“I wanted to beat your ass,” I tell him. “Lucky girl here convinced me you weren’t worth it, and she was right. You fucking up allowed me to realize what had been in front of me my whole life.” I wrap my hand around the back of Clover’s neck and pull her to me, kissing her right in the middle of the park, as my mom would say: in front of God and everyone.
When I pull out of the kiss, she’s left standing there dazed, her mouth slightly open, lips and cheeks both pink. She doesn’t look at hoochie douchey; she just stares up at me. He’s just as flustered, but in an awkward way.
“Thanks, bud,” I say, clapping him on the bicep, probably a little harder than necessary. I wrap my arm back around Clover’s shoulders and start walking down the sidewalk. “Come on, kiddo, we gotta get home,” I holler in Lennon’s direction. She runs up to us and slips her hand into Clover’s naturally, telling her all about the worms she saw under the slide.
When I shut the doors after helping my girls up into the truck, I look back. Weston’s nowhere to be seen.
CLOVER
I’m speechless. I literally haven’t been able to say a word since Beckett kissed me that way in the park. I’ve nodded and given the occasional ‘huh’ and ‘uh-huh’ as Lennon talks, and I feel kinda bad for not paying attention, but what the fuck was that?!
“Do I turn here?” Beckett asks calmly.
“Yeah,” I answer, not realizing we are almost to the rental. “Yeah, it’s the third one on the left.”
We pull into the driveway, and Beckett lets out a long whistle. “Damn, CJ. It might be a good thing that the pipe burst,” he says in awe.
“Why?” I ask, but then I see it. Men in full-body suits and respirators are going in and out of the house. I groan as I watch one lug out a very full contractor’s trash bag and toss it into a rental dumpster.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Beckett and climb out of the truck. I walk towards the door, but I’m stopped by someone with a clipboard.
“Ma’am, you cannot access this property. The Board of Health has condemned it due to severe mold and lead paint,” he says, clicking his pen repeatedly. I want to snap it in half. I knowit’s not his fault, I’m just annoyed. Lead paint on top of it all? Damn. It really was a good thing it burst.
“Right,” I tell him. “I’m actually here to get my belongings? The landlord said I was able to today.”
The man asks for my name, and I show him my ID and the emailed copies of paperwork Rich sent over. After inspecting it, he nods once.
“Very well, I’ll get the things we were able to recover.” He shuffles around some papers on his clipboard and hands it over to me, along with the clicky pen. “Fill these out while I retrieve them, please.”
I click the pen a few times after I fill out the papers and wait for him. I get it now, it’s actually pretty cathartic to click. I hand him the clipboard back when he comes back, a couple of people following him with totes filled with my stuff. I’m actually shocked this much was salvageable.
“We also found these keys on the porch,” a girl says, handing them over to me. I’m shocked. I had sworn I locked them in the car. I thank them and turn around to pick up one of the totes, almost walking right into Beck, who’s already got one loaded in the bed of his truck.
“Look what they found,” I say excitedly, dangling my keys in front of him. “Looks like I still have my car!” I push on the remote to unlock it, but nothing happens. I grumble. “I guess the rain got to them.”
Beckett takes the keys from me and carries a tote over to my car, manually unlocking it. “Hey, Lucky?”
“What’s up?” I ask as I come around my car to meet him. He points at my trunk. The rest of Momma’s pictures and journals are there, safe and sound.
I break.
* * *
It’spast dark when we pull back up to the ranch. It’s weird to ride in a car alone after being with Beck and Lenny. Too quiet. When we get out, I see the fairy lights on the porch are on, and so is the streetlight near the bridge. I hadn’t registered that on the way in. Mary and Hayes are on one of the swings around the fire pit.
Beckett has a gorgeous outdoor area, and I’m glad it didn’t all wash away. This area was also an idea Brynn sent me, so I’m assuming she had Beck build it, too. It’s a big fire pit in the middle of four big swings. Two are full swings, and two are split in the middle by a cupholder.
“Come on up, y’all. I brewed some sweet tea when the lights cut back on,” Mary hollers to us as we climb out of our cars. I can tell Lennon’s sleepy by the way she’s dragging herself to the swings, barely perking up when she sees Purrlock waiting. When I make my way up to them, she wraps her arms around my leg and rubs her eyes, yawning loudly.
Beck and I sit on the full swing across from his parents, and I pull Lennon onto my lap. She curls against my chest, and I gently stroke her hair as her breathing evens out and a quiet snore comes from her.
Mary asks us how things went today, and we fill her in on what all happened with the house, the landlord, and finding mom’s stuff still safe. Mary’s eyes teared up at that. She knew how upset I had been.
“I forgot to check my phone to see if Brynn texted back,” I say, but I don’t want to move and wake Lennon up. “I asked her when she would be back. When she is, I’ll head over there and get out of your hair,” I say, smiling at Beck. He doesn’t return the smile. He actually looks kind of irritated.
“You should just stay here,” he says gruffly.
“I don’t want to be in the way,” I say softly, reiterating what I was trying to tell him earlier.
