Bloom of Love (Long Valley #10) - Erin Wright Page 0,43

They should change directions. Hide. “What if we—”

“Hi Carla! Hi Christian!”

And…double shit.

She turned back to her red-haired friend with a huge smile pinned on her face. “Hey Iris! Declan! How are you guys?” She and Christian waited for the other couple to join them since they were under the shade of a huge elm, and didn’t want to give up their spot. It was too hot to stand out in the full brunt of the sunshine.

“Damn, this heat,” Declan said, once he reached them, and pulled off his hat to wipe at his brow. “I swear I can almost hear the kernels of wheat ripening. A couple more weeks of this, and harvest will be here in record time.”

“I keep telling Stetson we need to put a camera on the fields,” Christian said with a chuckle. “I think we can watch the hay grow in real time. When we get to harvest, you and I are gonna need to arm wrestle for who gets to use the new Case-International Magnum 400. I’ve been pumping iron every day so I can win.” He curled his arm, showing off his biceps like a body builder, and even as Carla laughed at his antics, she felt a little bead of sweat form across her upper lip.

Time had gotten away from them since their hike up to Christian’s tree, and they hadn’t made love since then. Carla was getting hornier by the day, and just watching the muscles of Christian’s arm was enough to get her motor revving.

Declan and Christian fell to chatting about tractor scheduling and when which Miller farm would harvest what – a topic guaranteed to put Carla to sleep in 30 seconds or less – so she turned to her friend instead.

“How are things going for you?” she asked brightly. Can’t talk about bouquets or infertility or Ivy’s pregnancy.

Which meant, of course, that was all her brain wanted to discuss.

Helpful, that.

“Good,” Iris said just as brightly. “I love the flowers from Happy Petals. Declan is sending me a bouquet every month, of course, and they’re just gorgeous. You do such a good job. I swear you work magic with flowers, and they always last forever, too!”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Carla said, trying to brush off the compliment. Talk about something else. Something else. Think of something else.

She had nothing.

“It really is lovely,” Iris said, breaking into the silence. “Getting flowers, I mean. I really—” Her voice broke and before Carla even looked, she knew Iris was crying.

Dammit.

“They…they make a difference,” Iris continued valiantly, her voice warbling. The tears were running ever faster down her face.

“Hey, we’re gonna go look at that display over there,” Carla said to the guys even as she looped her arm around Iris’ thin shoulders and led her away.

“Thanks,” Iris said, her voice muffled by the fabric of Carla’s shirt. She’d practically buried her face into Carla’s chest, trying to hide her tears from the rest of the world, but Carla didn’t mind. God gave her an extra generous helping of padding for just this reason.

She steered Iris behind a tall row of lilacs, the spring blossoms gone for the year but their greenery forming a perfect barrier, and then pulled her friend into a full embrace. Iris sobbed, her shoulders shaking as she let out the anguish.

“Shhh…it’s gonna be okay,” Carla whispered as she gently stroked her hand down the cascade of red. She’d always wanted red hair, and seeing the sunlight play with the color reminded her of just how much she’d love to have hair like this, instead of the average dark brown hair. Carla’s hair was nothing special – not like Iris’.

We all want what we don’t have.

“I’m sorry,” Iris said, her voice still shaking as she pulled away, rubbing at her eyes with the backs of her hands. She wasn’t using her cane today, and Carla thought about asking if this meant she was getting stronger, when Iris said, “Declan and I have been trying for months to get pregnant. Months and months…actually, over a year now.”

Carla nodded, not pointing out that it was her handwriting on the card included in the flowers each month. Declan always dictated the message over the phone, but it was her hand that wrote it.

Next month, honey

It’ll happen – keep the faith

I love you more than anything else in the world, even kids

“We started going to a doctor in Boise, actually. Did you know that infertility is one of the last big mysteries of the medical