Page 90 of Clara Knows Best

He glared at her, and she smiled.

33

“I’m staying another week,” Jesse said as they entered Romeo Family Health through the rear door into the kitchen. He hadn’t said much on the drive in. She hadn’t known they were still carpooling, but he’d gone to the passenger side of the Maserati and waited with an air of impatience, and she supposed his shoulder might have been worsened by the hours he’d gone without the sling.

“Just like you predicted, huh?” she asked now, punching in the alarm code.

“Yeah. But I can’t stay longer than that,” he reiterated. “If Dr. Pike’s not back by then, I think you better move any March appointments into April.”

“I will,” she promised, taking a casserole dish out of the freezer and putting it into the fridge to thaw. They’d take it home and have enchiladas for dinner later.

Jesse followed her down the hall to the reception desk. She crouched to turn on the power strip, and when she stood up again found him staring moodily at her.

“When’s that job fair?” he asked.

“Monday morning.”

“Good. You need to get out of here.”

She wasn’t sure why he sounded so grim. “I do?”

“Yeah.”

There was an urgent knock at the front door, and when Jesse saw through the glass that it was her two youngest cousins, he went into his—her mother’s—office.

Clara unlocked the door and they burst in. “Clara! Is Yoli here yet?”

“Nope. She probably won’t be for twenty minutes.”

“Good,” Lorelei said quickly. “We’re going to tell you a huge secret.”

“You can’t tell,” Eloise emphasized. “Not a single person. It’s actually illegal for us to tell you.”

“But we decided you can be trusted,” Lorelei assured her. “Don’t worry, Mom and Dad know it, too. But you can’t even tell your parents. You have to promise. Even Asher doesn’t know!”

“But Birdie does,” Eloise put in. “You can talk to Birdie about it.”

“I promise I won’t talk to anyone but Birdie about it,” Clara said, curiosity piqued. “Is this aboutNext Texas Rock Star? Did you make it to the next round?”

“Not exactly,” Eloise said with a giddy laugh.

“Ellie Glass was there,” Lorelei said, her voice barely above a whisper. “She was the guest judge, andshe liked our song.”

“Wow,” Clara said, taken aback. “Seriously?”

“She gave us a gold star!” they cried in unison.

“A gold star? Like, you’re going straight to the finals?”

“Yes! And we can’t tell anyone at school because the episode doesn’t air until March! We’re in the finals!”

“Wow, congratulations! Ellie Glass!”

“She said she loves our sound!”

“And she said Lorelei is ‘obviously a very talented guitarist,’” Eloise said, puffed up with sisterly pride.

“I can’t believe it! That’s so great!”

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