Iris in Bloom: Take a Chance, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

for Iris’s birthday. Why don’t you come?”
    She decided in that moment that she was never going to let Geoff go out that door again unless she ran ahead and checked that there was no embarrassment train steaming her way.
    If he glanced back at her after her mother invited him to her birthday dinner she wouldn’t have known it as she had her head in her hands. She heard him say, “I’d love to come.”
    “Fantastic. Come around six. You’re not allergic to anything are you?”
    “Not a thing.”
    “Wonderful. Look forward to seeing you then.”
    “Me, too,” Geoff said.
    “Bye.”
    She heard footsteps and waited until they stopped before lifting her head.
    Her mother was still there.
    “Isn’t that nice that he’s coming to your birthday.”
    “Why don’t you get me a big T-shirt for my birthday that says Desperate Spinster all over it.”
    “Already ordered.” She reached out and brushed the top of Iris’s nose with her fingertips. “You’ve got flour or something all over your nose. It’s adorable.”
    “This day just gets better and better.”
    “Oh, stop it. He’s nice. I’m sure he could use a friend since he’s new in town.”
    “You two are going to be great BFFs.”
    “Funny.”
    “What can I get you, Mom?”
    “That nice jasmine green tea.”
    “The lemon bars are fresh out of the oven.”
    “Oh, I shouldn’t but I am weak.”
    Daphne had her shoulders hunched so slightly that no one who didn’t know her as well as Iris did would even notice. Because she did notice she made a pot of tea for two and asked Dosana to take over. “But call me when the timer goes off for the cinnamon buns.”
    She took a tray over to the table where her mom was sitting staring out the window and sat down.
    “You don’t need to sit with me, honey.”
    “Happy to get off my feet for a few.”
    They poured tea and she waited. Her mother sipped her tea, bit into a lemon square and complimented her on how good they were.
    She waited.
    “I wonder if you could talk to your father,” Daphne suddenly said.
    “What’s he done this time?” Jack Chance was a kind and decent man. He was a loving husband and a good father. But he had some very odd ideas and whenever her mother said, “I wonder if you could speak to your father,” she knew he’d come up with a doozy.
    “He decided we should have a greenhouse,” Daphne began.
    “Okay.” Somehow she knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as going to the local garden shop and ordering up a greenhouse for delivery.
    “He’s decided to put it on the sunny side of the house.”
    “You mean like a lean-to?”
    Daphne looked at her with the eyes of a woman who is barely holding it together. “I mean that if I hadn’t hidden the sledgehammer, we’d be missing a wall in the front room by now.”
    “Why?” she cried. “Why does he do it?”
    “He gets these ideas and they make sense to him.”
    “Can’t you stop him?”
    Her mother looked helpless. “You know what he’s like. If I argue with him he tells me I have no vision. And then he acts so hurt that I end up giving in.”
    “How am I going to stop him?”
    “If you can get him focused on a different project he’ll have time to realize that we don’t need a greenhouse in the front room.”
    “Focus on what?”
    “Well, he’s very good at dry walling and flooring. I was thinking maybe you could tell him you really need your attic done. Tell him you need a studio or something.”
    “A home office.” Strangely, she’d been thinking about finishing the attic.
    “Perfect.” Daphne looked puzzled. “Except you already have a home office in your spare bedroom.”
    She took a fortifying sip of green tea. She supposed this was as good a moment as any to share her plan. “I’m thinking of turning the spare bedroom into a nursery.”
    Daphne was rarely shocked. After years of Jack’s home handyman projects and the antics of eleven kids, she was pretty much immune. But Iris had the dubious