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The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 1
“James Daniels?”“It’s Flannigan,” Sara Flannigan said automatically to the nurse before turning to her son James. “Time to go in.”James shrugged as he continued to play his video game, but he followed his mother into the back of the doctor’s office without any more protest. Six years old and already as stubborn as any adult, Sara reflected with an inward shake of her head. James was the love of her life ever since he’d been placed in her arms, all red and wrinkly and screaming to the heavens.“Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way,” the nurse said as she got James’s height and weight before ushering them into one of the rooms.Sara hated the smell of these rooms—antiseptic and cold, the paper on the tables crackling as James would inevitably fidget from boredom. They hadn’t been in a doctor’s office in six months, not since James’s amazing pediatrician in Seattle had told her that her son was healthy, still in remission, and not in need of constant doctor’s visits.But when
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 2
Sara smiled as she watched James ride his bike outside. Looking at him, you’d never think he’d been sick, and she had a difficult time believing that he was sick again now. Her heart contracted at the thought.Let it be nothing. Let us have a break for once.“Can you get this?”Sara turned to see her mother Ruth struggling with bags of groceries. At the age of sixty, Ruth Flannigan had gone to rehab for alcoholism, and after a year of sobriety, Sara wanted to believe that it would stick this time. With brightly dyed red hair and cat-eye glasses, Ruth always made an entrance, something that Sara loved as a child and hated as a teenager.“How much did you buy?” Sara took two bags and set them on the nearby counter. She pulled out boxes of cereal—Lucky Charms, more Lucky Charms, Captain Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch—and sighed. “I told you no sugary cereals. It just makes James antsy all day.”“They were on sale! Besides, let the kid live a little. A bowl of marshmallows won’t kill h
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 3
James pressed his nose against the glass casing despite Sara telling him not to do that exact thing only five seconds earlier.“I want a muffin! No, a donut!” He peered inside like the secrets of the world were inside.“Hey buddy, how about you have one small donut and one small muffin?” Megan, Sara’s sister, asked with a smile.Megan had opened this bakery a year ago. Named The Rise and Shine, it served baked goods made in-house along with coffee and tea. Megan had always loved to bake when they’d been kids, and Sara had encouraged her to pursue her dream for a long time. The bakery had become a roaring success.“Okay!” James bounced on his feet, and Sara shook her head.“I’ll take a piece of the chocolate cake and a cup of coffee,” Sara said.After getting their orders, Sara and James sat down at a table near the front. The Rise and Shine was located in the small downtown area of Fair Haven, and on this Saturday afternoon, a week after she and James had met with Dr. Thornton, t
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 4
“You’re seriously going to do this? Go on a date with Harrison Thornton?”Sara gazed at her sister in the mirror. Megan had a look on her face that was equal parts disgust and incredulity, which wasn’t helping Sara’s nerves one bit.Why had she agreed to go on a date with Harrison? She was a Flannigan, and he was a Thornton. Talk about two completely different kinds of people.“Do you think I should cancel?” Sara asked.Megan pursed her lips. “What do you want to do?”Sara almost screamed in frustration. She didn’t know! Half of her wanted to see Harrison again, while the other half wanted to run away like a scared rabbit.She couldn’t stop thinking about his smile, about how handsome and intelligent he was. How he entered a room and everyone paid attention. How he’d paid attention to her.“I don’t want to cancel,” she finally replied. She smoothed her silky blouse down with trembling hands. “It’s just a date,” she repeated. She didn’t know if she were saying it for her own bene
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 5
April showers brought May flowers, but on this late March Saturday, the Thornton family decided to take advantage of the rare sunshine and go out on the lake that made Fair Haven famous.Normally Harrison enjoyed these outings: the sun, the lake, the boat, his family. Being the eldest of six siblings meant a raucous, energetic family life throughout his childhood and adolescence. Although half of his siblings—Mark, the third eldest, and the twins, Lizzie and Seth (fourth and fifth eldest, respectively)—were too far away to join most outings these days, Harrison still liked to have a beer with Caleb and catch up with the youngest of the family, Jubilee.Today, though, he knew he was getting grilled. Their mom and the matriarch of the Thornton clan, Lisa Thornton, had gotten wind of Harrison dating Sara Flannigan and the resulting fight that had broken out at The Fainting Goat. To say that was she upset would be an understatement.Harrison watched as Lisa pursed her lips in that way t
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 6
“Harrison, look alive!” Caleb tossed the basketball to his brother with an annoyed look.Harrison caught the ball just in time. His teeth flashed in a grin, and he smiled even wider when he made a three-pointer right over Caleb’s head.“What were you saying?” Harrison asked. “Or are you all talk like you usually are?”This afternoon, just a day after going out on the lake with the family, Caleb and Harrison had decided they needed to blow off some steam by playing ball. They’d invited Heath and their friend Jason, but the latter hadn’t been able to get off work. Despite the odd number, they played a few lopsided games as the afternoon waned on.Caleb dribbled the ball down the court. Right now, it was Harrison and Caleb versus Heath. Heath blocked Caleb as he tried to throw the ball to Harrison again, and when Caleb threw and Heath hit the ball down, Heath let out a shout of triumph as he took the ball back down the opposite side of the court.“Like I said—what were you saying?” H
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 7
As Sara was debating whether to wear a nude shade of lipstick or the brighter red, she heard her phone ring. She didn’t recognize the number, so she let it go to voicemail, assuming it was more than likely a spam call. But when her phone alerted her that the caller had left a voicemail, she gave into curiosity and listened to the message.“Ms. Daniels, this is Vincent Elan with Elan, Farraday and Rothschild. I’m calling on behalf of my client Mr. Kyle Daniels. He is concerned about your potentially violating your custody agreement in regards to your son, James Daniels, and will be pursuing legal action if necessary. Please have your lawyer contact me as soon as possible.”Sara placed her phone back on her vanity slowly, her heart pounding so hard she felt dizzy. The array of emotions attempting to flood through her—fear, anger, shock—made her unable to process what she’d just heard. Then the single, terrifying thought: Kyle’s going to take James from me.She covered her mouth to sti
Last Updated : 2021-10-03The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 8
When Sara opened the door to her classroom after dropping James off at first grade, she gasped. Sitting on her desk was a huge bouquet of roses in every color imaginable. She had no idea how the flowers had gotten here before she’d unlocked her classroom—had a janitor let in the delivery person?—but she was too preoccupied with smelling the blossoms.She didn’t need to read the card to know it was from Harrison. Opening the small note tucked underneath the ribbon surrounding the vase, she read: I can’t stop thinking about you. Let me take you out again. –HT.Simple, short, and to the point. She smiled even wider. Touching the silky petals, she couldn’t help but remember their encounter in the backseat of his car last night. She was twenty-eight years old and she’d never done anything like that in her life. With Harrison, though, she had a feeling she was going to experience a whole bevy of things for the first time.“Secret admirer?” Heath DiMarco stopped by her door with a raised e
Last Updated : 2021-10-03
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The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 About the Author
A coffee addict and cat lover, Iris Morland writes sexy and funny contemporary romances. If she's not reading or writing, she enjoys binging on Netflix shows and cooking something delicious.Stay in touch!irismorland.comIris Morland’s MermaidsNewsletter Facebook Twitter BookBub Goodreads Instagram
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Also by Iris Morland
Say You’re MineAll I Ask of YouMake Me YoursHold Me CloseOopsie DaisyHe Loves Me, He Loves Me NotPetal PluckerWar of the RosesincludingThen Came YouTaking a Chance on LoveAll I Want Is YouMy One and OnlyThe Nearness of YouThe Very Thought of YouIf I Can’t Have YouDream a Little Dream of MeSomeone to Watch Over MeTill There Was YouI’ll Be Home for Christmas
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Enjoy this exclusive excerpt
“I hope you like sushi,” Caleb said after he and Megan were seated at a booth in the corner, “because otherwise tonight won’t be much fun for you.”Megan wrinkled her nose. “Lucky for you that I do like sushi. Although what would’ve happened if I’d said I hated it? Would you go somewhere else with me?”He heaved a deep sigh. “I guess. Although I would’ve judged you for it for the entire evening.”Laughing, Megan felt her nerves calm for the first time that evening. Ever since Caleb had come into The Rise and Shine and insisted that she go to dinner with him, she’d been a mess. Actually, she’d been a mess over him for what felt like an eternity. Now that she was sitting across from him, his dark hair tousled and his face showing the shadow of his beard already, she had to stop herself from practically crawling into his lap and eating him up. It didn’t help that he was wearing a button-up that brought out the green in his eyes, or that he looked at her like he could eat her up, too, i
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Epilogue
Sara smiled as she looked outside her kitchen window. “Look at this grasshopper,” Harrison was saying with all the seriousness of a true insect collector, “It’s huge.”She watched as James narrowed his eyes. “I’ve seen bigger,” he said in confident tones.Harrison seemed nonplussed, but with a devious smile, he placed the grasshopper on James’s shoulder. James squealed, especially when the grasshopper hopped into his hair. This resulted in Harrison plucking the offending bug from James’s hair, but not before both had collapsed to the grass in laughter.It was the beginning of summer, and with that came three months off for Sara and James. It also meant that Harrison was at their house as often as his schedule permitted. He’d hinted to her about moving in with him, but she didn’t want to uproot James after they’d just moved to this house, not to mention that she had Ruth to consider as well.“They look good together,” Ruth commented as she came to stand by the window. “You’d think h
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 19
When Harrison saw that Sara was calling him, his heart leapt into his throat and he almost dropped his phone on the hardwood floor of his bedroom. He swore, rustling around underneath the bed to grab his still ringing phone. He managed to pick it up a second before the call would’ve gone to voicemail.“Sara? How are you?” he answered in a rush.Silence. Then: “Harrison?”That was definitely not Sara’s voice. If he didn’t know better, it sounded like a little boy’s.“James?”“Yeah, it’s me. How did you know it was me?”Harrison sat down on his bed. “Call it a lucky guess. Why are you calling me? Are you okay? Is your mom okay?”James made a noise. Harrison couldn’t tell if it was a grunt, a laugh, or maybe just a six-year-old boy’s sound of frustration at stupid adults. “She’s fine. She doesn’t know I’m using her phone, though. So you can’t tell her. She gets mad if I use it without permission.”Harrison was tempted to ask how James knew her passcode, but then again, kids were s
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 18
“Mom, did you hear me? I said that I scored a goal today in PE.”Sara looked up from the cutting board where she was chopping carrots. James sat at the kitchen table, his chin in his hands as he watched her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”“I said that I scored a goal today.”“That’s great, honey. Playing basketball?”He rolled his eyes. “You don’t score goals in basketball. It was soccer.”“Don’t sass your mother,” Ruth said as she entered the small kitchen. Wearing a purple blouse with matching purple pants, she looked like a veritable rainbow with her red hair.“Sorry. But, Mom, you’ve barely been listening to me since we got home today. Every day you look sad. Why do you look so sad? Is it because Harrison hasn’t come by and given you flowers?”Sara returned to her carrots, shaking her head. She hadn’t spoken to Harrison since that fateful night when she’d told him things were over between them. He’d called a handful of times afterward, but she’d ignored them. Soon, the calls
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 17
Harrison kneeled down in front of Delilah, one of his latest patients to go into remission from leukemia. “This is going to be the last time we see each other for a while,” he said, smiling. “You take care of your mom and dad, okay?”Delilah, with her red cheeks and lips, looked like a porcelain doll. Except her predilection of jumping in giant puddles and throwing mud at her siblings generally destroyed any comparison with a breakable doll. The chemotherapy had caused her blond curls to fall out, but Harrison could make out glints of peach fuzz on her head.The girl nodded solemnly, then reached inside her pocket to pull out some leftover Easter candy. “Thank you. My mom said I should say that. I wanted you to have some candy, too.”He bit his lip to keep a straight face. “Thank you,” he said in a serious voice.The candy was melted, but Harrison couldn’t help but feel that it was the best part of his week so far.As Delilah and her parents left his office, though, the depression
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 16
Sara had experienced a number of surprises in her life, but nothing quite surprised her as much as seeing Lisa Thornton waiting outside her school to speak with her.When Sara stopped in her tracks, James tugged on her arm. “What are you looking at, Mom?”It had been three weeks since the infamous dinner, and it had been three of the happiest weeks of Sara’s life. She and Harrison spent as much time together as possible, and he had taken her and James on a picnic near the lake last weekend. James had chattered the entire time about school, his friends, and anything else that popped into his head, but Harrison hadn’t seemed to mind. Sara couldn’t help but fall further in love with him when he interacted with her son. When James asked Harrison to show him how to fish one day, Harrison had said yes immediately, even asking Sara later if she would mind him taking James out for a guys’ day eventually.Kyle had never shown any kind of interest in his son, so seeing Harrison with James, a
The Nearness of You: The Thorntons Book 1 Chapter 15
Harrison didn’t try to break the silence as he drove Sara back to his place. He should’ve known that taking her to a family dinner would be disastrous. Lisa had never supported his dating Sara, but he never could’ve imagined his mom would say something as terrible as that. He winced, anger bubbling up inside him again on Sara’s behalf.He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forgive Lisa for her behavior tonight.Harrison’s home was situated about twenty minutes away from his parents’, a modern bungalow with floor to ceiling windows and a contemporary look that was the complete opposite of his parents’ aesthetic. He preferred clean lines and muted colors, and when he’d bought this house, he’d loved it because it didn’t look like something his mother would want to live in.Is my entire life just rebelling against my parents? he thought darkly. He helped Sara out of the car. She looked up at him with a defeated expression, which only made him angrier toward his mother.Once they were
