“Not a billing issue. His checks never bounce. I wanted to see about borrowing one of the cabins for a night. Not borrow, I can pay for it. I know you aren’t open yet but I wanted to surprise my girlfriend.”
“You can absolutely borrow one of the cabins for the night,” Joey said. “And no cost. We don’t have towels or anything in the houses yet, but most of them are furnished. And don’t pay us. Chris said you gave him a huge discount on the siding. You just have to promise to leave us a good Yelp review.”
“That I can do.”
“What are you looking for?”
“You have anything that overlooks the lake?”
Joey laughed softly and it was a good laugh. The laugh of a happy woman having a good idea. He liked that laugh.
“I know just the place.”
* * *
CLOVER SHOULD HAVE kept her phone off. Why did she bother turning it back on? Oh, yeah, Erick. Just in case Erick called her or texted her, she turned her phone back on. As soon as she did, she regretted it.
There they were. Ten text messages—four from her mother, three from her sister, one from her brother and two from her sister-in-law. Three voice mail messages—one from her mother, one from her sister, one from her father. And then there were the emails. One from everybody—father, mother, sister, brother. And all of them wanted to know, “Who’s Erick? How’d you meet him? What’s he like?”
She didn’t want to keep ignoring her family mainly because they wouldn’t shut up until she answered their questions. But if Clover called her mother and told her about Erick, then her mother would tell everyone in the entire family and maybe she would be spared the telephone tsunami.
With a heavy sigh and absolutely no desire to have this conversation whatsoever, Clover sat at her big oak table, the very same one she and Erick had sex on that morning, and called her mother.
“Where have you been?” were her mother’s first words. Not “Hello.” Not “Hi.” Not “There’s my daughter!” This was already a terrible idea.
“Working, Mom. Just working.”
“I thought the nursery was closed for the winter.”
“It is, but I still have to work. There’s billing and payroll. Plus I got an offer—”
“Your father said you’re seeing someone. Is this true?”
Okay, so maybe Clover wouldn’t tell her mother about the buyout offer.
“I am.”
“Well...tell me everything.”
“There’s not much to tell. I’m seeing someone. His name is Erick. With a K. Also a C. A C and a K.”
“How’d you meet him?”
“Through work.”
“What’s he do for a living?” her mother asked, which was code for “How much money does he make?”
“He’s a carpenter. I think that’s what he’d call himself. He does cedar decks and cedar siding. Basically anything with cedar. It has natural insect repelling properties and—”
“Your father tells me this Erick has a daughter. Is that true?”
“I don’t know why Dad or Erick would lie about having a daughter.”
“Clover, I’m only asking because it’s important.”
“How is Erick having or not having a daughter important?”
“You don’t think it’s important?” Her mother sounded horrified.