“Tell her you’re sorry you missed her this morning, but you were naked, warm and hoping to get laid again before breakfast.”

“Seth!”

“I slept like the dead. Right up until your greedy little hands were on me, teasing me, getting me up. Literally.” He grinned. “Best sleepover I’ve ever had. I think I’ll do it again.”

“You’re not the least bit troubled by her early-morning visit, are you?”

He shook his head. “Not the least.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“I think we should at least go steady, but that’s about the most patience I have. For two cents I’d take you right to the justice of the peace and stake my claim. I love you, Iris. And you sleep very well.”

“You’re in a bit of a hurry, I think.”

“I am, I guess. Sorry. Take your time, Iris. Don’t let me rush you.”

“What is it you think you want?” she asked.

“Everything. I want all of you. Happily ever after, a couple of kids, a permanent home, waking up together in the morning, fighting over who has to get up to get breakfast for the kids, arguments over chores and finances and then make-up sex and then we do it all over again. I want to be the person you love the most, get mad at most often, make up with because you can’t help it. I want to be the guy you laugh with, lean on, cry on, yell at, reach for. I can do it, Iris. I can be the one.”

“Seth, everyone is going to think this is too sudden,” she said.

“Screw ’em. Even not counting the past thirty years, we’ve been working our way back to each other for a couple of months. No one knows me like you do—there’s no woman in the world I will ever know the way I know you. Take your time, Iris. I’m ready when you are.”

“What if I decide this is just not for me?”

He was shaking his head. “After last night? Bullshit.”

She curled up close. “I think you should try to convince me one more time. Then we’ll shower and go get breakfast. Then I’ll think of something to say to your mother.”

His hand moved smoothly over her breast. “Please don’t talk to me about my mother while I’m making love to you. I want to be able to do my best.”

And she laughed until he successfully stopped her.

* * *

Iris found it was a transition that took minutes, not weeks. Seth took her to the diner for breakfast where they sat at the counter together and no one blinked an eye at them having breakfast together on a Saturday morning. They ran into Dr. Grant and his little boy having breakfast. They got to hear all about how Scott and Peyton had set a date and there was to be a big Basque wedding at her family’s farm in the spring. Mac stopped by to check in with Gina and get a shopping list from her so he could make a store run, but he paused for a cup of coffee. Eric from the service station came in for a late breakfast and there was a little small talk about classic cars taking up residence in his body shop. Then Seth said he had some paperwork and told Iris to come over when she was ready for a lift home.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “I’m walking. In fact, I might take a long walk across the beach.”

“I’ll talk to you later.” He kissed her on the cheek as he left.

“That was nice,” Gina said after he had gone.

“He’s nice.”

“So, you two?”

“Recently, sort of. Except that we’ve known each other since we were four. So it wasn’t exactly a blind date.”

Gina laughed. “A couple of old friends getting together has great odds. Mac and I were best friends for years before we became Mr. and Mrs. Mac.”

“That’s right,” Iris said. “I had forgotten that.”

“I didn’t think this town would ever forget,” Gina said with a laugh. “They had all been taking bets while we stumbled around trying to get together.”

“I wonder how many in town have been watching me and Seth....”

“Oh, I think many,” Gina said, smiling. “You don’t look unhappy.”

“Just a little nervous,” she said. “His mother is going to need an explanation for why his car was in my drive this morning.”

“Child’s play,” Gina said. “We had to deal with two sixteen-year-old daughters! Talk about nerves!”

“But I’m an expert on sixteen-year-old girls,” Iris said. “I’m definitely not an expert on sixty-five-year-old mothers!”

“Same principles apply, I think,” Gina said.

* * *

Iris popped her head in the flower shop and met eyes with a grinning Grace. “How’d those calla lilies work out?”

“Very well. You’re quite a clever matchmaker.”

“I had nothing to do with it! I was in my pajamas and had just plunged headfirst into a smutty novel when he came pounding at the door, a desperate man, demanding flowers for you. What in the world did you do to him?”

“I told him he had to go away.”

“I’m going to remember that move,” Grace said with a laugh. “In fact, I’m going to call Sam Worthington and tell him to leave me alone! And that I’ll be right here if he’s upset.”

* * *

Iris bought a beautiful carrot cake from Carrie’s deli and walked up the hill to her house, except she went next door and knocked on Gwen’s back door. When Gwen opened the door, Iris immediately flushed pink. “Hi,” she said, holding out the carrot cake.

“Come in, Iris, come in. Bearing gifts?”

“And maybe an explanation,” she said a little timidly. “About this morning...”

“Shh. Seth would have a fit if he knew you were trying to explain. Besides, I’ve been hoping for years that the two of you would find each other. I don’t know what happened between you, but you and Seth sure stumbled around for a long time.”

“I was angry with him, Gwen. We had a fight in our senior year. It was all a horrible misunderstanding. Of course, it was mostly his fault....”

“Of course,” Gwen said.

“I brought you this cake. Have it for dessert. Norm will love it. I know you could bake an even better one, but this will give you a couple of hours to yourself instead. And about last night...”

“Shh,” she said again. “I’m dying to know everything, but you better keep it to yourself. Let’s just say I have a feeling those spare shirts he’s been keeping here are going to move out.”