Chapter Text
Maddy called Clover at the crack of dawn to ask for a favor. She said “Stupid Goldie can’t babysit today even though he promised he would! And my boss's going to be pissed if I don’t show up… Could you watch Piper, Seth, and Kiki for me today?”
“Yess’m I can.” He assured her. Clover hadn’t planned on having company today, but he certainly never minded the surprise.
“Thanks! I totally owe you one. They’ll take the bus, so it’ll be a while until they’re there.” A cat was heard meowing in the background before she hung up.
About an hour later, someone rang his doorbell. And then rang it again. And again. And a few more times, just for good measure. “Kiki! Quit that!” Seth reprimanded the little girl.
Clover let them in and Kiki greeted him with a big hug. “Uuu what’re we gonna play first?” She questioned.
“Hmm… why don’t ya’ll go out ta the stables an’ feed the horses.” He told the group.
“Do I get to ride Cherry today?” Kiki had been receiving horse riding lesions from Clover and was looking forward to seeing her favorite horse.
“Not until you cut those bangs, little lady! I don’t know how ya see a darn thing with all that hair in yer eyes.” Clover pointed accusatorily.
Kiki pouted. “Fineeee….”
“Don’t you have your scissors? We could give you a haircut right now!” Seth suggested.
Kiki gasped “Seth! That’s a great idea!”
“Well, of course it is!” They scoffed and rolled their eyes with false confidence, clutching their book satchel a little tighter.
“Let’s go!” Kiki ran off through the sliding door to the backyard, excited to play barber with her siblings.
“Hey wait for me!” Piper chased after them.
Clover was certain they’d already forgotten all about feeding the horses.
-
The stable had five horses. Three mares, one gelding, and one stallion. The mares and stallion specialized in speed and agility, while the gelding was a bronco used for rodeos. His stallion was a palomino named Justice, and Clover raised him since he was a foal. They were an unbeatable pair at mounted shooting competitions.
Cherry was Kiki’s favorite horse to ride. Which essentially meant she was the mare who had the most tolerance for the girl’s bursts of energy.
The cowboy got Cherry and Justice all geared up to ride, anticipating Kiki would be bounding through the stables soon. He stood in the building waiting for her arrival.
Pang! A small knife soared past Clover’s head and lodged into the wood paneling of the wall behind him.
“Sorry!” Kiki exclaimed. “ I didn’t mean for it to go to that wall!”
“Kiki!? I thought yer mama took away all them knives ya had!”
“She did… Kiki found that one in your kitchen.” Seth and Piper appeared from the doorframe.
Clover retrieved the knife from the wooden wall. Just as Seth said, it was one from his own kitchen set. “Kid, you know not ta be throwin knives near the animals!”
“Uuu am I grounded?” She frowned so big it was almost comedic.
“Uh” He scratched his head “That’s fer yer mama ta decide. But I ain’t lettin you outta my sight for the rest of the day.”
Clover felt terrible. He should’ve known it was a bad idea to leave the three by themselves! He hadn’t even thought about the possibility of Kiki stealing a knife. He felt disgustingly ignorant. Someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt! He should probably tell Maddy he can’t be trusted to babysit them again after this because of how irresponsible he was… He didn’t realize he was chewing on the inside of his cheek until the irony taste of blood was on his tongue.
Seth sniffled loudly, holding back tears. “I’m sorry, I should have kept her from taking the knife… This is why mom won’t let me babysit on my own. I’m terrible at it.” Piper patted them on the back awkwardly.
Clover quickly tried to remedy this. “Oh, no- It ain’t yer fault, Seth! I shoulda been watching all of youse.” He knelt down to get to eye level with Seth.
“And I coulda kept her from taking it too…” Piper added remorsefully. She then gently kicked Kiki in the shin.
“Oh! And I should have known that was a bad thing to do.” Kiki said when Piper kicked her again.
“So, uh. It was all of ours’ faults! Let’s just be real careful with knives and not steal things now, okay?” He hoped this would make Seth feel a bit better.
Luckily, it worked. Seth wiped their eyes and said “Yeah… i- it wasn’t just my fault.”
“So we’re all good now, yeah?” Clover asked.
The kids nodded.
-
They all ended up going back inside after the knife incident. Clover had grounded Kiki from being around the horses for a month as a repercussion for what she did. She was devastated, but Clover felt she’d learn her lesson from it.
At the moment, Clover was watching Seth read a story to Piper and Kiki on the couch.
Suddenly his phone rang in his pocket.
“Hello? Is this Clover?” Beau said through the phone.
Clover was pleased to hear his voice again. “Yessir! …how’d ya get a hold of me?” He remembered that Beau had given him his number, but Clover never returned the gesture.
“Apparently we have a mutual friend! Gideon gave me your number.”
“Gideon? Oh! Ya mean Goldie?” He realized who Beau meant.
Beau chuckled. “Is that what his friends call him?”
“Ever since we was little, yeah.”
“Childhood friends? I’ll have to hear more about that sometime.”
“Wait, how’dya know Goldie?” Clover asked, very confused.
“He’s a colleague of sorts.”
Clover gasped. “No way! You’re one of them TV stars too?”
Beau hesitated, thinking carefully about his next words. “...How about I tell you more about myself if you let me return that favor I owe you?”
The cowboy’s eyes shot open with surprise. His mouth suddenly felt very dry. “Like a… like a date?”
Piper, who had apparently been listening in on his conversation, stuck her tongue out at the mention of a date.
“Exactly like a date, cowboy.” Beau answered.
-
Eventually it was time for the kids to take the bus back home, leaving Clover alone again.
He’d gotten better at living alone during the past few years. For a long while after the incident his family and friends had been extremely reluctant to let him out of their sights. He’s surprised his mom let him move away without getting a roommate.
It took Kiki stealing a knife that day to get Clover to realize why everyone treated him so differently after what happened. He cared a lot about that kid, and he’d be devastated if she hurt someone. Or herself.
Clover didn’t want people to worry about him. That’s why he was so desperate to move away from home once he graduated. He wanted to be out of sight, out of mind. Not a burden to anyone anymore. Give it a few years of being a social recluse and everyone would forget all about him. But that’s not how it worked out. Clover loved being around people too much. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t deserve them and he knew it.
He kept finding himself making commitments to people. Promises he wouldn’t be able to fulfil if he were to hide away from the world. The world could do without him. He was just one cowboy, after all. But the thought of letting people down ate away at him. He mentally kicks himself for not following his plan. For letting people get attached to him. If he’d followed the plan, he could’ve left without leaving anyone hurt. If he’d planned better the first time, this could have all been avoided.
First time. Clover always thought of it as the first time. Implying there would be more after that.
There wasn’t any point in thinking about the past, though. He didn’t plan better and he couldn’t go back and fix that. All he could do now was keep the promises he made, and try not to make any more. Maybe then the next time would go smoother.
He should give Beau a call in the morning. Tell him he wouldn’t be able to make it to their date.