Page 63 of Beach Cottage Kisses
Maybe. That made more sense than his own take on what had happened. All he knew was he’d woken up with Morgan’s paw at his leg and he’d jerked so hard he’d felt the searing wrench to his wound.
He was tired. And tired of being tired.
Even without pain medication he was somewhat foggy headed.
But he remained adamantly clear on one point. Iris had to go. And there was no way he was going to hurt her by having anyone else in, taking her place. Or something to that effect.
Lucidity came and went. Determination, the one staple he could count on, did not.
“And the other…you worrying about our friendship…it’s a moot point.”
His gaze shot over to her, alarm wrenching through him. She was done with him? With them? “What?”
“It’s not you, Scott. Which is why you’re struggling so much with it. You can’t make sense of your actions/reactions because they don’t have a basis in you. I figured it out this morning.”
She’d lost him. As in, them being from two different planets. “What?” he asked again, for want of anything more intelligent to say.
“I…had some struggles…a traumatic time…more than a decade ago. It took me a while to be okay again. To get over the emotional overload and get on with my life. Sage’s wedding triggered a blast to the past. You know, kind of PTSD. I see it all so clearly now. The sex…it was all just part of an uncontrollable surge from my emotional cortex. When that happens, all emotions are over-the-top. It first hit up at the altar, that I was aware of, but I know now that it had been building that whole week. Then, the whole weird thing of us being forced into a date-like situation at the most romantic event ever… But the sex…my overly heightened emotions…sent out an overload of pheromones, to which, biologically, you couldn’t help but react. The sex was only a symptom of my relapse.Along with the surges of fear I’ve felt that are so unlike me…”
He had to blow by most of what she was saying. Hearing her. Not analyzing as was his usual way. Or even fully comprehending at the moment. But that last… “You’re afraid? Of what?” He wanted to help.
The way she threw up her hand, as though she was on stage, struck him hard. Iris wasn’t into bold demonstrations of any kind. She was always the one who melded into the background. They’d be on the beach, in the midst of a group of residents, and she was the one on the outer edge of the gathering.
“Well…” she finally started when he kept staring at her. He didn’t know what to do until he knew who or what was scaring her. “First when Sage called to tell me you’d been in an accident.”
Her face went white, but she licked her lips and continued, “And then this morning, when I saw your soaked bandage, and on the way to the hospital, too. That’s what opened my eyes to the truth.” Her face cleared as her tone gained momentum. “So, anyway, you can relax. I’ve already put in a call to Dr. Livingston, but I know I’m on track.”
Dr. Livingston? He had another doctor other than the ones who saw him at his two hospital visits? For follow-up? He had no memory of being told.
“Who’s Dr. Livingston?”
“The psychologist who helped me in the past.” She said the words as though they were supposed to give him confidence.
She’d suffered some kind of serious incident more than a decade ago. And she and her counselor were still in touch? Must have been some trauma. And…more than a decade ago? Iris was only twenty-eight. She had to have been a teenager.
None of which added up. At all. As close as they all were, he and Sage would know about a tragic history. He sat still, seeming to watch her, he hoped. Feeling completely unprepared for the conversation he’d somehow launched himself into.
As it dawned on him that he couldn’t think of anything he’d heard about Iris’s past. No, wait, she’d taken photography in high school. And her mom had died. He remembered Sage mentioning that she and Iris had that in common.
But what about siblings? A father? Aunts, uncles, grandparents? For the past three years she’d spent Christmas with him and Sage, as the three of them spoiled Leigh with tales of Santa and surprises.
“Anyway—” she stood, startling him “—the only thing that matters here is that you can relax, okay? Accept my help, because we all know you need it…”
“We all?” He interrupted because he couldn’t just sit there and listen to her spout things that were counterproductive to his mission.
“You, me, Sage, Gray, Joel, the medical professionals at the hospital tending to you…”
Damn! That was a lot of opinion stacking up against him.
“And now you have no reason to worry about us. We aren’t changing at all. It was just my subconscious reaction to Sage getting married.”
He didn’t follow that part. But, maybe if he knew what she was talking about…
She looked so…happy, standing there, meeting his gaze head-on. Smiling. That grin…it looked good on her. Great. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?
“So…we’re good?” Her tone pushed him to agree.
Tired of questions that came with no answers, and certain that he didn’t want to be the one to wipe that look off from Iris’s face,Scott did the only thing he could do. He nodded.
