Page 16 of Adam's Rising

Adam rocked his head back and forth. “What’re you talking about?”

Lala walked closer, swaying her hips as if there were music playing. She stopped a few feet in front of him and rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about the horse, dumbass. I’m talking about me. Remember me, the girl who gave you her —” She looked over her shoulder, then whipped her head back toward Adam. “If you were in town, why haven’t you called? I’ve been going crazy wondering what happened?”

“I…” Adam’s confusion fell away. “I… my family…” He cleared his throat, then added a truth this girl must’ve already known. “We don’t have a phone.”

Lala whipped her head like she was trying to fling water off her face. “Of course I know that, but it never stopped you before. You’d go to that little store or your friend’s house.”

His stomach dropped — again. Not because Lala had caught him talking to Bolt — but because she wasn’t talking to Adam at all. She was talking to Thomas. How could she think he was Thomas?

Seeming to have made a decision, Lala moved closer, and Adam nearly stumbled backward.

“Let’s go!” boomed another voice — Brett’s deep baritone. Thank God for the man’s impeccable timing! Brett leaned sideways, locking eyes with Lala. “You, too, Esmerelda. Visiting hours are over. You can come back and see Starlight tomorrow.”

Lala flicked her gaze to Brett for only a second then charged out of the barn.

Brett snorted, shaking his head. “That girl might be hotter than Clara Mae’s Texas chili, but she’s as dangerous as a brown bear in May.”

Adam exhaled fast, chuckling nervously. “Yeah. I know.” He wasn’t sure what made him more uneasy — Lala mistaking him for Thomas or Brett checking her out — when she was, what… seventeen? Eighteen, at most.

Except, Lala wasn’t dangerous because of who she was — but because of who she thought he was. She believed he was Thomas. And if — when — she came back tomorrow, he couldn’t very well break up with someone who wasn’t even his girlfriend — but he sure as hell could never be her boyfriend.

5

Claire looked up at her bedroom door, waiting. Not because shewantedthe door to open, but because pretending it wouldn’t was hopeless. She pressedpauseon the tape deck, snatched her current read off her nightstand, and braced for the onslaught from Hurricane Lala.

Lala had only just come into the house, but based on the stomping across the plank flooring and the heavy thud of a bag — or something like it — her cousin (well, step-cousin) was definitely angry.

Then again, Lala was always mad at someone — or something — whenever the world didn’t spin her way.

Precisely at seven a.m. that morning, Lala had announced to the house that she was going horseback riding. Maybe Starlight had thrown her again. The first and last time Claire had gone riding with Lala, she had sworn never to go with her again. The girl mentally abused that poor horse. If Starlight began a slight gallop — even when approaching a hill, and the horse knew she needed the momentum — Lala would yank on the reins, screaming, “Whoa!” It wasn’t the throw that kept Claire from riding with Lala; it was how she never listened. Claire had tried to explain that Starlight knew the track, remembered where she needed to gain momentum. Starlight had more patience than Claire ever would.

Not that it affected Claire’s riding time. Today had been the first day in months that Lala had ridden her horse, whereas Claire visited her baby every chance she got. When she’d seen how beautiful it was outside, Claire knew Lala would want to go. So instead, Claire made it a climbing day, which was her other favorite pastime.

Since no one used the barn anymore, she had turned the area into her own climbing center, mounting carved wooden grips and bolt-on handholds she’d ordered through the REI catalog. To Grams’s distaste, she’d even rigged up a rappelling station. The only way she would be able to get on a search-and-rescue team was if she proved her worth, and she would. Someday…

“Ugh!” The bedroom door burst open, and Lala stormed in among a cloud of Charlie perfume. Poor Starlight must choke when Lala showed up for her once-a-month ride. Lala flopped dramatically onto Claire’s bed with a heavy sigh. She was waiting for Claire to ask what was wrong, but if the girl didn’t start a conversation, she certainly wasn’t going to.

Pretending she was reading, Claire looked up at Lala without lifting her head. The girl was so dramatic. Anything that went wrong qualified as the end of the world, especially now, since she had to waste her life away in Alaska.

Not that life wasn’t more interesting with Lala living under the same roof, but Claire got tired of hearing how everything was better in California. Everything except Lala’s stepfather, apparently.

According to Grams, who barely tolerated her step-granddaughter, Lala’s stepfather had caught Lala sneaking out of the house for the last time. A little more than two years ago, right before Claire had to move in with her grandmother, Lala’s stepfather had threatened to send her to a girls-only school for troubled teens. As an alternative, Lala’s mother had shipped her up here to live with her grandfather.

Lala flattened her palm over the book Claire wasn’t really reading. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m so late — and angry?”

“Why are you so late… and angry?” Claire asked as deadpan as she could muster.

Jumping up, Lala sighed dramatically. “See! Nobody cares up here! I hate Alaska! I had friends in California!” She stormed toward the door. “I should just leave. Hitchhike to —”

Claire suppressed a groan, surprised Lala didn’t threaten to kill herself again. “I’m sorry, Lala. I do care. I don’t want you hitchhiking anywhere, either. Didn’t you hear about that freak who just escaped? They’re pretty sure he was the one who murdered those college girls near Seattle.” Claire tugged Lala toward the bed. “I’m just tired. You weren’t around, so I spent the whole day climbing.”

Lala pulled free. “How can you do that all day!” With an obnoxious gagging sound, she plopped onto the mattress. “So! You’ll never guess who just showed up. Out of nowhere.” She waved her hands at the ceiling. “After nearly two years, he just shows up like he’s the king of…” She rocked a hand back and forth. “… whatever kings do.”

Claire sat across from her, waiting. Was that rhetorical? Or was she actually supposed to guess?

Lala gave her a knowing head bob.

Yeah, she expected her to guess. “I give up. Who?”

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