Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Clover
Van’s pickup wasn’t what I expected—more that it was a pickup and not an electric car or something. What did computer guys drive?
He opened the door for me, and his clean, linen scent filled the cab. The hint of cedar was there too. I inhaled much longer than a regular breath, and my stomach calmed.
The nerves didn’t leave completely. “I’ll pay you back when I start work.
It’s not until next week, and then I’ll have a couple of weeks before I get paid.
I actually start my online training later next week, and I’ll get paid for that.
I was surprised I could do that. Technically, I’m two hours from where I work, but they said I can work remotely most of the time.
After the online module, I’ll have to go in and meet everyone, learn the equipment, and get trained in—and tell them I’m pregnant.
” My laugh came out thready. “I’m rambling. Sorry.”
“Why?” He angled the vehicle down the driveway, his big hand clamped at the top of the wheel.
My cheeks heated. “It’s annoying.”
“For you?”
“Elijah said—”
“That’s your first clue that it’s bullshit.”
Another laugh burst out of me. I needed that reminder. “Do I need to be deprogrammed?”
“Yes.”
He said it with a metric ton of granite in his tone. I really did need to rethink my whole time with my ex. “Oh.”
“My family isn’t, how do I say this? Nice? They aren’t normal.” The corners of his jaw bunched. “Maybe they’re more normal than I think, since they keep getting away with how they behave.”
“You aren’t close?” I had seen it for myself, but I wanted to hear what he said.
He let out a bitter laugh. “No. When I realized we never were, I made some changes.”
“Can I ask…” It was none of my business, but Van hadn’t said a kind word about his brother or his parents, and he’d been living with them. He wasn’t giving many specifics, but his tone filled in the blanks.
“Why I was living with my mom and dad?” When I nodded, anger flashed through his eyes. The air crackled in the pickup. “Because I know exactly how you feel.”
What did he mean— Oh. He didn’t have to share that part of his life with me, but he did, and I didn’t like the tension that created in him. “You just found out you’re pregnant too?”
His laugh was so sudden I flinched, but immediately grinned with him. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and I was almost glad he wasn’t looking at me, or I’d get lost in those eyes of his.
“Close. I, uh, was engaged, and we started a business together. She wanted to be done with me, and I was forced to dissolve the company.” He rolled his eyes toward me. “We had investors to pay, overhead, and somehow, she got all her student loans and debt paid out of the deal.”
“That’s awful.” I’d only heard from Elijah that Van had failed and came crawling home.
“Yeah,” he said flatly. “It was.”
Businesses sprang up on either side of the road. A physical therapy office. The gas station and grocery store. A small movie theater. He passed the soccer fields where I’d watched Poppy and her husband, Jensen, coach.
It only took a minute once he turned off the highway until we were parked in front of Haven Furnishings. An insurance agency and a legal office were on the same street. He parked in front, and I was out of my seat before he could walk around and open the door for me.
I wasn’t going to make the same stupid mistake and think that we were more than two strangers helping each other.
When I had asked him about dinner, it wasn’t like I thought we were really married.
We lived together, and he was doing me a giant favor.
Maybe I underestimated how badly he wanted to get out of his parents’ place.
But the message was clear. We weren’t a thing.
Regardless, he held the door to the furniture store open for me.
A short, older woman with dark hair scattered with gray smiled at us. “Welcome. I’m Hattie. What can I help you with?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I wasn’t buying, so I had no say. I snapped my lips shut and stepped to the side so Van could take charge.
He shoved his hands in his jeans, and his shrewd gaze swept the assortment of dressers, recliners, rocking chairs, couches, and, in the far back, beds. “We need to modestly furnish a small, two-bedroom house.”
She clapped her hands together. “Let me show you what I have, tell you what I can get, and then I’ll ghost you two so you can chat about what you want.”
Hattie did just that. I relaxed the longer we were there.
Van wandered next to me, or in the narrower stretches, he let me take the lead.
We didn’t touch, but the moment was comfortable.
He didn’t interrupt as she cruised through her offerings, all quality stuff that wouldn’t fall apart in a couple of years, but it came with a price tag.
I kept peering at Van to see how much regret was etched across his face. There was nothing but calculation.
One time, Elijah had waxed poetic about how he wished he was closer with his brother, like I was with Poppy. But I understood Van’s role now more than ever. How could he be open with someone who habitually lied and insulted him?
Unless Van was the one lying?
No. My gut didn’t think he was untruthful, and he also hadn’t cleaned out my savings and left me at the altar.
“Okay,” Hattie said after she explained the layout of the store and how they could deliver. “I’ll leave you two to talk about it.”
“Thanks.” After she went back to her desk, Van did a three-sixty like he was cataloging everything. Then he pinned me with that stunning gaze of his. “What do you like?’
“Me? You’re paying. Get what you want.”
“You have to live with it for three months.”
I held up my hands. “Nope. Your money; your furniture.”
“Clover.” When I stood firm, he shook his head. “Can you at least pick out the mattress you want?”
He had the money; I had the house. I was okay with that deal as long as I was offering something.
I’d sleep on whatever he got, but if he insisted, I could pick out the cheapest one.
My skin prickled as I walked toward the displays.
Looking at beds with a guy was intimate.
It was personal. At least we weren’t sleeping together. I sucked in a breath.
Spinning around, I smacked into his hard chest. Strong hands gripped my shoulders to steady me. This was the second time we touched, and I could just rest my head on his broad chest and hear his heartbeat. Only that would be weird.
“Sorry.” I took two steps back. “What are you going to do for a bed? Wait—all this is yours. What am I going to do for a bed?”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t buy two beds.” Two frames. Two box springs. Two mattresses.
His forehead crinkled. “We need two beds.”
“And what about the office?” I asked. “Don’t you do stuff with computers?”
He stiffened. “Yeah, I do stuff with them.”
Whoa. What did I do to earn that flinty tone? “Did I say something wrong?”
His shoulders fell. “No. It’s not you. Yes, I work from home.” He ran his thumb and index finger along his bottom lip. “I can work at the dinner table.”
“But I’m working from home too.”
Clarity dawned in his eyes. “Oh. We can’t both work at the table?”
“I have two screens. You?” When he nodded, I shook my head. The decision was clear. “You need the smaller room for an office. I can sleep on the couch.”
He gave me a droll look. “I’m not letting you sleep on the couch while I get the bed. I’ll take the couch.” He tried to hide a wince, but I caught it.
“Your snowboarding injury?”
“A lawn mower incident. I’ve been doing lawns the last few years and wrenched my back. It can get finicky. We can buy two twin beds. That’ll be all the bigger room will fit.”
Okay. So we’d share a bedroom. No problem. No problem at all. Like a sleepover with someone I barely knew for three months. “What about a bunk bed with a full-sized lower bed?”
His lips twitched. “Do I get top or bottom?”
I chuckled at the vision of either one of us scrambling to the top. “You’re taller.” We both eyed the bunk bed I described a row over. The supports would block any legroom for him. Would he be comfortable? Would I?
I’d offer to take the couch again, but he probably wouldn’t go for it. As touchy as he could be, he was chivalrous. So that left one other option. “We’re both adults. We can sleep together and not be weird about it.”
His brows notched up. “Sleep together?”
Did he have to sound so hollow? We’d be living together. This would just be living together closer. “Yeah. In the same bed. We can build a pillow wall or something.”
His jaw dropped, and he blinked. Then he lowered his gaze down to my athletic shoes and traveled back up in a way that left a trail of heat. I was in shorts and a T-shirt, but he made me feel like I was in a lacy negligee.
The next second, his green eyes were cold as an agate in winter. “A pillow wall. That’ll work.”
I’d been half serious, but the rejection stung. Yet it was his back and knee, and I’d appreciate not snoozing on a couch, so I nodded. “Okay. One bed it is.”
Van
The store couldn’t deliver everything today, so I said I’d load it all up into the truck.
Rather, I’d intended to. We stood at the back of the store, my pickup ready to be loaded, and Hattie was waiting for me to call it and schedule delivery.
I was doing mental gymnastics on how to get this done.
It’d take more than one trip, and I’d have to get everything into the house.
I wasn’t having Clover help me haul this heavy stuff.
Logically, I knew a pregnant woman could still do normal activities, but moving heavy dressers and chairs wasn’t normal for Clover. It would’ve been had my brother been doing this.
Computer stuff. What had he told her? That I play games all day?