Page 33 of Home for the Holidays

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Well, Evan was beautiful.

And, as it turned out, his being drop-dead gorgeous was a fantastic distraction. His arrival helped steer Iris’s mind away from Heidi and everything that had unfolded in the last few hours. He looked like he had stepped off the pages of aMen’s Healthmagazine. Blue eyes, gorgeous jet-black hair, cleanly shaven, and he smelled like a million dollars. Oh, and he was absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, gay as the day was long. The beauty of having near-perfect gaydar was being able to tell from a hundred paces. Evan, though? Iris could have told from a hundredmiles.

After Evan arrived and forced conversation—on every level—took place, Heidi urged Zac, Iris, and Evan to go get dinner together in downtown Vale Park. Iris found the whole idea ofdowntownin a small city very laughable. She tried to get out of it, but Zac wouldn’t allow it. He needed her, apparently. Begrudgingly she agreed, but she made sure to add it to the list of things for which Zac would owe her.

Once they arrived at Stacks, a very trendy bar and grill that resembled a library on the inside, she decided to take a breath and have a good time. After all, it wasn’t like she had to convince Evan she was Zac’s girlfriend. In fact, she was hoping Zac would eventually mess up and, voilà, she’d be off the hook. At least where Evan was concerned.

So there they sat, the three of them, Zac and Iris on one side of a booth and Evan on the other. The conversation had been very nice so far. To the trained eye, it was only obvious that Zac was nervous when he picked up his drink, some grape monstrosity called a Purple Drank. On his fifth one (he tried to stop at two, but Iris encouraged him to have another… and another… and another), his hand stopped shaking and she could tell he was finally settling down.

“Evan, I know I said this already, but I am so glad I got to meet you. You both should probably thank your mom for reestablishing this little bromance.” She watched their reactions as she sipped her water. “Seeing you two together has been very enlightening.”

“Oh?” The speed at which Evan’s face shifted from happy to panicked was almost laughable. As if the cat was mysteriously let out of the bag and it wasn’t glaringly obvious that the two of them wanted to rip each other’s clothes off.

“Yeah, you know what I mean? Just seeing someone important to you with someone from their past who is important to them.” Iris gave him a look she hoped said,Listen, I’ll have you two hooked up and happy before Christmas. Can that much be relayed with a look? She had no idea. “Don’t worry. I can tell you that I haven’t seen Zac this happy in a long time.” She felt Zac nudge her under the table, almost as if he was saying to pump the brakes. Little did Zac know that Iris learned how to drive on the mountain roads in Colorado where one only uses the brakes in an emergency.

“Wow, yeah, thanks. Me too.” Evan’s eyes moved from hers over to Zac. “It has been a long time, hasn’t it?”

Zac’s cheeks under his now-tidy scruff were a deep pink. Iris couldn’t tell if it was the alcohol or Evan. “It has,” he said as he dipped his chin, a small smile on his lips. Yeah, it was totally Evan. “Too long.”

“I agree,” Evan said softly.

“Evan, what else have you been up to?” Iris asked as she patted Zac’s leg. She could read his indecisiveness like a book. He was having a great time but was incredibly torn about it. She wanted to smack him, yell at him, tell him he was allowed to let go of the past and live in the present.

“Well, I recently quit my job,” Evan answered.

“You did?” Zac blurted out. “Weren’t you working downtown Chicago for some huge PR firm?”

Evan’s eyes sparkled and his shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, I was. Wow.” He tilted his head. “I didn’t think you…”

Zac dipped his head. “I mean, my mom told me.”

Um, no, she didn’t. That was code for: I stalked you on social media.

Evan smiled, knowingly. “She wasn’t wrong.” He looked at Iris and she motioned for him to keep going. “I went in one day, got bitched at by the boss, and said, ‘Fuck it.’ I quit that day. It was one of the most spontaneous things I’ve ever done.” He chuckled before he took a sip of his chardonnay. “I couldn’t do it any longer. So I’m starting at a new firm in February.”

“That sounds dreamy,” Zac said, a long, deliberate sigh following his declaration. “I’d give anything to quit my job.”

Iris looked at him. “I thought you loved it.”

Zac shrugged. “I enjoy the paycheck. But the job? Ugh. Working with numbers all the time? Yawn.”

“Wow, I had no idea.” Iris nudged him. “Something you should have told your girlfriend, hmm?”

“Oh my god, stop,” Zac said with a laugh. “You never asked.”

“I’m just happy you pay half the rent on time every month.”

Evan cleared his throat. “So, you two, how long have you been…”

“Together?” Iris finished Evan’s incomplete question. “About six months.” Iris spit the answer out, then looked down at her watch. “Wow. It’s late. Y’know, Zac, I think I’m gonna head back to the house. I got up so early this morning, and I think this evening’s wine went to my head.”

Zac snapped his shocked face toward her. “What? Why?” He was clamoring to get her to stay, but he was no match for five Purple Dranks. It was adorable.

“I’m so tired, and you two have so much to catch up on. I just think it’d be great to give you two some space.” She nodded and widened her eyes. “It’ll be good for you,” she whispered after she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “And him.”

“Okay, do you need a ride? I can—”

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