Chapter 9 Iris
iris
My head was pounding as I ripped my apron off my waist, throwing it into the locker, trying to get my breathing under control.
Joe sent me home early again, even if I had just gotten here and some of the girls had been here for a few hours already.
The blatant favoritism was weighing me down and I had to take a few breaths before I did or said something that would get me fired.
I threw on my sweats and hoodie since the day had gotten cooler and grabbed my purse, slamming my locker, getting some of my frustrations out. The bar wasn’t too busy, so it didn’t seem like I would miss out on much, but I shouldn’t be going home.
“Iris!”
I turned around to see one of the men from my tables walking up to me. He was a regular who was working on the highway with the construction crew who came in frequently.
“We didn’t want you leaving without your tip.” He gave me a smile, handing me two twenties.
“Oh… you didn’t have to,” I said, feeling victorious.
I knew whoever got my table would have given me a shit tip-out.
“We insist.” He pushed the money to me.
“Thank you.” I gave him my best smile.
“We will see you next time.” He winked, waving before going back to his table.
I tucked the money into my purse, leaving with my head held high as I felt eyes on me.
Looking over my shoulder, Debbie glared at me, and I waved like she was my best friend.
I felt sorry for her because no matter how hard she tried to push people down, most of the time it backfired on her.
I don’t know how she could be so miserable all the time.
The sun was barely setting as I made my way to my car, going home alone sounded less appealing and the stress from having Nash in the same town as me, had me staying home more often than usual.
Before second guessing myself I drove to my brother's house hoping his fiancée, Nova, had made some food. If not, I knew I could scour their fridge for something, maybe steal Nova and have an impromptu girl’s moment.
I pulled up to their home noticing an extra truck.
It was new and I wondered if Theo had finally gotten himself a newer vehicle or maybe it was Forest, his ranch hand, who had gotten himself something nice.
I grabbed my bag and ran to the front door, it felt like it had gotten even colder now that the sun had set.
It wasn’t unusual for me to randomly stop by.
Theo always told Jude and I that his home was our home.
The longer I had been in Sterling Ridge, the more that rang true.
I never once felt like I wasn't welcome in his home, not even when I barged in unannounced numerous times.
But tonight, when I walked in, it was the first time I felt awkward, and it was because of the man sitting at the dining room table.
The entire room grew quiet as I stood there staring at Nash.
My first instinct was to yell at him to get the hell out of here, to stay the hell away from my family, but I couldn’t cause a scene.
Not when my secret could come out, not when I didn’t know how far Nash would go to get what he wanted or needed.
“Izzy!” Sol crashed into me giving my midsection a big hug, snapping me out of my stupor.
“Hello, beautiful,” I said, kissing her head, grateful that this little sunshine grounded me. “Sorry to barge in on y’all, but I got cut from work and I figured I’d come over.”
“Oh, you know we don’t mind,” Nova said, standing up walking to me. “Someone get her a chair.”
Nova hugged me and whispered. “I should have texted you, but he hasn’t said anything.”
“It’s fine,” I said, squeezing her.
“They cut you again?” Theo asked, setting a chair down for me right next to Sol and him.
“Yeah, Debbie was working so you know I’ll be sent home before her,” I said.
“Hey, Atlas. Hey, Colt,” I said to my future brothers-in-law, kissing their cheeks trying to buy myself some time.
They knew that I knew Nash, but how much information was I willing to give my family without giving too much information away. I looked up at Nash after I kissed Atlas’ cheek.
“Hey, stranger,” I said, deciding I would be civil and act like his friend.
That's the story I told my family at Thanksgiving last year and I might as well continue it.
Nash stood up. “Hey there, Petal.”
I expected a quick hug, but Nash did nothing I expected. He lingered, squeezing me tight and whispered, “Hello there, wifey.”
My nails dug into his side as hard as I could, hoping I had left some damage.
“What are you doing here?” I walked to my seat across from him wondering what story he had spun for my family.”
“Circuit is about to start, but I need to get my mind off it for a bit and what better way than working for a ranch,” he said, blowing on his soup.
It was caldo de res—beef soup with vegetables—that was absolutely to die for. I swear Nova could open her own restaurant and I would be there every day.
“Isn’t the first rodeo in a few weeks?” I raised my brow.
“Here ya go.” Colt slid a big bowl of soup in front of me and I thanked him. “Tortillas are in the middle and salsa on the left is spicy, the one on the right is mild.”
My mouth watered instantly, this is exactly what I needed except without Nash. “Thanks, Colt.”
I grabbed a tortilla, a spoonful of mild salsa because your girl was a wuss, and I dug into my bowl forgetting all about Nash for a moment. The first bite was transcendent, the second bite I thought I saw heaven and the rest of the bowl I would have fought in a war for.
“Have you not eaten all day?”
I looked around to see almost all of them staring at me.
“Uh… yeah, I had some dino nuggets for lunch, but that was like six hours ago,” I said, wiping my mouth when I realized I had some soup running down my chin.
When my eyes landed on Nash, I scowled at his amused expression.
“You didn’t have to help me this morning,” Theo said.
“I didn’t mind, plus it was just me making some calls,” I said. “I did a lot of that when we had the farm.”
“Iris—”
“I didn’t mean that as a dig, Theo,” I said quickly. “I just said it matter-of-factly.”
My face grew red. This was not a side of my family that I wanted Nash to see.
“I know, I was just going to say thank you,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “I just don’t want you to think that you have to do this.”
I set my spoon down, trying to find the right words.
“I know, I miss the farm sometimes, so this is a nice happy medium for me. I get to work without all the responsibility,” I grinned, hoping to ease his tension.
He nodded and everyone went back to eating.
“So how long have you had the ranch, Theo?” Nash asked, effectively pushing the last of the tension out of the room.
Theo answered as I went back to eating and passively listening. The boys kept the conversation flowing as Nova and I had a more silent conversation with our eyes. Like, what the fuck was happening? I needed a shot of tequila and a way for us to get away because I had questions, too many of them.
After I devoured a second bowl of soup, I cleared the table. Nova got up to help me.
“Oh no, let me, it’s the least I can do for that delicious meal you cooked for us,” Nash said, getting up and stacking some dishes.
“Oh, you don’t—”
“I insist, it was amazing and I appreciate the home-cooked meal,” he said, giving her a charming smile.
I glared at Nash wishing he would just sit his ass down.
He didn’t look at me as we cleared the table.
Either he was ignoring me or he was just that daft.
I grabbed the dishes, walking to the kitchen getting ready to wash them when Nash walked in behind me.
He set the plates in the sink, opening the dishwasher to load it up like he had done it a thousand times.
“What the fuck are you doing, Nash?” I asked exasperated.
“I’m cleaning up, Rose,” he said, not bothering to look at me.
“That’s not what I asked you, dick,” I growled, getting tired of him constantly calling me the wrong name.
I knew he was doing it on purpose.
“Then what did you mean?” He rinsed the dishes before loading them neatly.
I huffed, looking over my shoulder, checking that my family stayed away. “You know exactly what I mean. Now is not the time to be cute.”
Nash looked up with a smirk. “Aww, wifey, you think I’m cute?”
“Fuck you, Nash, you know what the fuck I mean.” I threw my hands up. “Why are you here? Why did you decide to work for my family? Why did you have to barge into my life?”
“Well, Violet, if you had just answered my calls, we wouldn’t be here,” he said, getting back to loading the dishwasher.
“That’s rich coming from you,” I snapped. “A lot of this could have been avoided, husband, if you had just answered your phone too.”
“You’re right,” he said, catching me off guard. “I’m sorry. This hasn’t been easy for me and I—well, I didn’t know what to expect from our marriage, so I did what I did best, which was to run from everything that had to do with my father and unfortunately that was this marriage.”
I was too stunned to say anything, not expecting him to apologize.
“This marriage was pushed on me as I know it was for you—”
The sound of a chair dragging had Nash shutting up quickly. I huffed and turned around looking for Tupperware to put away their leftovers. Sol’s chatter moved to the living room in front of the kitchen as we continued to clean in silence.
My brother and his family were so damn cute together.
I didn’t understand it at first, thought it was unnatural, but when I realized those were my parent’s words and not my own, I saw that they truly loved my brother and nothing else mattered.
It didn’t matter what my previous version of love had looked like.
If this made my brother happy, then it made me happy too.
I was glad my brother had found people to love him through thick and thin. He deserved it.