Iris in Bloom: Take a Chance, Book 2 Read Free Page B

dressed with care and knew she wasn’t doing it for Scott Beatty. Even as she stood in front of the mirror to push the silver posts of her favorite amethyst dangly earrings through the holes in her ears she saw the excitement shining in her eyes.
    Okay, so there was an interesting new man in town. And she liked the look of him. He’d been in again Friday morning on his way to work and they’d exchanged a quick greeting. She’d taken the time to note that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, not that lack of a ring was evidence of being single. She’d find out for sure tonight.
    Not even the humiliation of knowing he’d overheard her assistant announcing her lack of a sex life could quite prevent the flutter of – something, when she thought of him. Maybe, if nothing else, she could sharpen her flirting skills.
    Iris finished dressing. Because her work required clothes that she could wear to cook and serve food, when she went out she tended to dress up a little. She wore her good jeans, the ones that were figure flattering, a sleeveless white cotton shirt and a few silver bracelets and the rings she never wore at work.
    She put extra effort into her makeup, actually bothered with her hair, styling it in loose curls that hung past her shoulders and decided she was good to go.
    She packed up her casserole dishes in her hatchback and headed to her sister’s house. While she’d chosen to live in the city of Hidden Falls, in a tiny house built at the turn of the century, back when the town enjoyed its boom as a logging town, her sister was more rural.
    Marguerite’s little piece of heaven was a corner of the land that their parents lived on. It wouldn’t work for everyone, but it worked fine for Marguerite. She had land to grow her vegetables on, quiet which she seemed to crave, and yet her family were all close by.
    The vegan potluck had been started by a small group of vegans and grown to be a monthly event that drew a lot of people. Carnivores, omnivores and vegetarians were all welcome. But the same open mindedness did not extend to the food people were allowed to bring to the potluck. In fact, there was a list of instructions that went out each month with the reminder emails. No eggs, no dairy, no honey, which she always thought was going a tad far.
    Didn’t matter what she thought. The rules were the rules. Each person was required to bring a potluck dish that would feed six people and include a list of ingredients and the recipe.
    Baking brownies without eggs was a challenge but in baking Iris loved a challenge. Her beet brownies were surprisingly good. Rich and dense and, because she’d used good chocolate, bursting with dark flavor. She was less thrilled about some of the dishes she’d be encountering at the potluck but at least they didn't frown on alcohol, so she could enjoy a glass of wine and hang out with her friends and neighbors.
    She was enjoying her first glass of wine and chatting to Reyna Moore. Reyna was her accountant and the accountant of most of the small business owners in Hidden Falls. She and her husband boarded horses and offered riding lessons on their ten acres, and they had three kids that kept them busy. They were standing in the big open living area of Marguerite’s small house and, during a pause in the conversation, she glanced up and happened to see Geoff walk in, following the instructions on the big note taped to the door that said: Don’t knock, come on in .
    As he did she felt his aloneness. Had an instant instinct, not only that this was hard for him, but that there was an invisible woman beside him as obvious as a missing limb.
    She watched him glance around, felt the warmth of compassion begin to flow through her. He held a salad bowl and even though she knew she was doing it again, that thing she’d sworn not to do, her instinct to nurture and protect was stronger than her ability to flirt.
    She excused herself from Reyna, feeling that being Marguerite’s sister gave her