Page 20 of As They Are
I’d left the diner with a full belly and a good mood much later than I intended. Talking to both Kerry and Tammy took up most of the morning, and I spent the afternoon exploring the town square. I thought finding all of the irises would take me a few minutes at most, but as I circled the whole square and then the surrounding roads, I was getting frustrated.
Henry seemed like a kind guy, but he’d sent me on a wild-goose chase, and I was pretty sure it was a damn prank. It was nice to slow down and see the history of Strawberry Springs, but I was on a mission. I’d found every one of the irises except for the dark purple ones, though he might have misspoken about those. However, to be missing a color made my little scavenger hunt feel unsatisfying.
A lot of things had felt that way lately.
I figured the clinic closed at five, so I busied myself with weeding until late afternoon in hopes I could run into him and ask about the last irises.
“Wow,” a voice said. “You took what I said seriously.”
I pulled the last weed out of the ground next to the playground and turned to Henry. He had his hands behind his back and watched me with a small smile on his face. In the light of the late afternoon sun, he was cute.
Really cute.
I’d thought it the first time I’d met him too.
Ever since pursuing Jude, I’d put all of my attention on him. I hadn’t noticed a man ever since. At least Icouldnotice someone else.
“All colors, you said. And yet, there are no dark purple irises.” I sat back on my heels. “Am I a joke to you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “To be fair, I didn’t know you’d get to work so quickly.”
“You gave me a task. I got it done. Up until you tricked me.” I pointed at him. “You seem to be a nice, friendly doctor. But you have another side of you, don’t you?”
His shoulders tensed for a second, and I wondered if I’d stuck my foot in my mouth. But then he was back to normal.
“The last onewasa bit of a trick,” he replied. “But theyarehere.”
“If you tell me they’re in my soul, I might throw a dandelion at you.”
“Those are medicinal, you know.”
“Please tell me more about medicinal weedsafterI find this dark purple iris.” I brushed off my hands after tossing the weed. I made to stand and he held out a hand. “You don’t have to treat me like I’m fragile.”
“I’m not offering you a hand because I think you’re fragile. I’m offering it to be polite.”
“My hands are a mess.”
“I can wash them. I’m no stranger to dirty hands.”
That made me blink. Just what did the buttoned-up doctor of Strawberry Springs get into? I took his offered hand, letting him pull me up.
This town was so ...friendly.And it was in a genuine way, not the fake smiles Madison would give me when she would catch me covered in dust after working overnight on the mansion.
“Follow me,” he said.
We crossed the street, and I quickly realized where we were heading.
“Are you taking me to that massive abandoned building that people seem to avoid? Is this where you tell me you’ve had a plan to kill me this entire time?”
“That would go against the Hippocratic oath,” he said. “And no. This is where I show you where those irises are, but if you’re uncomfortable?—”
“Me? Uncomfortable by being near a huge abandoned building?” I laughed. “This is myshit.” I ran ahead of him, taking in the tallest building in Strawberry Springs. Unlike the rest of the buildings, its paint was peeling, and I could barely see the word “library” on one of the signs.
“Oh, the stories you could tell.” I put my hand against a spot of peeling paint where I could see the original large bricks. Sometimes I wished walls could talk so I could hear about what they saw.
“Strawberry Springs is lucky in a lot of ways,” Henry said, hands in his pockets as he looked up. “We’ve stayed stable in some places, but when the economy went downhill a little over a decade ago, the state stopped funding the library.”
“Of course. Why would a small town need to read?” I asked sarcastically.
