Wild Iris Ridge (Hope's Crossing) by RaeAnne Thayne Read Free Book Online Page A

conversation.”
    Lucy was sorely tempted, struck again by how very few female friends she had. She was suddenly greedy for friends—and not just any friends, these women.
    At the same time, she wasn’t sure she could pull off being warm and friendly when she felt so wrecked by everything that had happened the past few days. It wasn’t every week a woman lost the job of her dreams or tried to burn down the only thing she had left.
    “Another time, I would love that. Right now I need to head over to Iris House and take a look at the damages.”
    “Oh, good luck,” Charlotte said. “We’ll definitely catch up while you’re in town.”
    “Genevieve, if you’re serious about helping me with Iris House, I would greatly appreciate any input. Maybe we could make an appointment next week for you to walk through with me and at least give me some idea where to start.”
    The other woman looked thrilled. “That would be fantastic! I just had these really cute cards made up.” She reached into the funky fabric bag she carried and pulled out a slim black case. She extracted a business card and handed it over to Lucy. “My cell, business line and email are on there. Call me and we can work something out. Do you have a card we can exchange?”
    She had about a jillion and three of them, but they wouldn’t do her any good anymore. “Not on me,” she answered, which wasn’t precisely a lie. “I’ll call you, though.”
    “Great. I can’t wait.”
    She waved goodbye to the women, left a bill on the counter to pay Dermot for her breakfast along with a healthy tip and then walked out into the town that would be her home for the foreseeable future, like it or not.

CHAPTER FOUR
    “C OME ON , HONEY . You can do it,” Brendan urged his daughter.
    “No! Don’t let go, Daddy,” Faith begged. “Please don’t let go.”
    Brendan sighed as he held on to the back of her bike seat, wishing he could enjoy the sweetly warm April evening that smelled of life, new growth, somebody barbecuing down the street.
    Another spring, another effort to get Faith to ride her bike without the training wheels.
    Two years ago, she had begged him to take off the training wheels on her bike as soon as the snow melted. He had promised he would before the new baby came—but before he could follow through on his promise, Jess and the baby were both gone.
    None of them had felt much like riding bikes that spring. When he pulled them out of the garage after the snow melted a year ago, Faith had insisted she wasn’t ready to ride without the training wheels. He had pushed a little but not too hard. Jessie had only been gone a year and Faith seemed to need the comfort of the familiar.
    But she would turn eight years old during the summer. The time had come for her to stop clinging so tightly to the familiar and venture into untried territory.
    He worried about the tentativeness she had developed since Jess’s death. She never wanted to try anything new—roller-skating, Girl Scouts, sushi.
    She was an insanely smart girl, but she was beginning to let her fears rule her.
    All of them had been in grief counseling for months after Jess and their unborn baby died. Maybe they weren’t quite done in that department.
    At some point, he had to fight back against the tyrannical hold Faith’s fears had over her. He figured forcing her to lose the training wheels was as good a place to start as any and had removed them a week earlier, much to her dismay.
    “Hey, Dad! Look! Here I go!”
    Carter, still a month away from six, rolled past on his two-wheeler like Lance freaking Armstrong—but without the steroid abuse.
    Carter seemed on the other side of the spectrum from Faith, totally without fear. He had begged Brendan to take off his training wheels the previous fall and he had done it with a great deal of trepidation, certain a five-year-old didn’t have the balance or coordination yet. Training wheels existed for a reason, right?
    At the same time, he had