bathed in a creek and had an outhouse. He was not a good choice for a physical only affair.
Of course, now you’ll have an apartment...
And he wouldn’t come down from the mountain. So it was moot.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Rose said. “And you know that you have our support whatever you do.”
“I’m fine with you moving,” Pansy said. “In fact, I say, it’s about time. You don’t owe anybody your eternal indentured servitude.”
“She is not in service to us,” Rose protested. “I thought she made pancakes because she liked them.”
Being with Logan had changed Rose quite a bit. Their relationship had brought a certain amount of maturity and understanding to her younger sister. She had become a woman, not because she’d had sex, that was a severely antiquated idea. And anyway, that would mean Iris was a... a maiden. Not a woman herself, and that was not true at all.
Rose had become a woman because she had to learn how to love somebody who had wounds as deep as her own. Because she had to learn to care about someone else’s feelings even more than her own, and she had to consider what life was like for someone else. What someone else was feeling.
All of that had worked to make her a much easier person to deal with. Because for all that Rose had always been a delight, she had also always been a handful.
But sometimes, she was every inch the girl that she always had been. And as far as Iris could tell, it was usually with her.
“I do like making you pancakes,” Iris said, knowing she was placating her a little bit. “Don’t get me wrong. But...”
“She needs to make pancakes for a naked man,” Pansy said, and Iris could tell her sister was slightly triumphant that she’d been the one to say it.
Pansy and Iris would just never be as comfortable making intentionally suggestive comments as Rose was.
“Why not,” Iris said, looking around the space. “Really. Why not.”
“Well, when you tell Ryder you’re moving out, maybe don’t mention the pancakes for the naked man,” Rose said.
“I should,” Iris said. “Lord knows we actually made things a little bit too easy on him.”
“That was a kindness on our parts,” Pansy said. “Because Colt and Jake didn’t make anything easy.”
Her cousins had been hellions when they were younger. Of course, now they were the ones that were home the least, spending most of their time on the road with the rodeo.
But that was coming to an end, at least, as far as she understood it. Jake had talked about buying a ranch in town, and everyone was hoping that meant he would be around more.
“Nothing was easy for any of us,” Iris said. “But I think we’ve all grown up pretty well. Or at least... I’m on the way to growing up.”
“Iris, you were born grown-up,” Rose said.
And there was something about that statement that settled wrong inside of her. She knew that it was a compliment. About her maturity, or whatever. But it made her question some things.
She was born grown-up, and she had never rebelled. Not ever.
And she had to wonder if she was overdue.
Well, not right now, she needed to start a business.
She did.
And she had all the means to do it.
She looked around the space again. “Okay,” she said. “I’m going to need to make some lists. List of things I’m going to need for this apartment. And a list of what I’m going to put on the menu. Do you want menu items named after you?”
Pansy and Rose brightened. “Yes,” they both said in unison.
“Then you’re going to help me. And your favorites are going to be your namesakes.” She grinned. “And, if you want me to make you food, all you have to do is come here.”
She was suddenly feeling more confident than she had in a long time.
The proper lady in her wanted to write a thank-you note. To Griffin Chance.
Well, she could do better than a thank-you note. When she was finished making her menu, she could bring him a selection from it. And maybe, she would even name a specialty item after him.
She would just have to figure out what that would be.
CHAPTER EIGHT
HE HADN’T SLEPT at all the night before. Everything on his body hurt. Sometimes, he just had those nights. Not as often as he used to. But there were times when he just couldn’t get certain images out of his head. There were times when