Page 38 of Protecting Clove
When they learned they were landing in Texas, every single one of them groaned, unhappy they would have to spend another night away from home. He didn’t have his phone with him, so he would have to wait to call Clove. Maybe he could find someone and borrow their phone.
“This sucks,” Trip said. “I was looking forward to a long weekend with Ellis.”
Kevlar nodded. “Yeah, we all want to get home.”
Bud agreed with them, but it wouldn’t do any good to complain about their circumstances. It was midnight in California, and he wanted to be awake to chat with Clove when she woke. He went in search of a place to bunk to get some much-needed rest.
Clove woke to the alert sounding on her phone. She hadn’t been paying enough attention to the weather to know a storm this bad was rolling in. Luckily, Remi had stopped by and stayed late watching movies then crashed on her couch because she didn’t want to walk home so late even though her place was just down the street.
Clove went out to the den and found Remi already awake. They still had electricity, so Clove started the coffee, glad they at least had that going for them.
“Any idea how bad the storm is?” Clove asked.
“It’s bad. There is a tornado north of here, but we’re just getting wind and rain.”
A shiver worked through her. “I hate tornados.”
Remi shook her head. “Same. It’s not cool that we’re getting hurricanes and earthquakes.”
They both laughed. “Yeah, I could do without both,” Clove said.
They had the weather up on their phones and were looking at the bands of rain coming in. She didn’t want to wake Neo, but if the wind got any worse, she would be forced to.
They hadn’t heard from any of the guys, and she wondered when they would be back. She hoped they weren’t trying to come back into this mess. It would be horrible to be flying in this.
Remi sipped her coffee as she scrolled on her phone. “You know, I think Pecky needs to go through this storm. Maybe I can have him be swept away and go on an adventure after the storm.”
“That would be fun, kind of. I mean, who doesn’t like a Pecky story where something wild happens?”
“Yeah, sometimes the really far-out ones get the best play.”
“I like them all. Before I knew who you were, I followed Pecky and read most of them. Now I read them all. I like seeing how your mind operates.”
Remi laughed and then raised her eyebrows. “I’d like to see how your mind works.”
Clove chuckled. “Through food. I love making new pastries. I thought I would always work in a kitchen, but then Neo happened, and now I teach. I like it better. I really didn’t think I would, but now I like the freedom it affords me. I get to create new treats.”
“That sounds like fun. I will say the things you’ve brought over have been amazing.”
“Thank you. That’s my passion. I know I can’t eat them all, but I want to share them.”
“Well, everyone I’ve talked to who you’ve shared with really appreciates it.”
A gust of wind hit, making them both jump. They laughed, and Clove stood and moved over to the window to look outside. She didn’t expect to see anyone outside, but there was a man walking around the side of her house. She gasped and turned to Remi.
“I saw someone outside.”
Remi sat up and put her phone on the couch cushion. “Who would be out in this?”
Clove shook her head. “No idea. They were walking between the houses. Do you think it’s a neighbor?”
Remi shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s go look out in the backyard.”
Clove glanced upstairs, worry filling her. “I don’t want Neo to wake up.”
“We’ll be quiet. We won’t go outside. We’ll just look.”
Clove nodded as a weird feeling slid through her. This was wrong. Something was really wrong, and she felt the need to stop, but she continued on to the kitchen and to the back door to look outside.
