The Strawberry Patch Pancake House (Dream Harbor, #4)

by Laurie Gilmore

Kaori shrugged. ‘The one thing she did say was she thought you were destined for bigger things. She didn’t want to stand in your way. Olive was her dream. She didn’t want to derail yours.’

If he wanted perfection from her, he was going to be highly disappointed. Iris was curlicues, not straight lines. She was always late, except when she was teaching (she wouldn’t do that to her students). She had a trail of half-finished hobbies and partially read books long enough that she couldn’t see the end of it. She was good enough, but never perfect.

Was this a pepper-spray situation? Was it a pepper-spray situation if she liked that her new boss was staring at her legs? Maybe she should pepper spray herself.

‘I’m pretty sure half of dealing with kids is just tricking them into doing stuff.’

liked relationships like she liked her chicken wings, hot and fast.

Eventually, she learned to stop hoping that her mother’s latest boyfriend would maybe one day become her new stepdad, but clearly some damage had been done because grown-up Iris didn’t bother getting too close to any man.

Parenthood, man, what a mindfuck.

From where he stood, Iris didn’t drift, she floated. She floated and she danced and she laughed and she just made everyone’s life better.

‘I never had a dad before,’ Olive said, ping-ponging between topics in a way Iris had learned was common for her age. ‘Me neither.’ A shuffling sound in the hallway caught Iris’s attention. Archer had paused at Olive’s room after his shower. He raised an eyebrow in question at the two on the ground, but Iris smiled to let him know everything was fine. Or mostly fine. ‘But now I have one,’ Olive said, not noticing her father. ‘Yes, you do. You’re lucky.’ ‘I am?’ ‘Sure. Your dad came right away when you needed him. That’s what makes a good dad.’ Her gaze snagged on Archer, on his face, on the smile tugging at his mouth. ‘Really?’

‘I thought you’d be terrible, actually,’ Iris went on. ‘I thought you’d be sticky and weird.’ ‘I’m not weird!’ ‘Oh, you definitely are, but so am I, so I like it.’

‘You’re always so … positive about things.’ ‘Oh, that.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s a double-edged sword. It’s also why I’m always late. Optimistic people are overly optimistic about their ability to get somewhere on time. And they’re usually wrong.’

Was this why people wanted a partner? This feeling at the end of a rough day that they’d survived something together? She had to admit it was nice.

This day, this life, felt like a different type of achievement. The type that only required his presence not his perfection.