Chapter Five

Clara's POV

"Clara? Oh, she's just mad at us."

Three weeks after I left, the old lady next door caught my mom by the mailbox and asked why she hadn't seen me around lately.

My mom was holding a package she'd just picked up. She laughed like she couldn't care less.

"We asked her to give up her room for Brooke for a while, and she didn't like that. So she moved out without a word, just to make us worry. Well, I'm not falling for it."

At dinner, my dad brought me up while he cut into his steak. He talked about me like I was a cat that had slipped out the door.

"Rent out there isn't cheap. Once her money runs out, she'll come knocking on our door on her own."

My brother didn't even look up from his phone. "She's been like this since she was a kid. If nobody babies her, she goes off and sulks. Then a couple of days later, she shows up for breakfast like nothing ever happened."

Even Pierce sighed and said I'd changed. The old me would never have made things hard for anyone. Now I'd turned a perfectly good family upside down over some old piece of jewelry.

They talked about me plenty that month. Not one of them ever picked up a phone to ask where I actually was.

To them, I was just throwing a tantrum that was bound to blow over. Once I'd gotten it out of my system, I'd show up at the door with that beat-up suitcase, hang my head and say I was sorry.

A week after that, Brooke started her job at Ashcombe Aerospace Components.

That morning, the whole family took her out for a celebration breakfast first. Then they all drove her to the office together.

My dad said Gary had done them a huge favor, and he needed to thank him in person.

The lobby at Ashcombe had a high ceiling, and a model of a rocket engine hung right in the middle of it.

My mom stood underneath it, smoothing the collar of Brooke's beige suit for the third time. Her eyes were shining.

"Look at our Brooke. Her very first job, and she's working at a place like this."

She paused, like something unpleasant had just crossed her mind, and her mouth turned down at the corners.

"I just wish Clara were half as easy to deal with. She doesn't have a job, her attitude gets worse every day, and now we can't even find her."

My brother was carrying Brooke's briefcase for her. He snorted.

"Where's she going to go? I bet she's pouring coffee somewhere and still too stubborn to come home."

Pierce stood off to the side and didn't say a word to defend me. As far as he was concerned, the best job I'd ever land was probably that front desk position he'd tossed out at dinner.

The elevator doors opened. A man with graying temples came striding over, his arms open before he'd even made it across the lobby.

"Dan!"

"Gary!" My dad went over and gave him a big hug. Then he turned and nudged Brooke forward.

"This is Brooke. She's the girl from next door. She basically grew up at our house."

"She's not mine, technically, but she might as well be my own daughter. It's her first day, so keep an eye on her, okay?"

Brooke's cheeks went a little pink as she held out her hand. "Mr. Holt, I promise I won't let you down."

Gary shook her hand with a polite smile. "I looked over your file the day of your interview. Anybody who makes it onto my team has to be pretty sharp."

My mom's smile got even bigger. "She's never given us a bit of trouble, not since she was little. Not like our Clara. She finished college, and she still can't find a real job. Now she's even run away from home."

"Tell me about it." My dad shook his head. "That kid's been stubborn her whole life. I don't know how many times I told her not to be so picky, just take whatever she could get. She never listened."

The smile slowly faded from Gary's face.

"Hold on, Dan." He frowned, like he wanted to make sure he'd heard right. "You mean Clara? Clara Hollis? Isn't she the lead reviewer for the joint project at Cascade National Laboratory? Why are you talking about her like that?"

My dad froze for a second. Then he laughed and waved it off.

"You've got the wrong person. There are plenty of Clara Hollises out there. Trust me, I know what my daughter's capable of. A national lab hiring her? Come on."

"I'm not mixing anybody up." Gary shook his head. "You showed me a picture of your whole family at our college reunion. I've looked at the photo in the project files at least three times. She has your eyes, Dan. There's no mistaking them."

He looked at my dad with an expression that was hard to read.

"You ran around pulling strings and writing recommendation letters for the neighbor's kid, and you don't even know where your own daughter works?"

At some point, all the chatter around them had stopped. All that was left was the quiet sound of the revolving door turning.

My dad's mouth hung open. He still had that look on his face, the one he'd put on to soak up compliments, and he couldn't seem to get rid of it.

Gary pulled his phone out of his suit pocket, brought up an ID badge photo and turned the screen toward him.

"Here's her picture. Take a good look. Is that your Clara or not?"