137 How Will I Know

There’s a boy I know, he’s the one I dream of
Looks into my eyes, takes me to the clouds above, mm mm
Oh I lose control, can’t seem to get enough, uh-huh
When I wake from dreaming, tell me is it really love, ooo

How will I know (Don’t trust your feelings)
How will I know
How will I know (Love can be deceiving)
How will I know
How will I know if he really loves me

I say a prayer with every heartbeat
I fall in love whenever we meet
I’m asking you what you know about these things
How will I know if he’s thinking of me
I try to phone but I’m too shy (can’t speak)
Falling in love is so bittersweet
This love is strong why do I feel weak

Oh, wake me, I’m shaking, wish I had you near me now, uh-huh
Said there’s no mistaking, what I feel is really love, ooo tell me

How will I know (Don’t trust your feelings)
How will I know
How will I know (Love can be deceiving)
How will I know…

Iris Hawthorne and Sister Bikini
Hazakura Temple
February 14, 2026, 6:45 AM

Focus, Iris! The shrine maiden groaned and mentally berated herself for the umpteenth time as she hit another off-note on the black and white keys. Clear your mind of all distractions and just concentrate on the music and disregard what that dream must have meant!

Furious with her psyche for the inappropriate trances her subconscious had somehow been allowing – now the fourth week in a row! – she’d risen from her restless sleep at dawn and attempted to take a stab at her musician skills in an effort to forget the reoccurring visions that had been haunting her slumber for the twelfth night in a row!

Her graceful fingers were poised over the ivories of the ancient upright piano in the main hall of Hazakura Temple at the moment, where she’d been trying, with zero success thus far, to perfect “The Wedding March” for the past hour, while fruitlessly trying to squelch memories of that vivid dream, which still made her cheeks redden when she remembered its illicit nature!

Alas, both efforts were exercises in futility.

Every single time she’d tried to get past the first few bars of the musical piece that brides traditionally walked down the aisle to, she found her mind drifting and wandering away from the tune, replaced with wistful thoughts she had no business thinking, and found herself unconsciously playing not a wedding, but love songs. Moreover, tunes had nothing to do with her cousin’s upcoming nuptials and all to do with her own unattainable, latent desires, which were getting increasingly difficult to ignore or dismiss as mere fleeting flights of fancy, and naught else!

“Oh for heaven’s sake! It was another lifetime ago that you had your college music lessons, so it’s high time to dust off these out-of-tune fingers and perfect your rusty pianist skills, Iris Hawthorne!” She muttered to herself disgustedly. “Maya’s hardly going to appreciate this attempted peace offering of playing her entrance music if you don’t get this right! She is only going to end up hating you, even more than she already does if you can’t even do this much for her, and ultimately end up ruining her ceremony by screwing up her aisle debut! So get your act together already!”

Lifting her chin with determination, the nun once again resumed the ceremonial melody. Despite her best intentions, however, she once more found her brain aimlessly veering toward other forbidden territories while her fingers began to move, as though having a mind of their own, playing a familiar song. It was one she remembered from her days posing as Dahlia when she’d been dating Phoenix.

Almost against her own volition, and without even realizing it, Iris didn’t realize she’d started singing along to the treacly lyrics of “Love Somebody” by Maroon 5.

I know your insides are feeling so hollow
And it’s a hard pill for you to swallow, yeah
But if I fall for you, I’ll never recover
If I fall for you, I’ll never be the same

I really wanna love somebody
I really wanna dance the night away
I know we’re only halfway there
But you can take me all the way if you take me all the way
I really wanna touch somebody
I think about you every single day
I know we’re only halfway there
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way

You’re such a hard act for me to follow
Love me today don’t leave me tomorrow, yeah
But if I fall for you, I’ll never recover
If I fall for you, I’ll never be the same

  I really wanna love somebody
I really wanna dance the night away
I know we’re only halfway there
But take me all the way, if you can take me all the way
I really wanna touch somebody
I think about you every single day
I know we’re only halfway there
But you can take me all the way if you can take me all the way…

Iris was so engrossed in the harmony that she didn’t even hear her adopted mother’s polite cough behind her until Sister Bikini tapped her shoulder and was practically on top of her, making the shrine maiden nearly leap off the piano bench in fright.

“Jiminy Christmas!”

“Oh, my stars and garters!” The tiny nun’s plump hand clutched her ample bosom, a look of genuine dismay on her rosy cheeks as she placed a hand on her daughter’s arm. “I didn’t mean to startle you so, dear girl! Do forgive me.”

Iris flushed remorsefully as she realized she’d just been caught in the act of practicing music that had zilch to do with her cousin’s upcoming nuptials. She loathed the idea of her darling second mother thinking she was wasting time lollygagging on the piano when there was so much that still had to be done to prepare for Maya’s wedding, which the good sister would be officiating.

“Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to forgive. If anything, I should be apologizing to you, Sister Bikini. I never intended to wake you, considering I kept you up so late the other night with my piano playing at such ungodly hours!”

“At least this time it was you playing, and you weren’t sleepwalking due to sleep channeling yet again, and hammering out Beethoven’s 5th Symphony!” The jovial nun let out a booming laugh. “Fewer things are more harrowing than stumbling awake in the middle of the night and seeing your daughter tickling the ivories, still in her own original form, yet somehow miraculously having channeled only the hands of a long-dead German composer! Wa ha ha ho ho ho!”

“I’m so sorry about that.” The raven-haired brunette hung her head in shame. “I know you and Mystic Matilda have been doing your best to tap into what you both believe are my latent spiritual powers, but it’s been a year now, and I truly think you two should just give up on me! I am simply unable to control the actions of the spirits that take over my body, any more than I can control who the spirits are!”

Her eyes swam with tears of frustration and embarrassment.

“I’m supposed to be channeling one of our own dearly departed relatives, or at least somebody that I intended to! But I simply cannot, ergo, because of me, you and Mystic Matilda have been forced to carry around that cumbersome spirit severing stick, just in case I once more happen to randomly channel Martin Luther King again! I hate myself for being such a terrible burden to you both…”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, sweet girl.” Sister Bikini gave her cheek a consoling, maternal pat. “Number one, this handy severing stick doubles up quite well as a walking stick for me in my old age, so it’s no burden at all, any more than you are! And number two, both Matilda and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the full rendition of the blessed late reverend’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech!”

The nun’s good-natured, patient disposition somehow only made Iris feel worse.

“Be that as it may, it still doesn’t change the fact that as of yet, I am unable to control my powers, such as they were!” Iris sniffled miserably. “I know the two of you had a very important mission to train me for in the first place, but thus far, I’ve been unable to assist you with it… because I’m nothing more than a completely disappointing failure!”

“Rome wasn’t built in one day,” Sister Bikini counseled sagaciously. “These things take time, my child. You had many years of repressing your abilities because of your subconscious fear of allowing yourself to lose full control of your body and freeing your mind and soul to allow entrance to the spirit world. This was on top of a lifetime of being told you had no spiritual powers, merely because your mother and sister didn’t! And neither of those vile creatures did a blasted thing to suppress your innate paranoia about somehow inadvertently channeling an evil entity!”

“That’s true,” Iris admitted. “If a medium as powerful as Mystic Misty couldn’t control my sister’s evil spirit, after all, what chance would I have?”

“Dahlia was more of a monstrous demon than a mere spirit, long since banished to the depths of Hades, where she can never harm anyone here on earth again,” the good nun promised her daughter. “Now that we have managed to squash these forebodings of yours, I can assure you, the fact you’re even able to channel whatsoever is great headway indeed, believe you me!”

“If you say so.” Iris remained a tad uncertain as she dabbed at her watery eyes. “The two of you have been so unbelievably supportive and kind …I just don’t want to let either one of you down! It seems to be all that I do to people I care for…”

“We both know that’s not true! You need to give yourself a break, my child. I don’t want you to be needlessly lambasting yourself over your late bloomer skills with spirit channeling, any more than I want you to castigate yourself about your temporary inability to focus on the music you want to play for Mystic Maya’s wedding!”

Sister Bikini decided the time had come to change the subject, as she knew that if she allowed her daughter to continue spiraling down this despairing path, she might never be able to return from it.

“I can’t say I’m overly familiar with that little ditty I just heard you playing, as I’m not all in the loop with the music of you young folks, despite hearing what you occasionally play on the radio in your room when you think I’ve gone to bed,” she said innocently. “But it sounded quite nice – albeit rather poignant, considering it is Valentine’s Day! And you do have a beau whom you love, down in the city, do you not?”

“It is Valentine’s Day already?” Iris squirmed uncomfortably at the knowing look in those wise old eyes. “I tend to lose track of the days, being up here in the mountains, you know.”

“It’s been some time since I’ve seen that handsome boyfriend of yours,” Sister Bikini pointedly remarked. “Did the two of you have anything planned for today? Is he finally going to visit you?”

“Feenie works nights at the bar on weekends, and being a single father is quite busy, and hence, has scant free time.” Iris looked away, hating to lie to the most important person in her life, but having no choice but to do so. “As it is, I’ve been so preoccupied trying to get Eagle Mountain and the guest cabins ready for the wedding, I haven’t even been paying attention to things like this either! I’m sure he’ll give me a call later today when he’s got the chance.”

“I see…” The elderly nun didn’t even bother trying to hide the dubiousness in her voice. “Was Phoenix the one you were practicing that lovely song for just now, which I happened to overhear?”

Iris felt a heady blush mounting on her cheeks.

“Or was the other tune I heard you playing the night before last dedicated to your beloved? Do you remember which one?” The smirking nun prompted. “It was shortly after that delightful Mr. Butz had left from having dinner with us, after helping you carry all those piles of wood for the fireplaces in the guest cabins.”

“I – I thought you’d gone to bed,” Iris mumbled, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her! She knew very well which song Sister Bikini – whom she’d sworn had gone to bed! – was referring to. It was the classic Whitney Houston tune, “How Will I Know.”

The lyrics were about the female protagonist trying to discern if the boy she liked would ever like her back. The late songbird’s classic hit tune was another song Iris remembered from her days masquerading as Feenie’s “Dollie,” yet Phoenix Wright was not the man who’d inspired her to resume playing the piano once more. Feenie wasn’t the one who occupied her every waking thought; hadn’t been since that fateful New Year’s Eve after Maya’s confrontation with her, which had nearly led to the disaster of her secret promise to her ex-lover being revealed, had it not been for the gallant intervention of her artist savior.

It was Larry, of course, who was the reason Iris was no longer able to focus on her tasks at hand, including the most menial ones like playing the piano for a simple ceremonial tune! Ever since her wonderful birthday portrait had been presented to her back in January, along with his emotional declaration of love, which he’d also made quite clear he had no intention of further pursuing, nor imagining would ever be reciprocated, she hadn’t been able to get the artist out of her mind.

She had been seeing him more and more often as the wedding drew nearer, as with Sister Bikini’s advanced age and ailing back, the elderly nun was unable to do many of the chores required for regular maintenance and upkeep, as well as the additional tasks required during the high tourist season in the cabins. These duties had only multiplied as Mystic Mildred had plied Iris with more and more things that needed to be done, often making her repeat the daily cleaning of the guest lodges until they had passed the elder’s white-glove inspection! She would’ve wept several buckets of overwhelmed tears by now, had it not been for Larry’s ever-willing helping hand. She didn’t know what she would have done without him, with his crazy jokes, magnetic charm, and infallible, constant smile.

It was said the contagious smile that’d made her realize something about Larry; when he wasn’t trying to lay it on thick with the phony womanizer schmaltz, underneath that goofy grin was the mug of a very, very cute guy indeed!

While not as classically handsome as Miles Edgeworth, nor in possession of the roguishly masculine sexiness the presently beanie-wearing Phoenix Wright had, Larry Butz still radiated a certain alluring aura that was all his own. The more Iris saw Larry, the cuter he seemed. She couldn’t believe she’d never noticed that until now!

The artist had even swapped his everyday gear from his customary pink sweater with the monkey emblem and orange beret. Now he sported a pink beret and yellow blazer, patterned with pink hearts, over a black dress shirt and white tie. While the jacket itself was only slightly less garish than the sweater, and resembled something out of Elton John’s closet, for some reason, the new look suited him quite well.

However, Iris was far too bashful and uncertain around him to be able to voice these observations! And even if she had been able to speak her innermost, daily multiplying, harbored affections at this point, she wasn’t sure if it would’ve even mattered anymore.

Although always pleasant and cordial, Larry had kept her at arm’s length since his besotted confession, one which she was beginning to wonder if she had outright imagined, or he had flat-out forgotten. Or, even more awful, regretted even bringing it to light, since he’d held her on nothing but friendly terms ever since! Perhaps he’d even given up on her entirely, since as far as he knew, she was once again the girlfriend of his childhood best friend, and saw no point in carrying the torch for a woman he could never have.

How Iris yearned to tell him the truth! To let him know that as time went by, as she got to know him better, it was becoming more and more hopelessly apparent to her that Larry’s confessed feelings were far from unrequited! With each passing day, more than anything in the world, the nun wished she could cast everything aside and selfishly plead with him not to give up on her … to swear that perhaps… someday, somehow… there would be a chance for the two of them to be together, and please not move on …or worse, just up and leave one day and take her heart with him!

Assuming it wasn’t already too late. It probably already was. After all, Larry was a sophisticated city slicker and universally-renowned artist, who’d had dozens of model-type girlfriends – it was a miracle at all that a plain shrine maiden in shapeless garbs, like herself, had ever caught his attention in the first place!

But with her vow to Phoenix hanging over her head like a guillotine blade, what hope did she have of even trying to keep Larry’s attention, without coming across as a two-timing harlot?!

“I guess I remembered Valentine’s Day was looming and I was in a romantic mood thinking about Feenie – on both occasions,” Iris fibbed, in response to Sister Bikini’s query, completely forgetting she had just pretended to feign ignorance about today’s date. The lying skill, when she wasn’t playing stand-in girlfriend for her murderous twin sister, had skipped her entirely!

“Of course!” Sister Bikini gave a sly smile “For Feenie! How silly of me not to have realized such a thing! Well, regardless of what date is on the calendar, time-wise, it is still soon going to be time for the most important meal of the day! Why don’t you head to the cabins and invite Larry over for breakfast? There’s a lot of work to be done today, and I know he’ll be ever the eager beaver to help out! We can’t have him laboring for us and running around on an empty stomach!”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Iris agreed quickly, eager to get away from the nun’s scrutinizing gaze. “I’ll go let him know I’ll have breakfast ready in about half an hour.”

“Considering it’s Cupid’s special day, you shall not get any judgment from me if you decide to make heart-shaped pancakes!” Sister Bikini called after the mortified shrine maiden as she dashed away from the temple and towards the cabins, her cheeks flaming.

Iris Hawthorne and Larry Butz
Eagle Mountain Cabins
February 14, 2026, 7:00 AM

Iris paused outside of Larry’s lodging, taking a deep, collective breath in an attempt to quell the nervous butterflies fluttering in her stomach. To her surprise, she heard soft music playing, along with the soft murmurings of an unfamiliar song, coming from within the cabin. Hating herself for being so nosy, she pressed her ear against the door to listen.

And I’d give up forever to touch you
‘Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be
And I don’t wanna go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
When sooner or later it’s over
I just don’t wanna miss you tonight

And I don’t want the world to see me
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you’re alive

And I don’t want the world to see me
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don’t want the world to see me
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am…

The song was unknown to her, and while there were some stumbling and fumbling of a few off-key notes coming from the unknown instrument being played, the voice of the singer was soft but sweet, with an undeniable sincerity emitting from it which made it pleasant to the ear, regardless. Iris closed her eyes as she listened, and didn’t realize how intently she’d been leaning forward to do so, until she accidentally stumbled forward against the heavy wooden door, her unbalanced form landing against it with a heavy thud, as opposed to the gentle knock she’d initially intended!

“Hey!” The music from inside immediately halted as the occupant’s deep voice called out. “Is someone there?”

“Um, it’s just me,” she answered timidly, struggling to peel herself off the door.

Iris was completely unprepared for the suddenness of the door flinging open in the next instant before she’d fully composed herself, resulting in the shrine maiden nearly literally falling at the feet of Larry Butz! She nearly lurched forward so fast, that she undoubtedly would have face-planted into the ground if the artist hadn’t caught her. He didn’t let go of her right away either.

“I’m so sorry!” She gasped, feeling the heat flooding her face at the unexpected sensation of being in his arms, however briefly, as she gently pulled away from his warm hold, hoping he wouldn’t notice that she was trembling. “I um…did you have the radio playing?”

“Not at all. What makes you say that?” He flashed an adorable, embarrassed grin and scratched his head, and that was when Iris noticed the strange, smallish string instrument dangling from the fingertips of his free hand. “Wait – don’t tell me you heard me fiddling around on my lute?”

“Is that what that is?” She eyed the strange object dubiously.

“Yeah, a little something I picked up on my art tour in Greece. I’ve been teaching myself to play a bit but I’m still rusty working on this one particular piece. The lute is all the rage there with the locals…” His voice trailed off as he eyed her questioningly. “How long were you standing outside before you decided to use your entire body to knock at my door?”

“Not long at all! Only for a few seconds. I only heard the last few bars of whatever you were playing.” Iris ducked her head so he couldn’t tell by her guilty expression just how long she’d been eavesdropping, despite the teasing note in his voice, which indicated he was nowhere near annoyed at the privacy breach! “Er, let’s try this again from scratch, shall we? Um, good day, Larry.”

“Top of the morning to you, Iris. Having you drop in on me was a most pleasant surprise to find at my door, first thing in the morning,” he joked, his eyes sparkling with mirth. “I didn’t think my vocals were capable of summoning angels to fall from heaven and onto my doorstep, but I think that’s a sign I should consider my future path as a singing lutist!”

Disregarding the light banter, the nun remained formally silent, finding herself at a loss for words. Instead, her attention fixated on his mischievously twinkling eyes. The expressive brown orbs held a special place in her heart, akin to the vibrant new growth on tree branches – free of moss, bright, and perpetually youthful, even after the passage of many years.

“Good morning, Larry. I came to ask if you’d like to join Sister Bikini and me for breakfast in about half an hour?” She asked shyly, shuffling her feet awkwardly. “We’d both love to have you. Um – over to eat, I mean!”

“Fewer things would make me happier than enjoying a home-cooked meal with two beautiful women,” he grinned impishly, causing her to return the gesture, despite her bashfulness. Almost more than Larry’s eyes, she adored that contagious smile. The way his lips lifted upward. The way his one dimple crinkled. The way his teeth were perfectly aligned. The warm glow his happiness gave her.

His smile radiates warmth, akin to a sunbeam, and in its brilliance, I am left scorched.

Iris had been so busy basking in the momentary warmth of said smile, that she didn’t even realize, until she saw the expectant look Larry was giving her, that she’d failed to reply to something he’d asked.

“I’m sorry?” She said brightly, fighting back another urge to blush like a schoolgirl and silently cursing herself for it. “Apologies, Larry. I must’ve spaced out there for a moment.”

“I was asking how the channeling training was going?” He queried. “I ran into Mystic Matilda the other day, and she asked me if I had any aspirin around because you had quite the headache from the beating you’d gotten with the spirit severing stick, as you had somehow channeled Albert Einstein, and you were speaking in non-stop German?!”

“It’s a work in progress.” She felt her cheeks turning pink. “For some reason, Mystic Matilda, and Sister Bikini refuse to throw in the towel with me, even though I keep pleading with them to do just that! At this rate, the village will soon run out of their meager supply of headache pain medication, and it will be all my fault!”

“I’m sure their faith in your capabilities isn’t misplaced,” Larry chuckled. “Bikini and Matilda, they’ve been around a lot longer than you and I, so I’m going to trust they know what they’re talking about. I know this whole spirit-channeling thing is still new and kinda scary but don’t be afraid to let yourself go, and just embrace it! A wise man once said: The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

Iris just stared at him blankly, unsure of how to respond.

“That’s a quote from Albert Einstein.” This time it was Larry’s turn to blush as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. I probably sounded like a big Nerdicus Maximus there for a second, huh.”

“No, not at all!” The nun shook her head vehemently. “I just didn’t recognize the line… Living up here in the remote mountains, I profess to be helplessly unschooled and unknowledgeable about a lot of things, outside of life in this village.”

Not at all like the sophisticated women I’m sure you’re used to! Iris added silently, with great chagrin. He must think I’m just some hopeless, small-town, hillbilly hick!

“You seriously need to cut yourself some slack,” he replied kindly, shaking his head. “But anyway, you sure don’t have to be some sort of cosmopolitan sophisticate to cook the amazing meals you do! I’d love to join you guys. Just let me get freshened up, and I’ll see you ladies at the breakfast table shortly.”

He shut the door then, and as Iris turned away, a luminous smile lit up her face. Larry always knew just what to say to make her feel better about herself.

She was humming softly to the tune of “How Will I Know” as she began to head back to the temple, when suddenly, the door of Heavenly Hall, the shack a few doors down from Larry’s cabin, flung open, and Mystic Mildred appeared in the doorway, her beady eyes narrowed at the sight of the beaming shrine maiden.

“Aren’t we all merry this morning, Sister Iris?” Her thin lips pursed with disapproval. “I didn’t realize the sight of another man other than your lover could bring such pep to a maiden’s step! Tell me something, is Mr. Wright aware he may have competition for your hand?”

The nun’s heart went into a tailspin. The old woman had obviously spotted her brief interaction with Larry and had seen something in their exchange that she felt contradicted those of a woman whose boyfriend was two hours away in the city! The shrine maiden didn’t think she’d behaved in any particularly inappropriate fashion, but the expression on the elder’s face told her that evidently, she had witnessed otherwise.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Mystic Mildred,” Iris replied politely, dropping her gaze. “I’m not sure you’re aware, but Larry has been of great assistance to Sister Bikini and me in prepping the area for Mystic Maya’s upcoming wedding. Therefore, in return, we figured the least we could do was offer him a hot meal as a way of thanks for his kindness. We are friends, nothing more. I have not been disloyal to Feenie in the least, nor do I intend to be.”

“I would hope that you were a better spirit medium than a liar if I didn’t know better!” The village elder sneered. “Truly, it is no consequence to me that you appear to be every bit the legendary fair-weather, femme fatale your twin sister was with men!”

Before Iris could protest her innocence to such a baseless allegation, the wretched old woman continued on her warpath.

“What is of great distress is hearing how you seem to have inherited the unfortunate family trait of being every bit as useless as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking contest when it comes to spirit channeling!” Mildred’s lip curled in disgust. “I keep telling Bikini and Matilda not to bother with you anymore, yet they insist you’re not a lost cause! I am less easy to convince of your alleged aptitude. Your name may be Hawthorne, but in the end, you’re still a Fey at heart.”

Iris drew in a sharp breath, unable to think of a retort to such unprecedented malice. But the old hag still wasn’t finished.

“Despite your mother’s ambitions, your branch Feys still ended up being a worthless lot, each and every one of you! Such a disgrace, with only young Pearl being the sole competent one of the whole family, having been a gifted channeler since she could walk! It’s a good thing one of Morgan’s three daughters ended up being something to take pride in, and is more than just a pretty face, unlike her eldest, who has nothing better to offer Kurain, other than the batting of her eyelashes at any male within proximity!”

The harridan had a palpably bat-like hearing, and had overheard the entire exchange with Larry, including Iris’s humiliating confession to what an abysmal spirit medium she was, especially compared to her baby half-sister!

Iris blinked back the hot tears stinging her lashes at the cruel words and muttered her excuses about having to get back to Sister Bikini, before dashing away from the shack as fast as her legs would carry her, her heart aching at the veracity of the onslaught.

Mildred was right. She was nothing more than a pretty face – and bore the identical visage of a malevolent twin whose legacy would never be eclipsed in its infamy no matter what Iris did to rise above it! In all her years on earth, she’d still never achieved one damn thing to be proud of! What was she thinking?! She should just give up on everything! Larry, her spiritual studies, even trying to make amends with Maya. She couldn’t even muster a simple song on the piano…

Also, Iris realized with dismay, a short time later, as she scraped the charred remains of her breakfast attempts into the garbage bin out back, she couldn’t even be counted on for the cooking skills Larry had just praised her for! In the end, when she’d gotten back to the temple, she’d been so upset by Mildred’s verbal attack that she’d unwittingly burnt both the bacon and eggs she’d attempted to make for breakfast, forcing the three of them to dine on nothing more than day-old scones, fruit, and tea for their morning meal!

Mumbling something barely tangible, one finished her mostly untouched plate, she’d excused herself from the breakfast table and ran out back in a flood of tears. Darn it! It was true – she couldn’t do anything right! What was the use of even trying?!

Iris’s breakfast had certainly cured Larry’s hunger. The idea of ever eating again made his stomach churn. Regardless, he had reassured Sister Bikini he’d go comfort her daughter and instructed the elderly nun – who was probably starved from the meager meal she’d had to make do with! – to go rest in the meantime.

He immediately tailed the stricken shrine maiden following her hasty retreat and headed to the back of the temple, where there was an open field. He was partway there when he saw her off to the left, sitting on the hillside, her arms wrapped around her knees, her forehead resting atop them. Even with her hair shining like silken ebony in the sun, she looked like a picture of heartbreaking dejection. He contemplated turning away and leaving her to privacy; then, with a sigh, changed his mind and started down the hill toward her.

A few yards away, he realized her shoulders were shaking with sobs, and his brow furrowed with concern. There was no point in pretending the meal had been good, so he injected a note of amusement into his tone as he approached her.

“I applaud your efforts in new-wave cuisine if nothing else. I do believe charred menu items and  even blackened chicken is a gourmet menu item in some places.”

Iris was visibly startled at the sound of his baritone. Snapping her head up, she stared off to the left, keeping her tear-streaked face averted from him.

“Did you want something?”

“Dessert, perhaps?” Larry proposed with a wry tilt, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of her expression. Perceiving a faint, melancholic smile on her lips, he continued, “I was thinking we could prepare some cream for a biscuit. Later, we could utilize the remnants, blending them with the remaining eggs, to mend the roofs of the cabins. I mean hey, want not, waste not, am I right?”

A teary giggle escaped her, and she drew a shaky breath but still refused to look at him.

“I’m surprised you’re being so pleasant about it. I – I thought you’d just dismiss me as a pathetic failure.”

“Over a little thing like a foiled breakfast? Hardly! After all, there’s no sense crying over burnt bacon,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“I wasn’t crying over that,” she mumbled, feeling sheepish and bewildered. A snowy handkerchief appeared before her face, and Iris accepted it, dabbing at her wet cheeks.

“Then why were you bawling?” He was struggling to understand this mystifying woman.

She gazed straight ahead, her eyes focused on the surrounding hills, the handkerchief clenched in her hand.

“I was crying for my inefficaciousness, and for my inability to navigate or control my life,” she admitted.

The word inefficaciousness startled Larry, and it occurred to him that for the prompting the realization that despite Iris presenting herself as unsophisticated and unschooled, she possessed a remarkably refined vocabulary. She looked up at him, revealing limpid doe eyes, their deep brown resembling winter trees at twilight. Tears still adorned her long, dark lashes, her silky hair tied back with a girlish bow. An embodiment of captivating innocence and enthralling sensuality. Larry diverted his gaze from the sudden tightness of her garment across her ample bust as she leaned forward, speaking brusquely.

“I’m preparing firewood for tonight, and afterward, I’m going to do some fishing for supper. However, before I begin, I’d like you to join me at my cabin in an hour. I have a surprise in store for you.”

Startled by his abrupt change in demeanor, Iris nodded, rising from her seat, dimly aware that he did not offer his hand to assist her.

Larry, feeling a surge of conflicting emotions for the weeping angel before him, hastily retreated to his room. He needed to escape before succumbing to impulsive actions, like embracing her and wiping away the tears of the forbidden fruit who had unwittingly become the muse of the song he had spent the past six weeks perfecting—the Goo-Goo Dolls’ smash hit, “Iris.”

Alone in the fields, Iris’s tears flowed once again, realizing she hadn’t been able to disclose to Larry the true reason behind her heart-wrenching sobs. The echo of Mildred’s taunts had struck a chord of undeniable truth.

She was weeping with shame for her lack of resilience and with fear for a love she could no longer control.

Whitney Houston – How Will I Know
Maroon 5 – Love Somebody
Goo Goo Dolls – Iris