Clover (4 page)

Nine Years Ago

“Jake’s here.” Brandon called from the living room. He’d been reading a book about beekeeping and had a perfect position from his spot on the couch to see anyone walking up the driveway.

Clover stared at the bag she’d just finished packing. She had a book and snacks ready to take with her to the pond. She’d planned a day of resting next to the water and reading. It was bad enough that her dad had insisted that she take R.J. with her, but she understood. He needed to focus on work more than she needed to focus on her book.

“Clover! Clover!” R.J. ran into the kitchen. “Jake’s here! Can we take him with us?”

No matter how many times she’d explained to R.J. that the pond was special, that she didn’t want to share it with anyone else, he just didn’t understand. He figured if all his favorite people--Clover, their dad, and Brandon--knew about the pond, then that was enough people to mean it wasn’t really a secret.

Jake was a good kid. Even though he was four years older than R.J., he still played with him like they were best friends. The more attention he paid to R.J., the more Clover could focus on her book. As promising as that was, Clover still wasn’t ready to show him her special hideaway spot.

Clover sighed. It didn’t matter if she wanted to take him or not. He was here and that meant she’d be responsible for both boys for the rest of the day. She started unpacking her bag. She wasn’t going to need it after all.

“How about we stay here instead? I’ll set up the sprinkler in the backyard.” They had a trampoline and R.J. loved to bounce on it with the water spraying straight up from beneath it. So did Jake.

“I’ll tell him.” R.J. tore out the back door. She could hear him running around the outside of the house, his footsteps echoing against the deck that skirted the perimeter of their home.

She took her book with her and made her way to the front of the house. Brandon sat with his own book closed in his hands, his finger placed between the pages to mark his place. “No pond after all, huh?”

“Not today, no.”

“Maybe tomorrow.” Brandon smiled in sympathy, then went back to reading. She sometimes thought he was the only one who really understood how special the pond was. Her dad had promised to put in a picnic table for her, but that was mostly to keep her happy, not because it meant anything to him.

When Clover opened the front door, Jake was standing on the porch talking to R.J. He had a small bouquet of daisies in his hand. One hung limply to the side, but the others stood up properly.

“Hi, Jake.”

Jake stared at her wide-eyed, like her greeting had caught him off guard. He didn’t respond until R.J. smacked him in the arm and said, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, um, hi, Clover. These are for you.” He thrust the flowers out so hard and fast that the momentum forced her backward. She stumbled slightly and Jake’s face turned bright red.

When she recovered, she took the flowers from him. Daisies grew wild along the road and she loved the way they looked, but hated the way they smelled. She had no idea why Jake had stopped to pick flowers, but she liked that she’d have flowers on the table during dinner that night. She thought it added a nice touch. Her dad and R.J. didn’t really care, but Brandon would like it, too.

“Thanks. I’ll just,” she gestured toward the kitchen. “Be right back.” She put the flowers, bent one and all, in a small vase and set it in the middle of the table. It did look nice.

“That boy brought you flowers?” Brandon watched from the entry with a small smile on his face.

“Yes. I don’t know why.” It really was odd, no matter how she tried to think about it.

“Maybe he has a crush on you.” Brandon shrugged, then crossed to the table. He’d left his book in the living room. He adjusted the flowers until they looked just so. Clover couldn’t be upset with him fussing with her arrangement because she couldn’t deny that they looked much better when he was done. “Time for me to get back to work.” He left by the back door.

Clover stared at the flowers and tried to figure out what Brandon had meant. Jake was only ten, three years younger than her. He wasn’t old enough to have a crush on her, was he? And what difference did it make? By the time he was old enough for it not to be completely gross to think about, they both would have forgotten all about it.

She shrugged off Brandon’s comment and headed toward the door. The quicker she got the sprinkler turned on, the quicker she could get to her book.

Present Day

Jake held Clover’s hand as he drove and didn’t even think about letting go. It was a little awkward to shift gears, but he made it work. When they passed his aunt’s driveway, he realized where they were. He’d finally gotten the cutest girl he’d ever seen to notice him, and he wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet. What if tomorrow she woke up and remembered that she was out of his league?

“
Do you have to get home right now?” He knew she was an adult, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need to report in to her dad.

“No. Why?” Clover asked.

“I thought maybe we could...I don’t know, go for a drive?” He sounded like an idiot. They’d been driving for the last thirty minutes and it was getting close to dinnertime. She would never say yes to such a lame invitation.

She smiled at him, soft and thoughtful. “Yeah, okay. But can you drop me
at my house long enough for me to shower and change? And I should probably check in with my dad to make sure he hasn’t made other plans already.” Clover released his hand so she could use her phone. He missed the feel of his fingers twined with hers, but liked the feel of her leg beneath his hand almost as much.

Jake was paying too close of attention to Clover and not enough to his surroundings. They were almost to her house when he realized that her car was gone from the side of the road. Her dad must have had it towed. He needed to pay closer attention. It wasn’t safe to drive with his mind in a haze.

He also needed a plan. Clover wasn’t going to ride around with him all night just because he liked holding her hand.

He dropped her off, then hurried back to his aunt’s place. He could throw together some food for a picnic while Clover cleaned up and talked to her dad. Then at least he wouldn’t have to worry about her getting hungry.

Jake parked and jogged to the house. Sure, Clover had to take care of some stuff, but he didn’t want to keep her waiting. She was the kind of girl to move on when she got bored.

His aunt stood at the sink doing dishes when he entered. The screen door slammed behind him. She gave him a scolding look. “What’s your hurry, Jake?”

“Hi, Aunt Tammy.” He kissed her cheek. “Sorry about the door. I’m taking Clover for a drive. Do we have anything for a picnic?”

Aunt Tammy raised her eyebrow and half-smiled. “Randall Watson know that you’re taking his girl out?”

Jake flushed. “I don’t know.” It hadn’t even occurred to him that Clover’s dad would object. She was twenty-two now, old enough to make her own dating decisions. If that’s what this even was. He wasn’t sure and had no idea how to ask that question. Instead of focusing on what he didn’t yet understand, he pulled a plastic grocery bag from the cupboard and put two apples in it.

“What in the world are you planning to do with that plastic bag?” Aunt Tammy looked offended that it was even in her kitchen.

He shrugged. The bag hung limp and deflated in his hand. “Picnic?” He’d already said that, but the look on his aunt’s face said that what he was doing wasn’t even close to what she defined as a proper picnic. He pulled a bottle of wine from the rack that looked decent and held it up. “Can I take this?”

“If you promise to use the picnic basket instead of that plastic bag.” She outright laughed at him.

“Where is it?”

“Hall closet.”

When he got back with the basket, his aunt had assembled a small, portable meal for them. The apples, chips, and a couple of pieces of pie in a container. To top it off, she was assembling sandwiches. He set the basket on the counter and loaded it up. There were linen napkins, cups, and utensils already inside the basket.

“Are you sure Clover drinks wine?”

Jake looked at the bottle. Didn’t all girls drink wine? “I don’t know.”

“Then you’d better take this, too.” She handed him a six-pack of long neck Bud Light.

Jake agreed. At the very least, he knew he liked beer. But in the movies, people on dates drank wine.
Friends
drank beer. He didn’t want to give her the impression that he thought of her as a buddy. That couldn’t be further from the truth. He tossed a couple of bottles of water in the basket just to be safe and then headed toward the door. At least the beer and wine sent a specific message. He had no idea what it would mean if she picked the water.

“Jake,” his aunt called him back. “Don’t play with that girl.”

“What?” Jake shook his head. She didn’t understand the situation at all. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Even if he was, he couldn’t be with Clover. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“When you go home at the end of the summer, I have to stay here. Her dad is my neighbor. I don’t want to complicate that.”

Jake didn’t know how to respond. It was possible that Clover would go back to ignoring him after today. He just wanted to enjoy the time she was sharing with him and maybe, just
maybe,
he’d be able to convince her that he was worth a second look. If he was really lucky, that is. There was no playing in that scenario. Only him worshipping her from up close instead of from afar.

“There’s no danger of that. Don’t worry,” he assured his aunt.

Before she could ask any other questions, he ducked out the door and trotted back to the truck. The picnic basket was bulky, but the odds of the food inside getting scattered around his truck bed while he was driving were pretty slim. If he’d gone with the plastic bag he’d selected, he would have had to put in the cab. From there it was guaranteed an apple would have rolled under the accelerator pedal at some point. He set the basket in the back and drove as carefully as possible on the way to Clover’s house.

She was sitting on the front steps when he pulled up, clearly showered and wearing a light summer dress instead of the skirt and tank top she’d had on earlier.

She smiled softly when she got in. “You came back.” She sounded as uncertain, yet hopeful, about things as he felt.

“Of course.” He kissed her cheek like she’d kissed his earlier and wished he had the nerve to move his mouth just a little to the side. That was all it would take to touch his lips to hers. Instead, he pulled back and shifted into gear.

She settled into the middle seat right next to him with the length of her thigh pressed up against his. He much preferred to have her sit there than all the way over on the passenger side.

He tried to sound casual, but he could feel his face flush with heat as he said, “I threw together some food in case we get hungry.”

“That’s sweet, thank you.” Clover stretched up and kissed
his
cheek. For one stuttering, suffocating, perfect moment, her lips touched his skin. His eyes drifted shut and he held perfectly still. So far, their exchanges had been relatively chaste, but he felt something shift inside him with that kiss. His crush was moving far too quickly into something solid and his chest swelled with fear and hope.

She lingered there for several seconds, close enough for him to feel the whisper of her breath against his skin. When she finally pulled away, he stayed in that position, stunned immobile by her closeness. She squeezed his leg, kissed his cheek again, quickly this time, then pulled away completely. “So, where are we going?”

He jerked into motion, embarrassed by his reaction. But what else could he expect? When a girl like Clover got close enough for him to smell the subtle fragrance of her shampoo and the lingering chlorine on her skin from the pool, well, something like that would always affect him. And this time it wasn’t just a girl
like
Clover; it was Clover herself. The crush he’d been cultivating for as long as he could remember had grown exponentially since he’d picked her up earlier that day.

He cleared his throat as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I have no idea. Where do you want to go?”

“Head south, toward the river.”

“You got it.”

Instead of holding her hand this time, Jake settled his arm around Clover’s shoulder. As he pulled onto the highway, she rested her hand on his leg. She let her hand lie in one place, low by his knee, with her fingers curled around the inside. It was for the best, he knew. The distraction of her hand sliding high up on his thigh while driving would be too much to ignore. Still, he wanted to feel her hand everywhere. If he could figure out a way to say it without sounding like an asshole, he’d tell her that she was welcome to touch him whenever and however she wanted. The fear that she might actually take him up on it, however, was enough to keep him silent.

For now, he was happy simply to drive down the road with her sitting next to him.

Nine Years Ago

Every family in the county decided to visit the river that day, but that didn’t stop R.J. and Jake from having fun. Clover sat on one of the lounge chairs that Brandon had packed into the back of his truck and read her book. She looked up occasionally to see what they were doing, but since Brandon and her dad were both there, too, it wasn’t her responsibility to watch them.

“Clover, come play!” R.J. yelled from the water. He stood knee deep in a shallow pool. At six, he was a pretty decent swimmer, but their dad still wouldn’t let R.J. go past waist deep. The current in the river could be unpredictable, especially here where it looked placid. He also insisted that R.J. wear a life jacket at all times. R.J. hated it, but didn’t argue. He knew as well as Clover did that if he fussed too much, they’d all pack up and go home.

Clover held her book aloft to show R.J.. “I’m reading.” Not that he would care. He thought books were boring.

“You can read at home. Come play with us.”

Jake stood next to R.J. with his hand held up to shade his eyes. He watched Clover, but didn’t say anything. It seemed that the older he got, the quieter he got when Clover was around.

“Maybe later.” She went back to reading her book. As much as she enjoyed the day out with her family, a book only made it better. Her dad had brought a book along as well. Something about annuities and tax law. She’d tried to read some of it once, but she didn’t understand most of it.

“Lunch is almost ready.” Brandon had taken a rare day off to join them at the river. He stood next to the tailgate barbecue wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a ridiculous grilling apron. He’d taken off his shirt as soon as they’d unpacked. Her dad, on the other hand, wore khaki shorts and a short-sleeved button-down shirt. He’d opened the top two buttons. Clover had never seen him more casual than this.

She hadn’t been hungry until Brandon mentioned food. Then she could suddenly smell the burgers he was cooking. Her stomach growled and she realized that she was starving.

“Look at us!” R.J. said. He and Jake had come out of the water to stand far too close to Clover. “We’re camouflaged.”

They’d pulled green algae from the edge of the river and piled it on their heads, then painted brown stripes under their eyes with mud. Jake’s chest was covered with mud, as was R.J.’s life jacket.

“Oh my God. You are disgusting.” Clover stood and backed away from them. Her brother was devious. He was probably trying to get close enough to shake that gunk all over her. She wouldn’t put it past him. “Get away from me.”

“What’s wrong, Clover?” R.J. asked in a sing-song voice as he came even closer. For his part, Jake stopped looking like he was having fun when she told them to get away from her. His brows were drawn together and he stood rooted in one place. R.J. realized Jake wasn’t with him and said, “Come on, man. Let’s get her.”

Jake shook his head. “No. I don’t want to.”

“What the heck? You did a second ago.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t anymore.” Jake turned back toward the river. A glop of algae fell from his head and landed with a squishy splat at his feet.

Without his backup, Jake gave up the chase. Clover had never been happier. She didn’t trust him enough to sit down again, but for now, at least, he seemed to be retreating.

“You’re no fun.” R.J. threw a clump of mud at Jake’s back.

“You boys get cleaned up. Lunch is ready.” Brandon pulled a burger from the grill. “You want the first one, Clover?”

Clover looked at her dad. Usually he went first. He joined them at the tailgate and took a deep, exaggerated breath. “Smells delicious. You go ahead, honey. Ladies first.”

By the time she’d finished adding all the fixings to her burger, Jake and R.J. had rejoined the group. They’d scrubbed clean in the river, but their hair still held a slight tinge of green to it.

Jake came over to her and quietly said, “Sorry, Clover.”

“It’s okay.” She offered him her burger just to show that she had no hard feelings. He didn’t take it.