Iris in Bloom: Take a Chance, Book 2 (17 page)

The other English teacher stared at him but almost through him, like she was looking at something else. “She came to a couple of parent teacher interviews. You get to see another side of a person when they come to parent teacher interviews.”

“What?” He wondered if they were talking about the same person. “Iris doesn’t have kids.”

“No. But the man she was dating at the time did. Rob Granger. His son was doing some foolish things. Mostly, I think, because he was upset about his parents’ break-up.”

He’d heard about Rob. The last guy Iris had dated. She’d never mentioned he’d had kids or that it had been serious enough that she attended parent teacher conferences. “What happened?”

“Rob went back to his wife. Back to his family. They moved away after that. I think they’re in Seattle now.”

If a thunderbolt had streaked down from the sky shouting out a message, it couldn’t have been clearer. “Iris’s last boyfriend went back to his ex-wife?” So many things started to make sense. “Oh, that’s perfect.”

She made a sympathetic face. “Bad luck for you I’m afraid.”

“No wonder she can’t believe I’m truly free.” And how on earth did he show her he was?

At Ellen’s raised eyebrows he said, “Okay, not truly free. Not all the way free, but emotionally free which is the important thing.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help, ask.”

“Wow. That’s so nice of you. You must believe in me and Iris as a couple.”

She picked up her reusable sandwich bag, slipped in the plastic tub and the fork she’d brought from home and tucked it tidily away. “I believe in you and anyone who doesn’t work at this school.”

As she walked away, he thought, this is a woman who’s been married a long time. He said, “Hey, what makes a woman really believe a man loves her?” The nurse and the Spanish teacher stopped their conversation to stare at him. He didn’t even care that he was baring his soul to strangers.

Ellen paused, turned back. “The grand gesture. Every woman secretly yearns for a man to slay a dragon, swim through a river or crocodiles to get to her, to prove his love.”

“Si,” the Spanish teacher agreed.

“Not a lot of dragons or crocodiles in Hidden Falls,” he said. “But thanks.”

“Don’t be so literal,” Ellen chided like he was a remedial student in her English class.

He thought rapidly, assessed and discarded a dozen foolish ideas. Then he had it. The answer was so simple. “Could a grand gesture be a signature on a piece of paper?”

“You’re writing her a letter?” She did not look impressed with his heroic possibilities. The school nurse shook her head.

“No. I was thinking a judge’s signature on a divorce decree.”

Ellen smiled at him. “Now you’re getting somewhere.”

He was so relieved he walked right over, grabbed her and kissed her cheek.

Ellen laughed, but she blushed a little too. She patted him on the shoulder. “Plus you’re gorgeous which will definitely help.”

He put in the call to his lawyer immediately, since he had no secrets from the two other women who had resumed their conversation. But his lawyer was in a meeting and he had to leave a message. Then, since he couldn’t break the rules he imposed on his students, he turned off his cell phone and went to class.

He’d planned to skip the after work drink but it was soon clear that nearly all the teachers were going since it was Tara’s birthday. Her thirtieth, it turned out. He made a point of sitting across the table and down a few from the birthday girl and making conversation with one of the biology teachers, a guy a little older than him who was happy to talk sports.

He was sipping a beer, wondering how soon he could get away, when the lawyer called back. He excused himself from the crowded, noisy table and stepped outside. Rain drizzled down and he huddled under the awning.

“What can I do for you?” his lawyer asked. She was a no-nonsense type who had told him up front she wasn’t interested in drama or blame. “Keep that for the therapist’s office. I am a negotiator. I will get you the best deal I can within the law. How does that sound?” He’d thought it sounded fine. Signed up with her, sent her all the documentation and listings of every cent of assets he and his wife owned together and those that he owned separately. Then months had dribbled by with little contact.

“I need my divorce now,” Geoff said to his lawyer, watching water drip off the awning and into a puddle.

“These things take time, Geoff.”

“I don’t have time. The law says we can get divorced in California if we’ve lived apart for six months. It’s been six and a half months.”

“Right. But you’ve got assets to divide and –“

“Get hold of her lawyer. Find out what she wants. Let’s meet and get this thing done.”

“You don’t want to come across as too eager. If they sense weakness—“

“I don’t care. I am eager. If we’re both willing to be reasonable we can settle this thing in an afternoon.”

She argued a little longer and he heard her out, then he said, “I’ve got no classes next Friday. I’ll drive down Thursday night. I can meet anytime Friday. I want an agreement by the end of the day. Let’s do this.”

“I’ll do my best to set something up. I’ll get back to you.”

He began to feel better. If he could prove to Iris that there was no possibility he was going back to his wife then maybe she’d give this thing with them a chance. Maybe he wasn’t ready for kids right this second, but he thought he’d be a good father.

As he headed back into the restaurant, he thought, No, that wasn’t it and he knew it. He needed to prove to Iris that he was in love with her, forever and ever love.

But the divorce was a good start.

Chapter Eighteen

Iris hated herself for dressing with extra care in the mornings and making sure she was out front serving every customer. But all the lipstick and hair products didn’t lure Geoff into Sunflower.

Nothing lured him in.

He didn’t come for his morning coffee and muffin. He broke the daily routine he’d formed from the first day he’d come in here with an order for his first staff meeting.

The morning after their argument, she made excuses for him. The second day, she rehearsed what she’d say, how natural she’d act. If they could get back to an easy customer/coffee shop owner friendship, then maybe she wouldn’t feel so empty and frustrated, as though they were in the middle of an argument and the other person had slipped away to the washroom and never come back.

She had things to say. Things she wanted him to understand. He’d been completely out of line to try and make her feel guilty. He needed to understand that.

But how did she get him to see his mistake if she couldn’t even talk to him?

She was staring longingly at the door, willing it to open and Geoff to walk in when Dosana walked up behind her. Iris saw her glance at the door and then back at Iris. Quickly, she reverted her attention to tidying up the china cups.

“Haven’t seen Geoff in a few days,” Dosana said, without quite putting a question mark at the end although it was clearly implied.

“No. Maybe he’s making coffee at home now.”

“And baking his own delicious muffins?”

She didn’t answer. She was conscious of an ache somewhere in the region of her solar plexus. She wanted to lean on Dosana’s tattooed shoulder and cry, but that wasn’t going to solve her problems or bring Geoff back.

Dosana patted her. “If you want to talk about anything, I’m always here.”

“Thanks.”

“I mean it.”

Iris wasn’t good at talking about her problems. She was so much better with other people’s problems. As Dosana turned to grab a cloth and go wipe the tables, she said, “He plays hide and seek with a cat.”

“What?” Dosana looked at her as though maybe she hadn’t heard right.

“There’s this cat that lives in Geoff’s building. It hangs out at his place sometimes. They play hide and seek.”

“Insane, but adorable.” The red streak in her hair had faded to a muted cherry. “And not why you have black circles under your eyes and tragedy weighing down your shoulders.”

“He found out that I’m planning to have a child on my own. He didn’t take it so well.”

“Ah. Did you really think he was going to?”

“I didn’t think it was any of his business. I still don’t.”

“I’m guessing he has a different opinion.”

“Yeah.”

“Damn. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to have my baby. It would have been nice to have Geoff around for a while longer but it was never going to work out long term. I’m a realist. So, a bit of heartache now beats a whole lot more heartache later.”

“I liked you two together.”

She pushed cups and saucers around like chess pieces. “Were we really together?”

“Seemed like you were only apart when you guys were at work. Call me crazy. Sure seemed like you were together.”

Geoff usually considered himself a pretty laid back guy. Easy going even so it was strange to feel this burning compulsion to get his divorce. To be free.

So he pushed his lawyer a little harder. Got his meeting.

And then he packed up his car and, much sooner than he’d imagined, found himself making the drive back to LA.

It was strange driving back down I-5 and then onto 101 recalling his very different feelings when he’d driven up to Hidden Falls only five months ago.

He’d still been angry then, hurting, in shock that his marriage had ended with the sudden jolt of a text message out of the blue.

But now that time had passed, he could see what he hadn’t been able to see before. The marriage hadn’t been working.

Could it have been saved?

He watched the trees spin by and the sun move slowly across the sky as he followed the road mile after mile. Summer was on its way and his first truncated year at Jefferson High was almost over. When he stopped to grab a coffee, he stood outside in the warmth of early June sunshine and stretched his cramped muscles. He had a lot of time to think.

Yes, he thought. The marriage could have been saved. In spite of the way she’d acted recently, he thought he and Brianna were both essentially decent people. They’d managed to live together for a few years in reasonable harmony. He’d imagined that was enough.

But it hadn’t been enough for his wife.

While he didn’t respect her methods of ending the marriage he had a sneaking sympathy for her. How difficult it must have been to try and end something that wasn’t particularly bad. It simply wasn’t very good.

At the time he’d felt black and angry, as the life he’d known had blown up in his face. What he couldn’t have foreseen at the time was that even if her methods sucked, Bri’s instincts to end the marriage were right.

If she hadn’t dumped his ass, he never would have met Iris.

He sipped coffee and got back behind the wheel for another grueling stint of road travel. Iris wasn’t easy. Life with her would never be polite and reasonably harmonious. She was passionate, creative, a nurturer who didn’t know how to nurture herself.

She made him laugh, she made him angry, she made him feel. He loved her with all his heart and he knew that she was scared enough, stubborn enough that she’d believe her own foolish fear rather than open up to the truth that could end up hurting her.

He might not be a brilliant writer like she was but he was a man who loved and understood story. Ellen had been right. Iris needed the grand gesture, the dragon slain for her.

There weren’t many dragons lurking in the Pacific Northwest but he was fairly certain there was some kind of demon hiding within Iris that made her fearful of believing a recently separated man could love again so quickly.

He knew it was possible because he was that man.

So, the dragon he had to slay was the fear inside Iris.

His grand gesture might not be the stuff of legend and fable, but it was a pretty big deal for him.

He was going to give Iris his freedom.

And hope very much she took it back from him again.

Geoff walked into the familiar offices of his former best friend Stephen J. Parker, as it said on the door. He thought of all the times he’d dropped by here to pick up his buddy for a run after work, or to grab a beer.

He’d never imagined he’d enter the offices of Stephen Jasper (and how many people even knew Steve’s middle name?) as a client – not of his former best friend – but of a lawyer who’d been recommended to him. And that his former best friend would be representing Geoff’s wife. Now his girlfriend.

He’d met with his own lawyer that morning and drilled into her once more that he wanted the details finalized today. Sixteen hours on the road with a couple of hours snatched sleep had not mellowed him.

“I’d have told you that you were crazy,” she said, “that they’d use your haste against you. But I think they might be in a hurry too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think they both feel guilty, frankly. The sooner you’re divorced and they can forget what they did to you the happier they’ll be.”