Page 105 of Clara Knows Best

Well, at least she wasn’t crying. “It’ll be nice to get home,” he allowed.

“I bet Margo misses you.”

“Maybe,” he said doubtfully. But why would she miss him? He just made more work for her to do.

“Gotta water those houseplants,” she suggested.

He was starting to feel irritated. “Did you need something?”

“No, I just wanted to hang out for a minute. I’ve hardly seen you all week.”

“We’ve been living and working and commuting together,” he pointed out.

“I know, it’s just been kind of crazy.”

“How’s the wedding coming along?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Fine. What about Greer’s stitches?”

“I told your mom she can remove them on Monday or Tuesday. I don’t think they’re ready to come out yet.”

“Oh.” She sat there for a moment, quiet. “What if they’re not ready on—”

“They will be.”

“Oh, good. Thanks.”

“Yeah.”

She got up abruptly, walked across his room, and shut the door.

He was filled with foreboding. “Clara—”

“Shut up for a minute,” she requested, putting her palms on the desktop like she meant business. “I just want to say that I’ve been thinking, and you were right.”

He leaned back in his chair, considering. What was it about a woman in a pencil skirt leaning aggressively over a desk thatmade a man feel like he had reached some kind of milestone in his life? He took a mental snapshot and tabled the issue for later.

“About what?” he asked calmly.

“I shouldn’t have made you kiss me. I feel like that crossed a weird line for you, and now you’re going to leave and never come back, which will make my parents sad. Therefore I am apologizing very contritely, and I’ll never, ever do it again.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What happened to ‘Do me a favor and don’t regret it too hard?’”

“As I said, you were right and I was wrong,” she replied simply.

“Uh, huh.”

“Accept my apology. Don’t be a jerk.”

“Okay, I accept.”

“Good,” she said, straightening. “Now, I think maybe we canundoit by kissing one more time.”

“Get out,” he ordered.

“Just kidding!” she assured him, going for the door. “I just said that last part to make you smile. And it worked!”

He stopped smiling immediately, but she didn’t look back. He was actually going to miss that ridiculous woman. There was no one like her in Austin, and that was the sad truth.

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