“Why don’t you go and get a few more hours?” I ask. “Everything will wait.”
“Are you my knight in shining armor, Jack?” She tips her head back and squints from the sun.
I lift my sunglasses, so I can see her clearly, with no filter. Then I drop a kiss on her lips. “Hashtag life goals. You look beautiful.”
“Jack, I haven’t even brushed my hair.” She rolls her eyes. “I bet the women in New York roll out of bed wearing lace and silk and go straight to Pilates.”
“I’m not thinking about any woman other than you when you’re in a fifty-mile radius.”
Her expression falls a little. “New York is a lot farther than fifty miles away,” she says.
“I’m right here, looking at you.” I’m trying to be reassuring, but I get it. It’s not like I’m moving to Star Falls. Maybe if Wilde’s Farm makes the changes I suggest, there’ll come a point where they don’t need Iris here and she can come back to New York.“And anyway, once you’ve finished that course you’re applying for, who knows where you’ll end up.”
She laughs. “Like I’m going anywhere. My family needs me. So Star Falls is where I’ll stay.”
I try not to let the disappointment I feel show on my face. I wonder if she’ll always feel like Star Falls is the place she’ll stay.
Iris’s good at finding obstacles. But I’m good at knocking them down. That’s what I’ve got to focus on.
NINETEEN
Iris
I’m doing my best not to burst into laughter at the photograph I’m about to take. Jack is the most unlikely Star Falls tourist, I just can’t help it.
“Maybe scooch in closer,” I suggest. “Marvin likes a hug.”
“Marvin is a fiberglass moose,” Jack says. “He’s just happy his paint isn’t chipped.”
I roll my lips together, trying not to laugh. Jack said he wanted to see all the sights of Star Falls, so after a couple of weeks of dinners, coffees, and a thorough interrogation from my father, here we are on our first official day date, outside Snail Trail. We’re getting the obligatory photograph with Marvin the Moose.
“People come far and wide to have a hug with Marvin. Don’t try and minimize his emotional needs.”
Jack raises his eyebrows. “I would never. Fact is, Riley tells me she’s too old to pose with Marvin. That means I definitively am.”
“No one’s too old for a picture with Marvin.” I step toward him and slide a hand around his waist and hold my phone up fora selfie with the three of us. “Better than the top of the Empire State Building,” I say.
Jack laughs. “Well, that just tells me you’ve never been to the top of the Empire State Building.”
My mood dips slightly. He’s right. I always saw myself in New York, against a skyline that included the Empire State Building. It just didn’t happen for me. It wasn’t meant to be.
“Was I being an ass?” he asks, clearly reading my shift in mood.
I shake my head resolutely. “Not at all. But I’m a little offended you don’t appreciate Marvin.”
“I’m sure what you next have in store for me will blow me away.”
“It absolutely will,” I say. “But first, coffee. Ever readTwilightor seen the movie?”
“I saw the movie,” he says. “I’m pretty sure… the one with the vampires, right?”
“Yeah? Did you love it?”
“I only saw the first one, but actually I enjoyed it.”
“Prepare to have your mind blown.” I march us in the direction of Twilight Latte.
“How have I not been here?” he asks, gazing up around the store as we enter.
