Jackrabbit Junction Jitters Read Free Page B

and
box up the stuff I don’t wear anymore.”
    “Ah, she has a hidden agenda, huh?” Ruby was undoubtedly
trying to make room for Gramps and the seventy years of accumulated baggage
that came with him.
    “Why else would she want to get rid of my old toys? Shouldn’t
she want to keep them around to cry over after I go off to college?”
    “Sure. Most mothers love to sit around and cry over their
children.” Claire bit back a grin. “So, when are you leaving?” she asked again,
hoping like hell that Jess didn’t decide to take off on Claire’s watch. She
didn’t need any extra stress over the next few weeks. Her mother would provide
plenty, free of charge—if Claire decided to stick around, that was.
    “I probably shouldn’t tell you.”
    “Why not?”
    “You’ll just tell my mom.”
    “Have I ever spilled one of your secrets to anyone?” Claire
often straddled the fence between Ruby and Jess, sometimes so much that she
felt saddle-sore for days.
    “Well, no.” Jess’s eyes narrowed. “Not that I know of.”
    “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
    “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I mean, I’d really
like you to go along. We could be like those two old women in that movie my mom
loves—the one the Lifetime channel plays over and over—where they picked up
Brad Pitt, back before he got old, and then drove off the edge of the Grand
Canyon. Only we wouldn’t drive off the edge of a canyon or anything, just
cruise together all the way to Cleveland; that is if Mac doesn’t mind you going
with me. Do you think he would let you go with me?”
    Claire blinked, then blinked again, momentarily baffled by
Jess’s lung capacity.
    “Go with you where, honey?” Ruby asked in her soft, Oklahoma
drawl as she breezed through the olive curtain. Like her daughter, her red
ringlets were pulled back in a ponytail, but Ruby had bangs, the uncooperative
curly kind. “Mornin’, Claire. Your grandfather is looking for you.”
    “Why?” Claire crammed the last of the Twinkie in her mouth,
chewing over the possible reasons Gramps might want to see her.
    She couldn’t help but be suspicious after the bomb he’d
dropped on her yesterday. If he wanted help making a Welcome Wagon basket for her
mother, he’d better think again. Claire hoped to be halfway to Tucson when her
mom crawled out of the car.
    As Ruby walked past Claire, Jess stuffed her book under the
counter. With her suddenly red cheeks, the kid was the poster girl for Guilty
Teens Anonymous.
    Ruby paused in mid-stride. “What are you hiding, child?”
    “Nothing.” Jess inspected a scratch in the counter.
    “Dang it, Jess. If you’re gonna lie, at least make it
believable.” Ruby leaned over the counter and pulled out the book.
    “Mom!” Jess’s voice reached decibel levels that would make
Henry howl.
    Ruby’s face clouded over as she read the title. She tossed
the book on the counter, glaring at Jess. “How many times do I have to tell you
that I don’t want you getting a job right now? I need you here, helping with
the store until school starts. After that, you need to focus on your homework.”
    “I can do what I want! I’m almost sixteen, you know, old
enough to earn more than just an allowance for working here. It’s time you
started treating me like an adult.”
    With tears clinging to her eyelashes, Jess stomped off, plowing
through the curtain so hard that one side of the rod pulled free.
    Groaning, Ruby rubbed her forehead. “That girl is going to
land me in a straitjacket, I swear.”
    Claire walked over and snapped the rod back into place. The
soft curtain brushed against her bare arms, the velvet smelling like cigar
smoke and the wax Ruby used to polish the wood floor.
    “Do you want me to take her back to Tucson for a week?” Or
three?
    “Thanks, but no. I need your help here, patching up my back
fence and convincing your mother that I’m not fixin’ to steal your grandfather’s
money.”
    Claire turned