Page 85 of Charm and Conquer

"Let me know when you get the wood," I say. "I could come over after work and help you get the playground built for Barley."

"I'll do that," Jaxon says. Barley has wandered over to sniff the other kennel and Jaxon opens the door to let the little goat inside.

After Jaxon fills out the necessary paperwork, we say goodbye and head back to Clover's car. "I feel bad for him," Clover says as she settles in behind the wheel.

"He's a world-famous pop star with more money than ninety-five percent of the people in the world. He'll be fine." I'm reassuring myself as much as her, because I really do feel bad leaving the guy there all alone.

Clover steers us down his driveway and onto the main road in silence. And not the comfortable kind of silence.

"Do you want to meet up to train tonight?" Clover asks after ten minutes.

I sigh. I want nothing more than to meet up with her, to take her out to dinner, to make sure she's okay, because she's looking more tired and pale by the minute, but I'm not sure my heart can handle much more. "What happens after one of us wins the gym?"

She glances over at me. "We can figure that out when it happens.Ifit ever happens."

And by that time, I'm almost certain I will have fallen so hard in love with her that I might offer her the gym just to keep her in my life. That's not an option. Winning this gym is about more than me. It's about giving my family back what they lost.Giving them a property no one can take from us. "I can't do this anymore, Clover. I thought I could, but it's too fucking hard. I think it would be best if we don't spend time together until after Russ has made the decision of who gets the gym."

She stares straight ahead at the road, her grip tight on the steering wheel. "Okay. That makes sense."

We don't say anything else until I say goodbye when she drops me off back at the gym.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Clover

Isniffle as I walk into the living room after teaching goat yoga. It took every bit of energy I had to get through that class with a smile on my face and I've barely got enough left to make it to the kitchen.

I refill my water bottle and drink half of it down, letting the cool water soothe my throat. I've been trying not to think about it all day, but the truth is blatantly obvious now.

I'm sick.

Hopefully, I just need a nap and lots of water and I'll be back in fighting form tomorrow.

In the pantry, I bypass all my healthy snacks and fruit because none of it is what my weary body wants. I steal a bag of chips from Honey's stash and tuck them under my arm so I can eat them in my room with no one to see and judge.

It's not until I leave the pantry that I see Daisy sitting at the kitchen island, a mug and a book in front of her. I must be really out of it that I could walk by and not even see her.

"Clover," Daisy says. "Can we talk?"

Her words make me want to close my eyes, drop to the floor, and sleep. I don't have the energy for her excuses and lies. "I'm not feeling well, Daisy. Maybe another time would be better."

I turn, ready to walk away.

"I'm sorry," Daisy says.

I turn back and put my water bottle and my chips on the island.

"I was wrong," she says. "I was a thirteen-year-old who wanted to get away from this small town at any cost. I never expected the cost would be my relationship with you."

"Our father stole from good people, and you did nothing about it. You were my big sister and I trusted you to help me stop him."

Daisy's delicate features crease in pain. "You told me you'd overheard Dad talking on the phone to someone about how the adventure park was his best scam yet, bragging about how he was going to get rich off other people being naive and dumb enough to trust him. It sounded so far-fetched to me, Clover. And when I went to Dad about it, he explained everything away so persuasively."

I stare at her. "He explained it away? How could he have possibly explained what I heard on that phone call?" My father had never talked to me about what I'd overheard, not even when I'd asked him flat out about it. He'd just laughed and told me I didn't need to worry about adult conversations.

Daisy sighs. "He told me there was no phone conversation. He told me you'd been working hard to help him and must have had a bad dream about the park."

"And when the park fell through and he left town with all that money?" I ask. "What did you think then?"