Page 37 of Clara Knows Best

An instant later, her phone rang again, displaying her older brother’s number this time.

“Clara, I can’t talk right now,” he said brusquely. “Are you in contact with Jesse Flores?”

“He’s here. He’s filling in for Mom at RFH this week.”

“What?”

“Yup. He flew in from Austin on Friday night.”

“Tell him to call me,” Hart snapped, and hung up.

“Why is everyone hanging up on me today?” she wondered aloud, choosing to ignore the fact that she had hung up on Jesse only that morning. “Drama, drama, drama.”

“He sounded mad,” Yoli observed.

“Yeah, I guess he didn’t know Jesse was in town,” Clara admitted. “I guess that means my younger brothers don’t know, either. They’re probably gonna flip out when they get here.”

“Wouldn’t want to be in Dr. Flores’s shoes, that’s for sure,” Yoli agreed.

The more Clara thought about it, the more she realized that Jesse might be in some peril when the day came.

When he finally arrived with the food, they all ate together around the kitchen table.

“Remember how you used to wrestle in high school?”

He frowned at her. “Do you really think I might not remember that? I wrestled for three years. I was good, too.”

“Uh, huh,” she said carelessly. “Do you…remember all that stuff? Like, how to do it?”

“Of course I remember it. What are you getting at?”

“Nothing. Unrelated, Hart wants you to call him.”

“And he did not sound happy,” Yoli warned cheerfully.

“Not afraid of Hart,” the doctor said, putting four french fries into his mouth at once.

“The one to be afraid of is Nash,” Yoli advised with a chuckle. “I don’t know why the youngest brother always towers over the others. Karma, I guess.”

“He’s a lot bigger than he was six years ago,” Clara agreed.

“And when he gets excited—” Yoli began.

“—he picks people up,” she and Clara finished in unison.

“I’m sorry?” Jesse said around his burger.

“He’s like a golden retriever you’re trying to train not to jump up on you every time you come home from work,” Clara explained. “He’s going to pick you up like you don’t weighanything. When he does it to me, he puts me back down and apologizes. But sometimes he gets carried away and throws Hart into bodies of water. On the bright side, if Beck gets to you first, it won’t be an issue.”

Jesse had stopped chewing as he listened to her. “Why?”

“Because Beck’s going to sack you like a quarterback. So, maybe Nash won’t be able to pick you up and throw you. Maybe they’ll just both jump on you. Maybe you should try to be standing near a couch.”

“Maybe you should write a will,” Yoli added.

“I have a will, and I don’t need to stand near a couch,” he said, and shoved the rest of his burger into his mouth. “Back to work, ladies,” he added, indicating the clock on the wall above them.

Clara watched him clear the remnants of his lunch and toss his styrofoam container into the trash. “Am I in your will?”

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