Page 67 of Adam's Rising

As much as Claire wanted to slam headphones over her head and drown out the hussy, she was also curious.

Why was she home mere minutes after Claire?

Had Adam actually broken up with her?

A few seconds of sweet silence passed, and Claire got hopeful that Lala might flop down on her own bed and cry herself to sleep.

Whispered words made their way to Claire’s room, but she couldn’t make them out.

“Please, Daddy!” Lala begged.

Dear Lord, the big baby was crying to her father. Lala huffed a few times, but then just listened.

“Why not?” was her first audible reply.

Claire crept to the door and turned off the light.

She slowly turned the handle, slid to the floor, then pulled at the bottom, peeking through the crack.

Lala was pacing the floor. The long-coiled phone cord wound around her arm like a white snake, tight and glinting like an Egyptian bracelet.

“Itdoesmake sense, Daddy. You should do it.”

Claire gasped. Certainly her father didn’t care about a boy who hadn’t seen his daughter in two years.

“Okay. Love you, too.” Lala hung up and flung herself on the sofa.

Claire pulled the door closed. Obviously, Lala didn’t suspect Claire and Adam were seeing each other, or she would have been in here.

And Lala definitely wouldn’t tell Claire that a boy had broken up with her. She was way too proud for that.

Claire wanted to head back to the ranch right then. But if she did, Lala would definitely question where she was going.

Lala would fall asleep soon enough. Tomorrow morning, Claire would head back over, same as always. Maybe they’d even ride again.

* * *

Claire arrivedat the ranch just after sunrise, boots still damp from the dewy grass outside Grams’s property. She’d barely slept and couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d overheard last night. Lala, phone pressed to her ear, whispering to her father about something thatmade sense, and he shoulddo it.

It could’ve meant anything. Or nothing. But Claire knew better than to trust Lala.

Especially now.

She saw Adam near the back pasture, checking on the new fencing.

He looked up as she approached, his expression instantly softer.

“Hey,” he said, brushing off his hands.

Claire didn’t waste time. “Did you break up with Lala?”

Adam blinked. “I didn’t have to.”

Claire waited, arms crossed.

He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “She’s dating Roger. And Clara Mae doesn’t allow relationships with boarders. I reminded her of that. Told her I was too busy to deal with drama, and that if she didn’t get off my lap, Clara Mae would fire me.”

Claire’s posture eased, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook. She couldn’t think of one good reason that Lala was perched on his lap.

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