Page 36 of Clara Knows Best

“Maybe he stopped at another motorcycle accident.”

Her cell phone began to ring and she answered it immediately. “Whereareyou? Where is my lunch?”

“I’m sorry, are you hungry or something?” Jesse asked, soundingveryunconcerned.

“I’m starving. I haven’t eaten all day.”

“That’s not what I heard. But I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“Lunch will be practically over by then,” she despaired. “I knew I should have gotten it myself.”

“Hey, I resent that. There was a line at the hardware store.”

She sat up straighter. “You went to the hardware store?”

Yoli’s eyes widened. They couldn’t be any wider than Clara’s were at that moment.

“Well, yeah, I thought you were going to go at lunch to get light bulbs.”

Could Yoli have been right? It was unthinkable! “You’re joking,” she managed.

“Uh, yeah, I’m joking,” he agreed, as though it had been obvious. “Unlike you, I have no interest in Marines.”

She closed her eyes. “Super funny.”

“Therewasa line at the diner, though. I talked to Claudia Del Amo for a while. She’s a huge fan of yours.”

“She’s nice,” Clara said mechanically.

“I know. I had her for pre-calculus in eleventh grade. She talked too much then, she talks too much now. For some reason she had the impression that I wanted to hear all about her family’s hunting cabin.”

“Huh. Weird.”

“Yeah. For some reason she believes that we’re all spending this weekend there.”

“Really?” Clara managed. “Huh.”

“Yeah. You know anything about that?”

“Did you…correct her?” Clara asked.

He muttered something she couldn’t make out, and hung up on her.

Clara lowered the phone. “He’ll be here in ten minutes. The hardware store was a joke. Ugh, what a rollercoaster.”

“What was after that part?”

“I think he’s staying the weekend to go to the Del Amos’ cabin with us for Mom’s birthday.”

Yoli looked impressed. “Okay, that’s a development.”

“I can’t believe it!” she said as the news started to sink in. Hope flared. “Maybe he’ll decide to buy it! I have to call Hart.”

“Don’t mind me,” Yoli said, opening a bag of Cheetos.

“No, he never takes my calls. I’ll send him a cryptic text,” Clara amended. She had been a prolific texter not too long ago, but now that she wore her fingernails long, she found herself making more phone calls than ever before.

Jesse wants to rent the del amos cabin for moms bday. Can u stay the whole weekend

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