Chapter Twenty-Three Clover

Chapter Twenty-Three Clover

Wednesday afternoon, December 20, 2023

Beth: Anything yet?

Clover: No. :(

Beth: I can call Bee and ask what’s up.

Clover: I couldn’t ask you to do that.

Beth: You didn’t.

Can’t argue with that logic, Clover thought. She sighed and slipped her phone back into her pocket. It had been three days, and still no word from Knox. She supposed she shouldn’t have expected an update from him—after all, it’s not like he was dying. Still, it pained her to know that he had gotten hurt, and while helping out a guest of hers no less, and yet he hadn’t felt the need to tell her.

Just like the fact that he didn’t tell her he was moving.

New things kept happening to Knox Haywood, and good or bad, they didn’t involve her. Isn’t that what she asked for?

“Not exactly,” she muttered. Still, she figured it was best not to drown in her sorrows, and instead she focused her attention

on Leilani and Dee’s dog, who was currently panting in distress as she filled the bathtub. Though her friends were more than

understanding of her mini breakdown last Saturday, she still felt the need to offer some sort of penance for getting wasted

and disappearing in the middle of their night out together. She was leaving in a little over a week, after all, and she was

hoping—praying—that these could be the sort of friends she could still take with her.

Of course, that started with her being a good friend herself. So, here she was, bathing Miss Cleo, the escape dog, while Leilani

was out running errands and Dee was out picking up their lunch. Hailey hadn’t reached out to her yet, but she had texted Dee, who relayed that “Hailey feels awful and doesn’t know what to say. I know she wants to talk to you soon, though.”

As awful as that night had been, Clover realized she wasn’t waiting to hear from Hailey. Whatever happened between them, she took it as a simple case of teenage nostalgia, and she couldn’t fault Hailey for that or for whatever feelings she’d invoked. Like Clover, she had her own life and relationships to contend with. It hurt, but it would heal. Besides, the trade-off was getting to know Beth better and... well, Clover would be lying if that wasn’t what she’d been desperate to do since she’d seen her that first day getting off the elevator.

She blushed at how quickly that thought turned to heavier desires, and she refocused on the task at hand. She turned the bathtub

faucet off. “Okay, Miss Thing,” she said. “Time to hop in.”

She double-checked that the bathroom door was shut tight, as instructed, and then leaned over and heaved Missy into the tub.

With eyes as big as saucers, Missy sunk down into the water, ears back and head bowed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she chastised. “It’s for your own good!” She reached for the shampoo and gently began to work

the lather into Missy’s fur. Naturally, once her hands were fully soapy, her phone began to ring. She groaned. “Okay, one

second,” she said to Missy, whose eyes seemed to droop. Clover pouted back at her and then grabbed a handful of treats from

the counter. “Peace offering.” Then she rinsed off her hands and swiped at her phone. It was Knox.

“Hello?” she asked, cringing at the eagerness in her own voice.

“Hey,” he said.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me, Knox Michael Haywood. I’ve been calling you for days.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay? Is your leg okay?”

“It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“Good,” Clover said. She relaxed on the closed toilet seat and leaned forward on her arms. “Good,” she said again.

“It’s just a sprain,” he said, as if sensing the relief in her voice. “I’m sorry you were worried.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I mean...” She searched for the words she’d been thinking of this whole trip. “I know I’m not your

fiancée, Knox, but I had hoped that we could still... that you’d talk to me. Eventually. And I understand you needing space,

but then you got hurt, and I didn’t hear from you, and I just...” She sighed. “What do you need me to do, Knox?”

She could hear him shift on the phone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you need me to back off completely? To just leave your life and call it a clean break? Daddy told me you were

moving.”

“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I mean, I was going to tell you.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.” He sounded annoyed. “You went clear across the country for the holidays and sent me, like, a three-sentence

email as a heads-up. Our families have spent every Christmas together for almost twenty years, so an actual in-person conversation

would’ve been nice.”

Clover was speechless for a moment. “Okay,” she said finally. “That’s fair.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said.

There was silence on the line. Then: “Is it okay if I say I miss you?”

She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “Of course it is. I miss you too, Knox.”

Another beat of silence ensued, and she wondered if he was waiting for her to say more.

When she didn’t, he cleared his throat. “Listen, I don’t know if your dad told you but, um, Bee, your Vacate guest, is apparently

spending Christmas with us.”

She frowned. “I know that.”

“No, I mean... your aunt Janine invited her to have Christmas at the house, with the whole family.”

“That sounds like something Aunt Janine would do.” She wondered why Knox was telling her, or if there was something else he

was trying to say. “Is that okay with you?” She asked.

Another pause. “I guess so.”

“Do you not like her?”

“Who?”

Clover laughed. “Bee. The Vacate guest who has apparently been taking care of that sprained ankle of yours.”

“She hasn’t been... I mean.” She heard the phone shift on his end. “I like her just fine.”

Clover sat back in her seat. She wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, or what he wanted her to say, but she knew Knox. She

knew him very well. “If you like her,” she said softly, slowly, “then... it’s okay with me.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay.”

“I hope San Francisco is treating you well,” he said. “Really.”

She smiled. “It is. Really.” It was good to talk to him like this, even if neither of them were saying much. It was good to talk to him like it might mean they’d keep talking. Some day. From beside her, Missy whined, soap suds still covering her wet fur. “Oh,” she said. “I’ve got to go. I’m on dog duty.”

“Okay. Wait. What?”

“Long story,” she said. “I’ll tell you later?”

She heard him hesitate, and then: “Yeah. I want to hear about the dog.”

“Seriously?”

“Genuinely.”

Clover was almost too afraid to sound too eager, for fear that it would spook him, and whatever olive branch they’d just extended

to each other would snap in two. Instead, she promised to call him soon, with one more “Make sure you stay off that foot!”

before she returned to Missy’s side, feeling for the first time since she’d arrived that she was looking forward to going

home.

Once Missy was squeaky clean, Clover dried her off and let her scamper into the living room, where she was surprised to see

Beth on the couch, perched on the edge of her seat with her brow furrowed in concentration. A Joy-Con was gripped between

her fingers. Dee sat next to her, looking considerably more relaxed but no less focused.

“What is happening?” Clover asked.

“Back,” Dee said. “Food’s in the kitchen. I found this one skulking outside your apartment.”

“I wasn’t skulking,” Beth said, her attention on the screen in front of them unwavering. It was Mario Kart, Clover realized incredulously. She’s playing Mario Kart . “I was just stopping by. Your texts indicated distress—hey!”

“Don’t hate the player,” Dee cackled as a ghost-type character squirted ink on Beth’s side of the screen.

“Oh,” Clover said, taking in the scene in front of her. “I’m... less distressed now. But thank you.”

“Did he call you back?” Beth asked, still glaring at the screen.

“Who?” Dee cut in, a maniacal expression on her face.

“The ex-fiancé,” Beth answered.

“Ah.”

“He’s fine,” Clover said. “And so is Missy, by the way. Although you could probably tell from how eagerly she’s rolling around

on her back.”

Both Beth and Dee grunted in response, before Beth suddenly shouted in disbelief, while Dee shot up in victory. “Boom!” she

shouted. “In your face!”

“I want a rematch,” Beth said. Then she seemed to remember herself and sat up straighter, gently placing the controller on

the coffee table in front of them. “Later.” She finally turned to look at Clover fully, and when she did, Clover felt her

breath catch. It was like someone had turned on a spotlight and beamed it directly at her.

“Hey,” Beth said, her voice suddenly raspier than it had been a moment before.

“Hi,” Clover whispered shyly.

“Okay,” Dee said. “I’ll grab the sandwiches. You two, uh, do that.” She hopped over the back of the couch, and Beth rose and took her spot, making space for Clover to sit. When she did, the two looked at each other with a hint of apprehension. They’d been texting for days, ever since Beth had brought Clover home that night from the bar, but it felt so different for them to be next to each other now. The long messages they sent to each other, the details Clover had shared about herself, and Hailey, and Knox, and her family... all of that intimacy was now bottled between them, quiet and heavy. It’s not that they didn’t know what to say, but rather that they didn’t know where to begin. Like kerosene, waiting for a match. One word, and who knows what could happen, and how fast.

In a moment, Dee would interrupt them, because hunger waits for no one. Then Leilani would return, and Missy would pounce,

and laughter and warmth would fill this room of new friends and new feelings. In a moment, this moment was going to end. So they sat there and smiled and waited like two teenagers, awkward and hopeful, and knowing that

something special, something new, was waiting to begin.