Page 61 (1/2)

Claire did as told and sat down on a wooden stool by the island Her shoulders sluoodness Its warmth radiated outward from her stomach, a welcome relief to days of junk food She didn’t look up froooey contents

Her lare froze her to the hard seat

“I know you’ve been through a lot, young lady, butto fix anything” Glenda quirked an eyebrow “So what’s the plan?”

Claire sighed She’d been trying to figure that out for days now Which disaster did she want to deal with first? Harvest? Jake? Right now it hurt too much to try to tackle either heartache “I don’t know, Mom”

Glenda opened her

Grateful for the reprieve, Claire slid off the stool and grabbed the receiver “Hello?”

“I’h rattled through the line “She in?”

“I’m Claire, who’s this?”

“Francis Warrick, Jake’s dad I want to knohat the hell you did to my son”

Blood pounded in her ears at the audacious statement from a man she’d never met “What I did to him?” she stammered

“Oh hell, that ca,” he wheezed “But he won’t tell ot poked in the eye with a stick”

He wasHer heartbeat sped up “So you figured you’d just call et the scoop, huh?”

He chuckled “Yeah, I’m not known for hter set off a coughing fit

The sound pained her “How’re you feeling, Mr Warrick?”

“Like shit, but that’s the way it goes” He paused “Look, we don’t know each other, but ht have to off hi my last days on this earth”