AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She liked the sound of that. Someone else, someone who wasn’t her, taking care of everything? When had that ever happened in her adult life?
“I’ll go pack, then. I promise I’ll leave the schooner sail here.”
“Bring it if you want. It’ll end up on the floor like anything else you put on.”
“That sounds like a challenge.”
“Does it?” he asked as he stood up and leaned back against the tab
le.
“What if I’m wearing something so sexy you don’t want to take it off me?”
“The lingerie has not been invented that is sexier than the naked female body—yours specifically. But if you want to play that game, I’m up for it.”
“We’ll see what I have hidden in my closet...”
She started up the stairs and Erick stopped her by saying her name. She stood on the bottom step and he came to face her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Don’t ask me why I’m asking this, but please tell me the truth. Are you disappointed with last night?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“What? No, of course not. Last night was...” She paused to search for a word. She couldn’t find one good enough so she went with a classic. “Wow.”
“It was wow?”
“Wow-wow,” she said, blushing. “And a little whoa, too.”
“Okay. Glad to hear it. I wouldn’t want to have accidentally, you know, dishonored the gift of your trust in me.”
“You told Ruthie.”
He raised his hands in surrender.
“I didn’t. I swear. She knew, anyway. I said you and I went out and that’s all I said and then it was like she read my mind or something. I think she can do that.”
Clover laughed. “It’s okay. She’s done that to me, too. I’ll say one meaningless harmless thing like ‘I feel like I haven’t had a day off in a year’ and two minutes later she’ll have figured out that I haven’t been on a date in forever and that I’m scared of dating because the last guy I went out with was such a jerk. She’s told me many times I have to honor the gifts Mother Nature gave to me and that’s the only way to overcome my feelings of failure.”
“Do you actually understand any of what she’s saying?”
“About half of it. But that half is pretty profound. She says I’m so contented and happy at work because Mother Nature made me one of Her handmaidens, and that by bringing plants into the world and tending them, I’m caring for Her children like a second mother. I am a midwife to Mother Nature. Sounds pretty impressive, right?”
“It really does. Much more impressive than what I am. She said if Mother Nature was the queen bee, I’m a drone, but I should be pleased with my role, however seemingly meaningless it is, in the cycle of life.”
“That seems to imply your only reason for existing was to mate and have Ruthie.”
“She would probably agree with that.”
“I hope she wasn’t too hard on you about, you know, you and me.”
“She said I probably disappointed you because you’re too nice to ask for what you want.”
“I remember asking for what I wanted last night, and getting it. You remember that part?” she asked.
“I remember that part. My parts remember that part...” He put his hands on her waist. She had on jeans and a T-shirt, not a turtleneck, just a T-shirt, and it was nice to have her neck exposed so Erick could kiss it.
