Page 116 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

But Nancy just held a finger to her lips and tipped her head in a silent nod. A promise to keep her secret safe.

Iris mouthed a silent ‘Thank you,’ and the older woman just smiled in return. She was safe for another day, but who was she kidding, walking around with a sleeve of saltines was a dead giveaway! This town would sniff out her pregnancy in no time and then what? Archer couldn’t hear about this from anyone but her, that much was true.

She just…

A familiar head bobbing by the book display in the front window stopped Iris’s thoughts in their tracks. Olive. And Archer was right beside her. And they were coming into the bookstore.Now.

Iris skittered from her seat and hid behind the closest bookshelf before they entered the shop.

‘Olive!’ The book club halted their bodily fluids discussion to greet Olive as she skipped into the shop. Iris pulled a book from the shelf she was hiding behind so she could peek through. Olive held a gift bag in one hand and a giant cookie in the other. Her hair was up in lopsided pigtails, but her hair ties perfectly matched the shorts-and-tank-top set she was wearing. She looked adorable.

And it felt like a kick to Iris’s softest places.

Archer had done her hair. He’d picked out that outfit. He’d bought Olive that cookie. And Iris had missed all of it. She thought she would suffocate from the longing and that was before she made the mistake of looking up.

Archer.

She couldn’t breathe. She was going to die here in the self-help section. How ironic.

He still looked so damn good. His hair was messy, but his face was cleanly shaved. A tight white T-shirt hugged his biceps, and on his arm hung a canvas bag filled with wildflowers. They must have just come from the farmers’ market. It must be Archer’s day off. It must be summer vacation. So many little pieces of their life that she was missing. Missing, because she was hiding, because she was a coward. Afraid of loving this man and his little girl. Even though they clearly loved her. Even though her mother had never shied away from love, even if it didn’t last.

‘We brought you a gift!’ Olive said, reaching up to the counter to pass the gift bag to Hazel.

‘A gift?’

‘A wedding gift! My dad said you and Noah got married on your trip and he said that when people get married you get them a gift. So we did!’

Hazel came around the counter to give Olive a hug and Iris’s arms ached with the memory of holding the little girl.

‘Thank you so much. That’s very sweet.’

‘We were going to bring it over later, but Olive really wanted to give it to you now,’ Archer said, his voice low and familiar. It was the first time Iris had heard it in weeks and it burrowed into her heart and she never wanted it to leave. She wanted to hear it every day. She’d been so foolish.

‘And Dad said I can get a new book!’ Olive said, racing off between the aisles.

‘One book!’ he called after her.

Hazel laughed. ‘Good luck with that.’

He gave her a rueful smile and then turned and noticed the entire book club was still staring at him. Iris held her breath, praying they wouldn’t say anything about her being there.

‘Uh … hello, everyone.’

‘Hi Archer,’ the group said in unison.

He blinked. ‘Right. Okay, well…’ he pointed in the direction Olive had disappeared like he planned on following her, but Kaori stopped him with a question.

‘How’s that new nanny working out?’

Oh God, did this store have an emergency exit so she could crawl out right now?

Iris watched Archer swallow, watched his Adam's apple bob above his shirt collar, remembering the way his T-shirts smelled, how soft they were against her skin.

‘The new nanny is good, thanks.’

Good.

Fine.