Her Naughty Holiday (Men at Work 2)

Her mother and father stood on the front porch. Her father had a suit on and her mother wore a tweed skirt with a white blouse and jacket. Chic as always.

“Hey, there,” Clover said, holding the door open for them. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Oh, it’s so good to see you, too, sweetheart,” her mother said as she stepped through the door.

“This is Erick. Erick, this is my father, David, and my mother, Valerie.”

“Everyone calls me Val, Erick,” she said. “But I’ll get to you in a minute. I have to hug this girl of mine first.”

“Take your time,” Erick said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Clover and her mother hugged and it was nice, comfortable. Maybe she’d been worried for nothing. Then her mother pulled back and looked Clover up and down. “Oh, so we’re having a casual meal today, I see. Wish I’d known. I wouldn’t have made the effort.”

Clover forced her smile wider. She saw Erick’s eyes flash in shock. All she could do was keep smiling as she hugged her father.

“I think she looks good, dear,” her father said to her mother while they hugged. “Put on a few pounds since last time but you can’t really tell.”

Erick opened his mouth and she knew he was about to say something. She shot him a warning look.

“You weren’t kidding,” he said into her ear when her parents stepped into the office to take off their coats.

And she could only reply with three little words.

“Told you so.”

12

ERICK SILENTLY REPEATED Clover’s warning to him—“just grin and bear it, just grin and bear it...”

He grinned. He bore it. But he did not like it.

“So...” Clover said when her parents came out of the office. “This is Erick, my boyfriend. Erick, my parents—David and Val.”

Erick shook hands with both of them.

“Very nice to meet you both. Clover’s told me a lot about you.”

“She hasn’t told us much about you,” Val said. “She’s been a little hard to reach this week. Your doing?”

“Guilty,” Erick said, entirely without shame. “We spent a couple days in a friend’s lakeside cabin. Clover needed to unwind.”

“Unwind?” David said. He was a handsome older man, well dressed and kindly looking, but Erick wasn’t sure he trusted that smile. “What’s got you wound up?”

“The usual work stuff,” Clover said neutrally. “We closed up shop for winter so I wanted to take a couple days to rest. It was really nice. The lake is beautiful. Great cabin. Want wine? When are Hunter and Lisa and Kelly and the kids getting here?”

Clover spoke rapidly as if trying to drown her parents in a sea of words, changing the subject so fast they couldn’t ask her any follow-up questions. Erick hated to see her so nervous, but he admired the strategy.

“I think they’re coming now,” Erick said, glancing out the window to see a black Audi driving down the gravel road toward the house. “Someone is.”

“That’s Hunter’s car,” she said.

“Hunter’s the older brother,” Erick said, looking at her parents, who seemed to be eyeing him very carefully. “Wife is Lisa. Three girls—Paige, Zoe and Skye. Did I get that right?”

“Very good,” Val said. “Clover’s been quizzing you?”

“She has. I wanted to make a good impression. I think she likes me.” He smiled in the hopes of warming them up, charming them. Her mother only smiled tightly in reply.

“Any friend of our daughter’s is a friend of ours,” David said.