ClarenceBN Read Free Page B

you didn’t, who did? Don’t tell me that freak—” she bit the words off as she looked at Melinda.
    They all knew who Tara considered to be the freak—Nobody. Melinda gave Tara one of the meanest looks Tammy had ever seen on her. It looked more like Dr. Mitchell’s sneer than Melinda’s normally good-natured smile.
    “Clarence made it,” Tammy blurted out before Melinda could respond or Tara could make things worse. “He thought . . . he thought everyone might like a change.”
    Which was not true. But it also beat the hell out of what had really happened.
    Tammy was pretty sure he’d gotten it for her and her alone. And if he had, she wanted to keep that secret close to her heart for just a little bit longer.
    Her admission was enough to break the tension. Tara huffed and said, “Since when does Clarence try new things?”
    “Maybe you should keep an open mind,” Melinda snipped. “Or consider the possibility that you’re not always right about something.”
    Whoa, this was going downhill fast. “Right, well, I’ve got to get Mikey home,” Tammy said into the bristling silence. Tara might like to throw down and Melinda might be happy to defend her man, but Tammy wanted nothing to do with a catfight. She dumped the washcloth into the sink and pushed between the two women and out into the main room.  
    Mikey’s eyes were half closed. He’d fall asleep in the car and she’d lay him down in his own bed for two hours of quiet. And today, she needed that quiet.
    “Come on, sweetie,” she murmured as she picked him up.
    “Car, Mommy. Car.” He stuck his thumb in his mouth.
    “Of course.” She crouched down so she could grab the car. She turned to wave to the other women and silently prayed that they wouldn’t kill each other—or, if they did, they wouldn’t wake the children.
    She wanted to warn Clarence that she’d outed him as the producer of the weird coffee. And she really wanted to tell him that it was good coffee, no matter what Tara might say. But, assuming Tara wasn’t in a fistfight with Melinda, both women would notice that she’d gone to talk to him. And that made her nervous. Maybe Melinda wouldn’t say anything, or she’d keep it short because little pitchers have big ears or whatever.
    But Tara? She’d get home from work about dinnertime. And if she thought there was something going on between Tammy and Clarence, Tammy might never know peace again.  
    So Tammy did not warn Clarence. She did not tell him she liked the coffee. She didn’t even thank him again, which made her feel ungrateful. She just loaded her sleepy boy up into his car seat and drove home.
    When Tara got home from work, Tammy did not ask if her sister had given Clarence a hard time about the fancy coffee. And she did not ask if Clarence had said whether or not he’d make the fancy coffee again.
    But she wanted to. She really wanted to.
    When she went to bed that night, she set her alarm ahead fifteen minutes.
    Just in case.

Chapter Three
    Getting up early one day was hard. Getting up early two days in a row?
    It sucked. Big time.
    Clarence couldn’t stop yawning as he made the coffee. He was pretty sure he wasn’t making it the same way he’d made it yesterday, but he couldn’t remember how much he’d put in. So he just guessed. Either it’d be close and Tammy would like it or it’d be weak and maybe Tara wouldn’t whine about how all the coffee tasted funny.
    He rubbed the back of his neck as the coffee dripped. Tara had been all over him after lunch, complaining about how the coffee tasted weird and no one asked him to buy some crappy flavored stuff. She’d been slamming drawers and snapping at patients, too—Clarence wasn’t sure if that was all the coffee’s fault or if there was something else going on.  
    Man, he was beat. He’d driven all the way to Rapid City last night and bought some more toy cars. He’d also grabbed some crayons and coloring books and he’d found some toy trains that