The Heartbreaker of Echo Pass - Maisey Yates Page 0,100

and ask it to love again, was not the same. To ask it to dream again.

And the fact was, it had gotten there all on its own. Or rather, Iris had served up hope on a plate of cookies, and had made him realize all the more that there could be.

Had started his heart longing again far before his brain had caught up. Far before he’d started to realize.

He’d let everything good burn away in that fire. And that wasn’t tribute to anyone.

He’d had diamonds, and he hadn’t taken the remaining diamond dust forward.

He wouldn’t move on. He realized that now. Because he was forever changed. Forever altered. But love, he thought then, was a lot like fire. It could destroy. It could hurt so very badly. It could be a nightmare of endless proportions. But you needed it to survive. Needed it to breathe. To make a life.

Not just survival.

And he couldn’t say that he felt unburdened by the realization of all of this. No, he was bloody knuckled, bruised and battered.

But the man he’d become loved Iris Daniels. He wanted to do the work that needed to be done to be what she needed.

Because he didn’t have a monopoly on hurt. On loss. On need too.

Because being a partner didn’t mean taking all the comfort on offer for yourself. No, it surely didn’t. It meant being a partner. It meant figuring out how to be whole enough to offer as much as he took.

What an interesting thing, to fall in love as this man. Who wasn’t young or idealistic, or simply assuming everything would work out.

He’d had everything. And he’d lost it.

He’d come out the other side as someone entirely different. Someone who wanted peace and quiet. Who never wanted to have another shallow business conversation again for as long as he lived. Who didn’t particularly want to put on a suit and go to a party. Who enjoyed a slower pace. Who wanted to build flower boxes, and houses with his bare hands.

He looked around this place, that house, that shrine he’d been building to grief, and his stomach hollowed out.

Mel didn’t need this house. But he did. And somewhere along the lines in the last couple of weeks, his intent in building it had shifted.

Maybe part of him had been working toward this the entire time.

He was building a life.

A life that he could share with Iris. And suddenly, the stars above him seemed like diamond dust. Bright and hopeful and beautiful. He was overwhelmed then, by a deep sense of peace. They were with him. Part of him.

Shining above him.

Losing them had left a hole in his heart. But loving them... Loving them gave him some of the best parts of who he was now. A gift, one that he could scarce say he deserved. No, he didn’t deserve it at all. But his nonetheless. To squander, or use.

And he was determined now that he would use it.

He was determined now to love.

* * *

THE THING THAT surprised Iris the most in the first few days since the grand opening was that Elliott appeared. She hadn’t expected that. She really and truly hadn’t expected to see the man who had acted like she was basically invisible the last time she’d seen him at the Gold Valley Saloon, come to patronize her bakery.

But then, she was the only bakery in town, so it might have more to do with her cakes than with her specifically.

“Iris,” he said.

“Hi,” she said. “Can I... Help you?”

“I haven’t had the opportunity to try any of your baked goods. And I remember a few months ago we talked about them. Remember, we shared some recipes.”

Yes, she remembered. She remembered that Rose had introduced them, and they had ended up talking about bread, and they had exchanged recipes and Iris had believed, really and truly believed, that he was interested in her. And it was the first time any man had actually seemed like he might be, so she had felt immensely flattered.

“Yeah, I vaguely remember something to that effect. I saw you the other night, I wasn’t sure if you saw me.”

“I did,” he said, the words coming out slightly rusty.

“Oh. Well. You didn’t really... Greet me.”

“Sorry. I was surprised. Is he... That man... Are you... With him?”

Was she with him? Well, he had made some pretty bold declarations about wanting to pursue a future, and wanting to be with her. And he had moved in. He made love with her