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Chapter Twenty
Philomena
“I can’t believe you let me sleep so long. It’s afternoon!” I said as I entered my kitchen. “And by the way, I was only joking about you cleaning up. I would’ve done it.”
It was funny, but I enjoyed cooking and cleaning. I found it relaxing. Crystal said I was an odd duck, but it worked for me.
Crystal. I hope you’re doing better today.
Clark got up from his seat and greeted me with a kiss. Then said, “First of all, if I make the mess, I clean the mess. Secondly, I went into the bedroom several times, and you never even stirred.”
“Maybe you should’ve tried harder,” I said.
He chuckled. “In case you haven’t noticed, I even vacuumed. You brother stopped by and you snored right through it all.”
“Snored? I don’t snore,” I said firmly, knowing damn well I did. I loved how we were getting comfortable enough to even joke about things that normally would’ve make me feel self-conscious.
“Oh. My mistake. Maybe it was the vacuum making that noise,” he teased.
“And here I was about to offer to make you lunch,” I said. Then I realized I’d missed something. “Wait. Joey came here?”
“Yes, a few hours ago.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up? And don’t try saying you couldn’t. I’m not that deep of a sleeper.”
“He didn’t come to see you,” Clark stated.
That made no sense. “Of course he did. I live here.”
“And he knew I was staying here. He wanted to speak to me,” Clark explained.
I sat down at the table and said, “Is it bad? Was it about Crystal? About the baby?” Probably Joey was having a difficult time talking to me about it and had recruited Clark to help.
“It’s not bad. He just wanted to have a…man-to-man talk. You know, make sure someone was watching out for his baby sister.”
I smiled. “That sounds like him. Surprised you stayed after that. He’s been scaring boyfriends off since I was eleven.”
Oh, God. I just put Clark in the boyfriend category.
All I could do was hope he hadn’t noticed. I didn’t want to add any pressure and have him hightail it out of here. I really do need him here. I’d be an emotional wreck if he wasn’t.
“Eleven? Wow, you’ll have to tell me more about that later. But to answer your question, I don’t intimidate easily.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Joey has enough to deal with without me jumping down his throat if you left.
“Did you want to go and visit Crystal?”
I nodded. “I’ll go and stay with her while Joey goes home for a bit. I know he won’t want to be gone for long, but he needs to take care of himself, too. When Crystal gets out of the hospital, she’ll need his help.”
“I’m sure a visiting nurse will come to alleviate some of it,” Clark said.
I shook my head. “She doesn’t have good health insurance. If she and Joey had already been married, she could be on his. So unfortunately, any additional help will require coming up with the cash. Crystal doesn’t have that kind of money. Thankfully Joey has a decent job so he can pay for some of it. Government jobs just don’t pay what you think they do.” Totally unappreciated.
“If you know of anything they need, please let me know. I’d be more than happy to help,” he said.
I shook my head. “Joey is a proud man. He’d never accept any help.”
“I understand that. I’m equally stubborn,” he said.
