Page 103 of Beach Cottage Kisses

* * *

Fix it.

Sage’s words screamed inside Scott’s head as he watched Iris turn to go. He had no magic bullet. No solution. He’d come home via the street because he’d figured that’s where Iris would be taking Angel to do her business to avoid him and Morgan. He’d planned to stand there as long as it took for her to come out.

And that was all he had. He’d just stood there.

Until he saw the one woman for him turning her back on him. It was as though the jury had all left without rendering a verdict, the judge had quit, the defendant was going to win. He couldn’t let that happen. “If you don’t believe in love, why are you so afraid of it?” His delivery was louder than it should have been.

Otherwise, he stood by his words. And wasn’t going to let her go without answering to them. Even if he had to text her, write to her, for years to come…

She continued to her door as though she hadn’t heard him.

But she had. He’d seen the way her back had stiffened. Noted the oddly unmoving tilt of her head. The way she got when she was fighting off fear.

“When you figure it out, I’ll be waiting,” he said, his tone bedroom soft. “Because that’s what love does. It doesn’t die. It doesn’t leave. It waits. Sometimes we don’t get that until eternity gets here, but the love, it’s always there.”

His father’s never-ending love for his mother had taught him that. The years without her, his father had always played her favorite song on her birthday. He’d learned to make her special recipes. He’d talked about her.

And, Scott suspected, had talked to her, too.

Because Randolph Martin was a man who gave his all to everything he did. He’d been strict. Had had seemingly impossibly high expectations. And yet, he’d always been there to wipe up spilled milk, too. To tend to wounds. To pick up the pieces.

That’s what love did.

As Scott watched Iris’s straight back disappear inside her cottage, saw the door close, he stood there with tears in his eyes.

But no regret for having loved her.

* * *

Iris made it into her bathroom before her tears fell. She brushed her teeth through blurred eyes. Turned out the light. Got into bed. Called Angel up to cuddle with her.

Wrapping her arms around the warm girl, she promised herself she wouldn’t cry anymore. She didn’t want to wet Angel’s fur.

She just wanted to sleep.

To get a break.

To wake up refreshed and move forward.

Except that the tears didn’t stop. Which meant she couldn’t sleep because she had to keep blowing her nose.

And Angel kept staring at her. As though expecting something more.

Or was worried.

Rolling onto her side, she pulled the girl right up to her face, and said, “You’re going to miss Morgan a ton.”

Should she leave Angel behind? Gray and Sage were looking to adopt a puppy for Leigh.

It would be the right thing to do. Iris had no idea where she’d be in the short go. Didn’t know what kind of yard Angel would have. Or have anyone to watch the girl when she had to work long hours.

Knots twisted her stomach as the thoughts piled on. Angel crawled a couple of inches forward and licked her nose. Twice. Then lay her head on Iris’s face. Right there, neck over the bridge of Iris’s nose.

Loving her. Even as Iris had been planning to give her away.

To leave her behind.