Page 17 of Adam's Rising

“Thomas!”

“Thomas?” Claire blinked. “Thomas Belgarde?” Her heart stuttered — not for Thomas, of course. Thomas had been a couple of years older than Claire; she barely knew him. But Adam… She’d known Adam since kindergarten. Adam’s father had even trained her horse, Buttercup.

Adam had always been around — quiet, respectful, watching as he worked in the barn like her own Westley fromThe Princess Bride. One time, when Adam had come back from a ride, and she was waiting on Buttercup, she’d teased, “Hey, Stableboy, how about saddling up my horse?”

He had simply smiled and said, “As you wish.”

Her jaw had practically dropped. Adam just smiled and proceeded to show her how to saddle her horse. They never got to talk about her favorite book — or whether he evenknewwhat that line meant. Not long after, her parents died, and she’d been shipped off to her grandmother’s. Two hours and a whole world away, nothing had been the same.

Lala snapped her fingers in front of Claire’s face. “Are you listening to me, Claire-belle? Always in dreamland.”

Lala called her Claire-belle as if the nickname were somehow offensive. Maybe she didn’t knowbellemeant beautiful. Or perhaps she was calling her Claire-bell? Either way, Claire didn’t care. Telling Lala something bothered her would just make her cousin say it more.

“Yeah, you know me, always off in another world far, far away,” Claire said. Lala didn’t know her at all. But without her, Claire wouldn’t know anyone. Lala had even been the one who’d introduced her to Boyd.Boyd! She flashed a look at the clock radio. “We’re going to be late!” Lately, Boyd got frustrated over the tiniest things, so the last thing she wanted was for him to sulk all evening. Not that she would admit it to Lala, but she really wanted to see this movie. Long beforeSaturday Night Feverhad come out, she’d been enamored watching Adam jump up in Thomas’s truck bed and dance toYou Should Be Dancing. Lala had swooned listening to Thomas sing that Lynard Skynyrd song, but then chastised his brother for dancing. Thankfully, Thomas had stopped her from changing the station. Thomas had looked proud to see his fourteen-year-old brother dance.

Lala flopped backward on the bed. “I’m not going out tonight.”

Claire jumped off the bed. “What do you mean? It was your idea. I can’t stand up Boyd.”

Lala rolled to her side, shrugging. She fingered the book’s pages. “Sure you can. We’ll tell them it’s that time.”

“Gross. Why would you mention that?”

Her cousin rolled her eyes. “Because if Roger’s not going to get to third base, he won’t want to go out.”

Claire dropped to her knees, shushing her outspoken cousin. “Have you guys… you know?” she whispered.

Lala shrugged and rolled over to a seated position, grabbing Claire and pulling her down beside her. “You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you?Thomasis back. Why would I want Roger when Thomas is back?”

Claire stared up at her much taller cousin; even sitting, Lala was nearly a head taller. “I don’t know, Lala. Because you’re mad at him… because he hasn’t called you in two years?” Her voice rose with each question.

Unlike Claire and Adam — who’d never dated, just been two kids who’d been friends — Thomas and Lala had been dating for months. He had a truck. He could’ve shown up. Said something. Anything. He didn’t have to disappear without a trace — like Claire had.

Lala shrugged. “Maybe he was just busy. You know how busy the ranch gets. He and his brother didn’t stop working —”

Claire’s head spun. “The ranch? Wait — his brother?”

Lala sighed long and deep. “Honestly, Claire-belle, you’re supposed to be the smart one. Yes, the ranch. Thomas was riding that wild Mustang that always kicks the stall doors. It was crazy. He was racing along the fence —”

“Thomas was riding Prince?”

“I guess so. I don’t know all the horse’s names. Just Starlight because she’s the prettiest.”

Claire resisted sighing.Prettiest. Only Lala would choose a horse based on how it looked. Claire’s mother had always said “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,”but how did one even decide if a horse was pretty? To Claire, all horses were beautiful. She circled back to Prince. Something didn’t add up. She’d recognized him the moment he arrived at Clara Mae’s ranch. Rusty — one of the few hands she trusted — had told her Clara Mae had bought the horse back, which shocked Claire. Storm-born Prince was Adam’s horse. He’d gotten him around the same time Claire had gotten Buttercup. She remembered it clearly — Adam riding the wild mustang bareback the day she and her father picked up her horse. Her father hadtskedat the recklessness.

She’d never seen Thomas on a horse.

If Lala didn’t want to go out, maybe Claire could borrow her truck and swing by the ranch. It was still light out.

“You know what?” Lala said, jumping up. “Maybe Iwillgo out tonight. Since Thomas is in Wasilla, he might go to The Pitts.”

“No,” Claire said. “I’m not going to The Pitts. We’re supposed to go to the drive-in.”

“To see that disco movie? Yuck!” Lala pretended to gag herself again.

Claire hated when she did that — almost as much as she hated that she had to do whatever Lala wanted. Unfortunately, while Lala could do anything she wanted, Claire was only allowed to go out if she was with Lala. While Claire’s parents had been older, allowing her to do anything she wanted, her grandmother was even older, and she believed that girls shouldn’t go out without an escort. Not that Lala was a virtuous escort, but her grandmother assumed that no hanky-panky — as she referred to making out — would happen if there were more than one couple in a vehicle. Showed what her grandmother knew about Lala.

“Compromise?” Claire offered. “How about we go to the movie first, then The Pitts. No one’ll be at The Pitts until late, anyway.”

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