Page 97 of Home for the Holidays

“All he had to do was smile, andIfucking knew it,” Iris said with a laugh. “Being at dinner with you two that first night was so uncomfortable. The eye-fucking going on? It was like, ‘Get a room.’”

“Oh, we did.” Evan grinned and wagged his eyebrows.

“So where are we going?” Zac asked. “You still haven’t told us.”

“I want to get your mom—”

“Heidi,” Zac corrected. “Come on, Iris. Call her Heidi. Please.”

She laughed. “I’m sorry. Heidi. I wanted to get Heidi something. She got me a gift for Christmas, and I obviously didn’t get her anything.”

“Are we going to Engstrom’s?” Zac’s excitement was shockingly palpable. “Are we?”

Iris nodded.

“Are you going to get her a ring?”

“Oh my god, are you going to propose?” Evan’s excitement matched Zac’s perfectly.

“God, no.” Iris laughed. “But I do want to get her a ring. Something that says I’m not going anywhere.”

Zac bounced around her as they walked. “Holy shit, are you going to move here and live with my mom?”

“Heidi,” Iris corrected. “Don’t you go calling her your mom now.”

“Wait.” Zac stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Iris was on the edge of her seat even though she pretty much knew what he was going to say. “Are you sure about this? It seems so soon.”

Yep. It was way too soon. But something inside of her was screaming at her not to wait. Especially after the accident. “Life is way too short, Zac. And if you’re truly okay with this…”

“Iris,” he whispered. “I will admit that it’s hard, but goddammit it’s super great seeing her smile. I’ve never seen my mom—Heidi—like that. Never. She was always so closed-off to affection from my dad. I remember this one time, I found her in the bathroom crying on the floor. She wouldn’t tell me anything, but the next day, they told us they were getting divorced. Even after it was final, it was like she was always holding her breath. And then you…” He shrugged. “You made her breathe again.”

“And I’m of course fine with it because if Zac moves to Chicago with me…” Evan added with a wink at Iris.

“Oh? Is this what’s on the table?” Iris smiled at the two of them. “We’d only be an hour from each other then.”

Zac couldn’t hide the excitement on his face. “We’ll see if we still like each other after our trip together. But…” He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be leaving the Big Apple for the Windy City.”

“I love this for you both.” Iris pulled them both into a hug. “I don’t want to cut this short, but we gotta go, I’mfreezing.”

They headed for the jewelry store, happy tears cold on their smiling faces.

CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE

The day had been filled with nothing but good times and laughter. Heidi was shocked by that considering the drama that had led up to this day.

Meeting Iris. A dramatic event in and of itself.

One of the most spontaneous and dangerous things she had done in a bathroom. Ever.

Her beautiful son finally being honest with her. Seeing him and his happiness with Evan.

Christmas Day. Thinking she was never going to see Iris again. The beginning and end of a beautiful relationship flashing before her like a blip on a radar. And then,poof.

The accident. She still hadn’t spoken about it, but it had shaken her to the core. She barely slept the three days Iris was in the hospital. Maybe an hour or so every now and then. The chair by the side of Iris’s hospital bed was about the only place her body saw for the first forty-eight hours. It wasn’t until Zac made her go home to shower and change clothes that she realized how long she’d been sitting there. Of course, the only time she left, Iris woke up. When she got back and saw her awake, it was like a shot of adrenaline to her heart. Restraining herself had proven very difficult, but she didn’t want to freak Iris out.

Iris’s parents showing up.

Everything that had happened felt like it was a lifetime in the making, as outlandish as it sounded. She had loved Stanley with every fiber of her being. She had known the second she met him that she was going to marry him. And he was all in when she said she wanted to move to Paris. He would go to school overseas, he said. He would do whatever it took to escape Vale Park. And escaping with her was his best option. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her; he did. But they were both so young, so repressed. Reliving the past had a way of revealing truths, truths she never thought needed to be uncovered. Truths she was sure were lies. Oh, how misguided she had been; she had now uncovered so much about herself. Searching her memory bank was a common occurrence these days, but none of the memories she accessed had even an ounce of the intensity she felt with Iris—even the memories with Eloise in them. The fire she lit inside Heidi was nothing compared to the blaze Iris had ignited.

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