The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,25
people that I have something like that in common with. So... I just... I found that my social life just kind of crumbled and fell away, particularly in the last four years. And I just kind of feel lonely. Aimless. Isolated.”
“Yeah,” he said, feeling almost guilty that he couldn’t contribute more to the conversation. But he was isolated on purpose. And it was difficult for him to see it as a bad thing.
“Anyway. I guess that’s going to change with the bakery. I should hopefully meet some people?”
“I would think.”
“I’ll actually be out there, in the world, in the community. I’ll have something in common with people. I’ll own a business.”
It sounded to him like Iris had a secure world with a lot of people that cared about her. And while he could definitely understand why she felt like she had a failure to launch, or whatever, he also didn’t feel that sorry for her.
It sounded like she had a lot.
“You’re close to your family, though.”
“Yes,” she said. “I love them. But they’ve managed to be close to me, while having distinct lives of their own.”
“Fair enough. No boyfriend, then?”
She laughed. The woman honest to God laughed like he’d told the funniest joke in all of creation.
How long had it been since he’d heard another person laugh? A real laugh.
He hadn’t laughed like that in years.
And he hadn’t shared laughter in just as long.
He’d heard it, he was sure. At parties he hadn’t wanted to be at. Before he’d come to the conclusion that home wasn’t home anymore. It had grated on him. It hadn’t...made it feel like his lungs were full.
“No,” she said. “Not even close.”
It struck him as strange, right then. Because she was a pretty little thing, actually. He’d come to that conclusion out here in the sun. But maybe that was the problem. Maybe nobody looked at her for long enough to notice.
Because he could see how in a bar somewhere your eye might skim over someone so deliberately plain. Her long hair captured in a tight ponytail, or a braid. Her face completely free of makeup. Her clothes were serviceable, and that was about it. Long skirts and simple T-shirts. Or jeans, and the same simple T-shirts. He’d seen her a few different times, always in a variation of those things.
But there was a strength to her that was uncommon. A sort of deep stubbornness that was more than a little bit fascinating.
She was kind of incredible.
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Just... I’m not the kind of person that gets noticed.”
“Maybe you should start bringing plates of cookies with you when you go out.”
She laughed again. “You know, I probably should. That might bait them a little bit.”
“You don’t need to do that,” he said. “I’m sorry. That was a bad joke.”
He really did feel guilty now. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel guilt. It was just that he lived with it all the time. Though, actually noticing it was a strange thing. It was there like air in his lungs, so he took it for granted. Actually, having it change enough, shift enough for a moment for it to be apparent... That was weird.
“No, it wasn’t. I’m realistic, Griffin. My sister Pansy, the one who is with the police department, she is adorable. Like a pocket-sized stick of dynamite. She scares men a little bit, don’t get me wrong. I mean, she can arrest them. Or tase them. And would. But she’s not somebody that you can ignore. My sister Rose is incredibly beautiful. Stunning, actually, and she has the kind of personality that men notice. She tried to set me up with someone a few months ago. But it turned out that he was hung up on her. And you know, I wasn’t even surprised. Because anyone who gets in her orbit tends to be taken in by her spell. Some of us just don’t cast spells.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. This wasn’t the kind of conversation he’d ever had with a woman. He tried to rack his brain to remember if he’d ever had a casual conversation with somebody like this. Regardless of gender.
He’d had friends. But then, there had been a time when things had turned into business partnerships, and everything had centered around work, and the kind of small talk that laid the sort of inroads that you needed for business relationships. Everything had been centered around that.