“Already? Last night? Where’d you go?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters. Clover is easily my favorite person on the planet. You have to treat her well. Unlike me, she is classy.”
“That she is. And yes, very unlike you.”
“You didn’t take her to the mac-and-cheese place, did you?”
“What’s wrong with the mac-and-cheese place? They have truffle fries.”
“Oh, Goddess, you did. Poor Clover. She deserves so much better than that. You could have taken her up to Timber Ridge. They’re at least organic. I can’t believe your first date with her was to a place with deer heads on the walls. What were you thinking?”
“Calm down. We didn’t even go out to dinner.”
“But you said you went out on a date last night.”
“I did.”
“You asked her out but you didn’t go out? What do you mean you asked her out and you had a date but you didn’t...”
Erick started sweating. When did it get so hot in the house?
“Ruthie, you’re overthinking this—”
“You had a date with her last night and you didn’t go out.”
“We need to discuss your phone bill.”
“Oh, my God.”
Oh, fuck. When Ruthie said “God” instead of “Goddess,” the shit was about to hit the fan.
“Calm down, Ruthless.”
“You did it with Clover.”
“I am your father and we are not discussing my private life.”
Ruthie screamed.
Erick winced and held the phone away from his ear.
“Are you finished?” he asked when the sound died and the ringing in his ear subsided.
“I need a brown paper bag. I’m hyperventilating.”
“Better than puking, I guess.”
“How could you do that to Clover? She’s a goddess. You are not worthy of her goddess-ness.”
“That kind of hurts, kid.”
“You know as well as I do she’d never done that before.”
“This is not something I ever wanted to talk about with my daughter.”
“And you know as well I do she didn’t tell you that because she knew you’d wuss out on her.”
“Apparently I am talking about this with my daughter.”
“You know as well as I do that you didn’t give her the first time she deserves.”
“I have no comment here.”
“Oh, Clover won’t complain. No, Clover is a goddess and goddesses don’t complain. She’s too big for that. But on the inside, she’s disappointed. Were there candles? Were you in a nice hotel room? Did you make it special? No. Of course you didn’t because you didn’t know. You just went right for it, didn’t you?”
Erick screamed. It felt good. It felt right. He’d never screamed before like that. Felt primal.
“Pops?”
“Sorry, I was just trying to get you to shut the hell up. I hope it worked.”
“It mostly worked. I’m calmer now.”
“Good. Because I’m really done having this conversation with you.”
“You and me both. I need to talk to Clover.”
“You don’t need to do that. She is fine. She is dandy. She is both fine and dandy and she does not need any relationship advice from a teenage girl.”
“That’s sexist and ageist, Pops. You’re backsliding without me there to keep you in line. I should come back. Clover probably needs me.”
“She is seeing your father, not you. She does not need you. She needs me.”
“Hell, yeah, she does. She needs you to clean up the disaster you made of her first time.”
“It wasn’t a disaster. It was anything but a disaster.”
“So you admit it. Ha! I knew it.”
Erick rubbed the bridge of his nose and wondered briefly if he could legally put his seventeen-year-old daughter up for adoption.
“Now I know why ancient Greeks used to leave their kids to be raised by wolves. I think the wolves might have done a better job with you. Or eaten you,” Erick said.
“They weren’t the Greeks, they were Romans. And this is unfair. I did nothing wrong. You are the villain in this scenario. You had a responsibility here to do something awesome for someone awesome. Sexuality is a gift from Mother Nature and we honor it by honoring Her and we honor Her by honoring each other and the only sin in this world is to dishonor the gifts we’re given by treating them lightly or taking them for granted.”
“Are you a druid now? I can’t keep up.”
“Listen, I know Clover. She’s too nice to complain, but inside, she probably wishes it had been a little more romantic, but she doesn’t know how to ask for what she wants.”
“Romantic? That doesn’t sound very feminist.”
“Please, Pops, I’m a third-wave feminist. We get what we want, and if we want romance, we get romance. And I know Clover. Under that boring turtleneck and fleece vest combo beats the heart of a true romantic. Now go and make things right. Don’t call me again until she’s the happiest woman on earth.”
“Are you mad at me for dating your boss?”
“I don’t care what you do with my boss. But I do care what you do with my friend. Clover is my friend. And I’m not mad, I promise.”
“You aren’t? You sound mad.”
“I’m not mad at you. I’m just... I’m disappointed.”
That hurt. That stung. He’d rather she be mad at him. Wait a second, he was the parent here. What was happening?
“I don’t want to disappoint you. But this is really none of your—”
“None of my business, I know,” Ruthie said. “Clover is an adult. But, Pops, she’s been wounded. Crappy ex-boyfriends, family who makes her feel like shit. She keeps it all on the inside and lets it eat at her. You have to step up.”
“Step up? What does that mean in any language I can understand?”
“It means Clover gave you a gift.”
“Didn’t you say virginity was a sexist outmoded concept created by men—”
“I’m not talking about virginity. I’m talking about trust. She trusted you. You have to honor the gift of her trust. Honor the gift, Pops. Honor. The. Gift.”
“Honor the gift. Okay. I can do that.”
“You can do that.”
“Now that I’m honoring the gift, we need to discuss your phone bill,” he said.
“I can’t talk about that right now. I’m in too much shock. Call me back when you’ve done right by Clover. I love you, Pops. Even when I yell, even when I’m disappointed, I still love you and I always will.”
With that she hung up and Erick stared at the phone in his hand for a very long time.
He was so glad they’d stopped at one kid. Teenage twerp thought she knew everything about everything. Clover was not disappointed about last night. She enjoyed it. She had an orgasm, a strong one. She was smiling ear to ear after and she fell asleep in his arms, still smiling. And she was smiling this morning when she brought him a cup of coffee out onto the deck. That was not the smile of a disappointed woman. Yeah, maybe it could have been more romantic, but that wasn’t his fault, was it? He didn’t know it was her first time. Then again, even if it hadn’t been her first time, it was still their first time together. Maybe he should have brought flowers. Maybe he should have lit some candles. Maybe he should have honored the nature goddess, whoever that was.
Nature. Clover did like nature. Any woman named Clover would have to like nature. And when they talked about favorite types of sex last night she said something about sex by the lake. Well, it was forty degrees out and raining so that probably couldn’t happen.
Erick narrowed his eyes.
Or could it?
He checked his phone and saw that while the talk with Ruthie had drained his spirit, it hadn’t drained the last of his battery. He scrolled through his phone looking for a number and then dialed it. It rang twice. A woman’s voice answered.
“Hello, Lost Lake Village Rentals, Joey speaking.”
“Hey, is Chris there? It’s Erick Fields and—”
“I know who you are,” she said. “You did the siding on our house.”
“That’s me,” he said. “Hope you like it.”
“Love it. It’s gorgeous. You do fantastic work.”
“Thank you. I needed to hear that.” Glad one woman around here appreciated his handiwork. “Is Chris around?”
“In the shower, but if it’s a billing issue, you can talk to me. I’m the property manager.”
“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.