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Iris is as kind and understanding as ever, hushing me and stroking my hair. She assumes I’m broken up because she is where she is, which I am, but my bawling is so unlike me. I can usually detach from everything, even Iris, when I feel things are getting too big on the emotional front.
I know in a second it’s because of James. He’s done more than claim me. He’s made me feel something I never thought I would in this life.
“You’re not crying a river over some man, I hope.” Iris teases me, making herself laugh and then coughs until I sit up to make sure she’s all right.
“I’m okay. I’m fine,” she says impatiently, waving off my concern and giving me that steel-eyed look.
The Iris I know and love is alive and well. She sees a lot more than I think.
“What happened, though?” I have to ask, wondering how she went from feeling fine to the hospital so quickly.
She huffs a sigh and lets her hands fall into her lap. “I guess the old heartstrings got a shock, is all,” she murmurs, giving a little shrug before frowning at all the tubes and wires hooked up to her frail body.
“What do you mean?” I ask, almost cautiously.
“When I saw that man this morning… ya know? Mr. Incredible… and then I saw him later again, tugging petals off some flowers,” she reflects.
I feel my stomach start buzzing with nerves—excitement, sadness, and a whole new set of feelings for James if Iris’s story is going where I think it is.
“I told you he was grieving. That nobody acts that crazy…,” she says, breaking off to cough again and setting off some alarm. A nurse appears and gives me a special look. I know I shouldn’t be talking to Iris about this. Not now.
“I think that’s enough action for a while, eh Iris?” the nurse croons, helping her with an oxygen mask and adjusting a drip line until Iris calms and nods, settling back into her pillows.
Her thin, frail hand reaches for mine.
“I got it wrong… Jasmine,” she whispers through the mask. “Man like that… the right girl… he’d do anything to keep her. Guy looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, wondering if she loved him back.”
She trails off and closes her eyes, still awake, but just tired and obviously still weak. This is what she wants to tell me. She needs me to know.
If she wasn’t so ill, I could tell her everything. Tell her how James and I…
Well… that’ll have to be a story for when her heart can handle hearing the juicy details. Nothing gross, just I’m already dying to tell her about James and me. I want to tell her how much I’ve fallen for him.
Now that I know what he was putting himself through earlier, I couldn’t fall much harder or faster for the man. I know I’m in love, and it’s the forever kind, just like James was saying.
More a man of live-action demonstrations, James has certainly opened my eyes and a few other places to show just how he feels.
“I’ll come to see you in the morning,” I whisper to Iris, getting up to go and pecking the top of her head gently as she nods.
“I’ll be okay. Promise,” she assures me. “And tell Phil to go home, will ya? He’s a pain in the ass when he sees me like this.”
I stifle my laugh and promise her I will tell him right away.
“Now get outta here,” she murmurs. “Go get what’s his name and make him buy you a steak dinner. And whatever you do, Jaz, don’t let him out of your sight. He’s a keeper.”
I smile at the thought and feel like she will be fine.
It isn’t until I’m back out in the corridor and spot James that it clicks. Irisdoesknow. Of course, she does. She always knows everything before I tell her. If I know her, she would’ve been so mad at herself for not seeing what was so obvious between James and me, she probably did give herself a turn.
James looks more like he’s standing guard than just waiting for me, and I rush into his arms as soon as I get close enough.
“Everything okay?” he asks, making me feel safe and comforted in a way that only he can.
I give a nod and look up at him, smiling. “She said you have to take me out for a steak dinner,” I tell him, making him chuckle.
“Oh, she did, did she? And what else did she say?” he asks, holding me close as he walks us both out toward the exit.
I think I’ll save the last thing Iris said for later. That whole “never let him go” thing.
