Her Naughty Holiday(27)

With a sigh of contentment, Clover rolled off Erick and lay on the bed with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

“Okay,” she said. “I am now officially the happiest woman on earth.”

“That’s a relief,” he said, then licked her nipple for no other reason than it was there, it was beautiful and he could. “I can call my weird kid again. She might ask for it in writing.”

“I’ll write it down. I’ll write it down in triplicate and get it notarized. And you can go carve it in cedar—Here Lies Clover Greene, Happiest Woman on Earth.”

“Carved in cedar? That’s permanent, Clover.”

“My happiness is permanent. Nothing can bend it, break it or ruin it.”

“I can ruin it.”

“No, you can’t,” she said, looking at him through narrowed, suspicious eyes.

“I can ruin it in one sentence.”

“Try it. I dare you.”

“Okay, here goes.” Erick hated to see her happiness dissipate but he had to do it. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have to go—”

“No, don’t say it.”

“I have to say it. We have to do it.”

Clover groaned and this time it wasn’t the happy sexy kind of groan. It was a groan of misery, pure misery.

“Say it,” she said. “Wait.” She grabbed a pillow and pulled it onto her face. “Now say it,” she said from underneath the shield of her pillow.

“Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and...we have to...”

Clover groaned again.

“Go...”

The groan got louder.

“Grocery shopping.”

Clover slapped both her hands onto the top of her pillow and pressed it down onto her face as if to smother herself. Erick easily lifted the pillow off her face.

“It’s not that bad,” he said. “It’s early. We’ll get dressed right now and go immediately. We can get in and out before the crowds show up. How’s that?”

“But I don’t want to get out of bed. Can’t we stay here until, I don’t know, Sunday?”

“No, we can’t. We have to at least pretend to be grown-ups. I’m a parent. I’ve gotten very good at pretending to be a grown-up. You said your parents were leaving today. They could already be on the road to Oregon. They’re going to expect turkey, yams, cranberry sauce and you and me putting on a damn good show of being happy to see them. Right?”

“You’re right. You’re definitely right,” she said as she slowly dragged herself out of bed, the sheet wrapped around her like a bath towel again. “We might as well get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“But you better have sex with me after grocery shopping,” she said as she shuffled off to the bathroom, the sheet trailing behind her like a wedding dress train.

Erick reached down and grabbed the end of the sheet, pulling it off her with her next step.

Naked, she spun around and glared at him.

“That was rude.”

“You’re going to the shower and you can’t shower in a sheet. I was only trying to help.”

Sighing and shaking her head, Clover turned around again and once more headed to the bathroom on the second floor.

“You’re lucky I’m in love with you,” she said as she started climbing the steps, naked as the day she was born. “Or I’d be offended by this boorish behavior.”

Erick rolled onto his back, smiling up at the ceiling. Knotty pine, beautifully finished, probably original. Wait.

What?

Erick sat straight up just as Clover disappeared through the bathroom door. He walked up the steps and tapped on the door.

“Clo?”

“What?” she yelled over the sound of the shower water coming on.

“Did you say you were in love with me?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, just checking.”

“Is that a problem?” she asked. He heard the sliding shower door open and close.

He shrugged. “No. No problem. But you have to stop telling me stuff like this, you know, like this.”

“Like what?”

“First, you told me you’d never had sex before while my penis was literally already inside your vagina.”

“You brought it up.”

“And then you tell me you love me on the way to the bathroom to get ready to go grocery shopping? You’re kind of burying the lede here.”

He heard more movement from inside the bathroom. The door opened and he stood back as Clover stood not only naked but soaking wet in front of him.

“I’m in love with you,” she said. “I know we’ve only been together for four days but by my calculations we’ve spent over seventy-two hours in each other’s company since Sunday evening. If your average date is four hours long—dinner and a movie, for example—then seventy-two hours is the equivalent of eighteen dates. And eighteen dates is more than enough time to decide if you’re in love with the person you’re dating. Most people know by the third date, I hear.”

“I like that you did the math.”

“I did. I’m a businesswoman. Businesswomen do the math. I realized it this morning while I was watching the sun come up and I felt so happy you were there. As beautiful as the lake is and the mountain and the trees and the sky, it was you being there that made me so happy. I thought you should know that so I told you first chance I got. Did I need to wait for a full moon or something?”

He peeked over her shoulder at her naked backside.

“Looks like a full moon to me.”

“Can I get back in the shower now?” she asked. “I’m cold.”

“I can tell. And yes, you can get back in the shower.”

“Thank you.” She turned around and started to close the door on him but he stopped it with his hand. She spun around again, hitting him with water from her hair. “Now what?”

“I—”

Clover slapped her wet hand over his mouth and, all of a sudden, he thought of another type of sex they should try.

“I don’t know what you’re going to say but I don’t want you to tell me that you love me, too,” she said. “I mean, I do, but if you said it now, I wouldn’t believe you meant it. I’d be afraid you said it because I said it. I want you to say it when you’re ready, not just because I said it. Got it?”

He nodded behind her hand.

“Good,” she said. “Do you have something to say to me that isn’t a declaration of love?”

He nodded again.

“Okay,” she said, removing her hand. “Say it.”

“I want to fuck you in the shower.”

“You can,” she said. “But not today. We’re in a hurry.”

She shut the door in his face, and he sighed the sigh of a man with an erection and nowhere to put it. But the sigh turned to a smile when he remembered this—Clover was in love with him. Well, damn.

While Clover was in the shower he pulled on his clothes and found his phone. It was only six thirty, which meant Ruthie would be asleep for, oh, five more hours at least. Now was a good time to text her since she wouldn’t see the message yet.

Clover is officially the happiest woman on earth, he typed. You aren’t allowed to give me the silent treatment anymore.

He hit Send with a smile, then set the phone down to start making coffee. He’d had his back turned to the phone for only a few seconds when it buzzed with a reply.

Good, Ruthie wrote back. Glad to hear it. I approve this message.

Why are you awake so early? he replied.

Unfortunately not for the same reason you are.

Get your mind out of the gutter. We’re going grocery shopping before the crowds hit the stores.

Suuuuuurrrrreeee...

Go back to sleep, he ordered. It freaks me out when you’re awake during the day. Be a vampire like a normal teenager.

I had a busy night maiming and killing people on the dark sordid streets of Hollywood.

That’s nice, dear. Hope you had fun. Glad you’re talking to me again. Miss you, kid.

Ew.

You know you miss me.

Go kiss your girlfriend and leave me alone.

I will definitely do that. Have a good Thanksgiving. Tell everyone I said hello. Love you.

He set his phone down again, not expecting any further messages from his daughter, who had very likely stayed up all night playing violent zombie-themed video games with her brother and hadn’t yet gone to bed. But he heard the buzz again and picked up his phone.

Are you and Clover really a couple now? Ruthie had written, and Erick sensed her anxiety in the question.

We are. Is that a problem? We can talk about it if it is.

No, it’s cool, she wrote back. Then she sent him another message right after. I love Clover.

I know you do. I’m pretty crazy about her, too.

I was wrong when I said you aren’t good enough for her. I’m sorry. You two will be great for each other. I’m actually kind of stupid happy about it.

Erick stared at his phone and blinked a few times. Did his child actually use the words I was wrong and I’m sorry to him? She did. It was right there in black and green.

That means a lot coming from you, he replied. I feel a great deal of fatherly affection toward you right now. I might even pay your cell phone bill without yelling at you for going over your text limit again.

But...just so you know, if you hurt Clover, I will honor the bonds of sisterhood over childhood and set your truck on fire.