Page 69 of Adam's Rising

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Clara Mae,as always, set out a spread.

“Clara Mae,” Rusty said, squeezing an arm around her waist. “How do you make so much food and never gain a pound?”

“You think I like this slop?” She laughed. “It’s just cheap to make.”

Now that it was just the four of them, Rusty felt comfortable laughing with his mother-in-law. He’d been dying to get to his wife in Texas, but Clara Mae told him to be patient.

Clara Mae seemed happier, too. That made Adam happy.

“What I want to know…” Peter said. “How did you learn to cook for so many people?”

“Li’l Colt, the Texas ranch is ten times the size of this one. My mama taught me to cook when I weren’t hardly old enough to hold a spoon. She’d set me on a step, and order:Stir that pot!”

They all laughed. It felt good. Like family. Even Peter looked relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever.

Getting the Landrums off the ranch, after getting rid of Brett, Frank, and George, felt like a reprieve. Like he could take a breath. Yeah, Lala was acting like a scorned woman, but she was young. She hadn’t tracked down Thomas since he’d stopped calling her, so surely she would just give up the chase. It’s not like they even had anything in common. Yeah, she owned a horse, but it wasn’t like she cared about Starlight.

The phone rang, and everyone jumped. Adam and Peter had never owned a phone, so the shrill sound always startled them. But even Clara Mae and Rusty weren’t used to it.

“Gah!” Clara Mae squawked. “That damn bell is gonna give me a heart attack. If I didn’t need it for orders, I’d yank it right out the wall.”

Rusty stood and went for it.

Clara Mae had food in her mouth, so she swallowed then spat, “And we should make a rule that we don’t answer during supper.”

Rusty waved a hand. “Might be that order of horses coming up.”

“Is Clara Mae home?” asked the woman on the other end so loudly the entire room heard her. “I need her now.”

Rusty held up the phone, mouthing the nameEdna. “You taking calls, Ma’am?”

Clara Mae lifted her eyes but pushed back the chair. She wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin, then swatted Rusty with it, holding out a hand for the receiver. She covered the receiver. “You shouldn’t have answered. You know this woman always likes to fuss at me.” She uncovered the phone and smiled. “This is Clara Mae,” she said as sweetly as Adam had ever heard.

Adam never learned why Claire’s grandmother and Clara Mae didn’t like each other. Since Clara Mae was young enough to be Edna’s daughter, he assumed it must’ve dated back to Claire’s mother.

“Clara Mae,” cried the woman. “Is Claire still there?”

Adam stood so fast the chair fell behind him. The woman’s voice dripped with sheer panic.

Clara Mae looked to him, and Adam shook his head.

“Not since this morning,” Adam said, then looked to Peter.

Peter dropped his fork. “She dropped me off at the fence, said she had a butt-load of studying, and said to sayhi.”

Adam walked toward the phone, but he didn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry, Edna,” Clara Mae said. “Adam hasn’t seen her since this morning, and Peter says she dropped him off, said she had a ton of homework.”

“Maybe she’s at the Bedards? She and Jean study together a lot. What?” Edna shouted even louder, and Clara Mae pulled the phone back from her ear. “My husband asked if Esmerelda’s there?”

Clara Mae looked to Adam again.

“Lala hasn’t been here in days. She’s mad because I said I wasn’t allowed to date boarders, remember?” Adam said.

Neither Claire nor Lala were home? They weren’t together; he knew that much. The last Claire had updated him, she and Lala weren’t talking. Claire had been a tiny bit worried, saying Lala threatened to hitchhike to California, or worse, kill herself. Though Claire suspected that Lala loved herself too much to do that.

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