She laughed meanly. “The last thing I’m going to do is sit and talk to you again!”

“Look, stay calm. You know I was concerned about your injuries, but are you so sure I’m the only one?”

“Yes, I’m sure! It’s you!”

And with that she turned and left. Iris could hear her running down the hall.

Wow, Iris thought. The day after Thanksgiving break? After she’d talked to Connie at the DHS office, knowing how busy everyone was, she had not expected this case to be handled so quickly. In fact, Connie had predicted that it could be months if anything at all happened.

Unless there had been more than one report, more than one complaint. Troy would have told her and she knew of no one else. She looked at her watch. It was too late in the day to catch Connie at the DHS office.

Seventeen

The nice thing about the two weeks after Thanksgiving was that Grace wasn’t worked to death. Aside from a couple of funeral bouquets and a centerpiece, there wasn’t a huge demand on her time. There were very few weddings in December and this year she hadn’t contracted any of them. Of course, the two weeks before Christmas would be frantic preparing wreaths, centerpieces, festive bouquets and orders of all kinds from out of town.

She closed the shop a little early and drove out to Cooper’s. She thought about walking there, but after a day on her feet, designing and selling, enough was enough and she drove instead. She walked in the back door from the parking lot and jumped up on a bar stool.

Troy smiled at her. “What’s up?”

“Just checking in. I hope your Thanksgiving was good.”

“As a matter of fact, it was great.”

“How was skiing?”

“I didn’t go. The forecast wasn’t that great and I had a couple of friends in a little town in the mountains in California. I went down there and did a little hunting. Then drove back.”

“Aw, you missed Thanksgiving dinner?”

“No, I had a great Thanksgiving dinner. There’s a little bar in that town—I’m friendly with the owner and my friend works there part-time. They put out a big spread. I had a good time. How about you?”

“Well, I was planning to lie around in my pajamas all day but Carrie found out. I ended up at the McCains’ with their entire extended family.”

“I thought you were going to the Sileski family gathering.”

“I was invited,” she said. “So were you. But in the end the only people I really knew were Seth and Iris and I decided I’d really earned a long day of movies. Well, and the parade. I always watch the parade.”

He gave the bar a wipe. “Drink?”

“A merlot?” she asked.

He poured the wine and put it in front of her. “What will you do for Christmas?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I have friends in Portland and a standing invitation, but I don’t mind if I’m on my own. I kind of like it. What about you?”

“I’m committed to family. My mom and dad are in San Diego but my sister, her husband and three rug rats are in Morro Bay on the California coast. We’ll all go there.”

“That sounds fun. Big family?”

“A younger brother and sister. She’s married, he’s in college. How about you? Big family?”

“No, not really. I lost my parents and I have aunts, uncles and cousins scattered around the country. No sibs, but cousins who are like sibs. I’ve been so bad about keeping in touch since I bought the shop. My fault. I could make time. I should make time.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m not good at that, either. I get a lot of complaints.”

“I just wanted to say, I’d like to go skiing some time. I’m not very good. You might want to rethink that invitation. I used to be athletic, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been on skis.”

“Then we’ll snowboard,” he said, grinning. “It’s harder.”

“I have exceptional balance,” she said. “And Iris said she’d loan me some gear. I’d still have to rent a snowboard or skis or whatever the torture of the day is. And you can renege if you want because I’m sure I’d be a real load. Inexperienced skier, virgin snowboarder, it might get in the way of your ride. But things are slow over Christmas. There are weekends and you have time off....”

“Let’s think about that,” he said.

If she wasn’t completely mistaken, he didn’t look unhappy about it. “How long have you been snowboarding?”

“Since I was about eight, I guess. Growing up in San Diego, we had access to everything. We could surf and ski and dive and climb. I learned to sail and parasail. The only thing that’s a lot better up here is the river rafting.” He whistled. “There are some rivers in this state that’ll make your life flash before your eyes.”

“And you like that?”

“I like that.”

“Did you ever skate? Hockey or figure skating?” she asked.

“Never had an interest, but I love to watch hockey.”

“Good. After you humiliate me on the slopes I’m going to cream you on the ice.”

“You’re a skater?”

“I was,” she said. “When I was younger. I even took lessons. The past few years I’m only an expert at one thing—flowers.” She lifted her glass. “But I’m thinking of taking up wine tasting.”

* * *

It took two days for Connie to return Iris’s call. Yes, she had scheduled meetings with the Delaneys and the Davises for later in the week. “There was an unexpected break in my schedule and I thought it was best to get this case cleared if possible. And no, I didn’t mention your name to anyone, but if there’s an issue here I might have to. You understand.”

“I understand,” Iris said. “And I can live with that. I was just doing my job and that’s part of my job.”

“And we thank you,” Connie said.

Iris took a deep breath and didn’t obsess about it. She hadn’t had too many situations as delicate as this in her short history as a counselor, but it came with the territory.

Her office was relatively quiet and she paged through the newsletter from the state department of education, scanning. There was a section that listed suggested printouts, video aids, special programs, guest speakers and computer course assistance for both teachers and students. She’d begun looking for any kind of program that would address dating violence. She thought it might be something to take to the health ed classes. She’d already found a couple of online lectures and dramatizations, but they seemed dated to her so she kept looking for something better.