Page 143 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
“That’s what I was going for,” he said, which got him another eye roll. “Two in a row.”
“Quit teasing me.”
Nick bent down to brush his lips against mine. “Never. I love that eye roll.”
And just because it would make him happy, I gave him one more.
For the next hour, I finished planting my yellow flowers while Nick kept me company. We talked about the garage, his design ideas and thoughts for getting new business.
The minute we walked into the house, my phone rang.
“It’s my father,” I grumbled. I hadn’t talked to him since Easter. I had made the decision not to share the details of my attempted kidnapping with him or my mother. Mom would just worry whereas he would blame the entire thing on Nick and use it against him in the future.
I scrunched up my nose but decided to take the call. “Hello, Father.”
“Emmeline!”
“Steffie?” I said. “Is everything okay? Why are you calling me from Father’s phone?”
“Oh, he’s here too,” she said. “Say hi, Trent.”
“Emmeline. Hello,” he muttered. Clearly, this group chat wasn’t his idea.
“We’re coming to visit you,” Steffie announced.
“Uh . . .” My tongue felt too big for my mouth. Seeing Steffie would be nice. But my father? In the same state as Nick? Nothing good could come from this visit.
“Hello?” Steffie said. “Did you hear me?”
I shook my head a bit and regained control of my speech. “Yes. When will you be here?”
“Monday,” she said.
“What? You mean the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes. You’re not working, right?”
“Um, no.”
“Okay then. We’ll be there Monday.”
I racked my brain, frantically searching for any excuse to delay their trip—better yet get them to cancel it altogether—but I couldn’t come up with a thing.
“And we’d like to stay with you.”
No. They could absolutely not stay here. I hadn’t spent an entire day in the same confines as my father for years. “Well, I haven’t had a chance to tell you, but Nick and I actually moved in together. You’d probably be more comfortable at the motel.”
“Don’t you have a guest bedroom?” Steffie asked.
“No, it’s just a little crowded right now. I, um, haven’t unp
acked,” I lied. “How about you both stay at my house?”
“Your house will be fine,” she agreed. “I don’t want to stay at the motel. Now that that’s settled, Trent has a few things he’d like to say to you.”
“Yes, Father?” I asked, mentally preparing for his inevitable criticism.
“Emmeline, I’d like to apologize for my behavior these last few phone calls. I understand I should have handled the news of your marriage differently.”
