, it wasn’t intentional.”
The girls, side by side, on her right, kept on walking. They might not understand her exact words. Or even what had happened. But they knew that things weren’t right. That Scott was down. That she was bothered. They weren’t running and playing. Or even exploring the sand with their noses as they usually did. They weren’t watching the water.
They were keeping their eyes on her. Staying beside her.
“And the other good news…” She took a breath. Sighed. Then finished with “The sex thing, it’s not athingthing. Not a real thing. Or even a thing at all. It’s just a symptom of whatever has me off-kilter, because it’s not just attraction, it’s all my emotions.”
Right. The words rang completely true. Even aloud.Talking to beings who didn’t hear lies, but knew the truth behind them. She was on the right track.
She wasn’t suddenly desiring Scott Martin. She was just suffering an influx of all emotion, which would include sexual emotions, and Scott was just the guy who happened to have been there before she’d figured out what was going on and could do something to stop it.
It explained the almost debilitating fear for Scott’s life. The bouts of anger.
And his bouts? Well, those were easy to explain, too, since she understood the source. He’d merely been reacting to things she’d been inadvertently sending out.
Angel glanced up at her. Iris felt like her girl had just sent a frown her way. Knew that the possibility didn’t exist. But felt it anyway.
She knew the problem. What was the solution?
First, she was going to call the psychologist who’d been her sounding board through the worst days of her life. Just to hear the good doctor tell her that a sudden flare-up of intense emotions was not an uncommon response to an emotional trigger.
Which Sage’s wedding had most definitely been.
As the maid of honor, and hearing Sage whisper that she was like a sister to her…the trigger was about as obvious as it could get.
She’d grown up expecting to stand up with her own twin at Ivy’s wedding someday. To have to accept that her sister would be sharing everything in her life with the partner she’d chosen and that while Iris would always be a big part of her life, Iris would no longer come first.
Instead, she’d stood up with Scott’s twin—with much the same change coming as a result. Iris and Scott were no longer going to be the adults that came first in Sage’s life.
Their threesome had irrevocably changed with Sage’s vows to Gray.
All good stuff. Great stuff.
And, as with all change, there was a subconscious leaning toward wanting to hold on to what was. Simply because it was familiar. Normal.
Easy, even.
