Claire Read Online Free Page A

Arranging
    • Reading to Small Children
    “Let’s set up for reading.”
    Todd dragged his navy blue Fatboy beanbag under the small circle of shade provided by their leafy red maple. He surrounded it with X-Men action figures and a stack of Dr. Seuss books. Once in position—legs crossed and leaning toward Wolverine, Magneto, Storm, Cyclops, Sabre-tooth, and Toad—he slid on their father’s old wire bifocals. “Ready!”
    Claire sighed and propped her camera. The light was poor, but she didn’t have time to make adjustments. She had walking practice with SAS in twenty-five minutes—twenty of which would be spent getting up the courage to leave the house in her registration dress—so she clicked away while Todd shifted and read aloud from
One Fish Two Fish.
    “Is this the Lyons
estate
?” a man called from a brown delivery truck.
    Todd burst out laughing. So did the deliveryman when he looked at the quaint sky blue home sandwiched between two other quaint homes. But Claire failed to see the humor. Since when did UPS guys make jokes about the size of people’s houses? Okay, maybe in Westchester, but
here
?
    “Are you Kuh-laire Lyons?” He stepped out of the truck, clipboard in hand. The gorilla-ish amounts of white blond hair on his arms matched what was left on the sides of his sunburned head.
    “Yeah.” Claire hurried toward him, her bare feet crunching down on the prickly piles of Todd’s raked fronds.
    He yanked his metal handcart from the truck, then wrestled to pull a five-foot-tall wardrobe box from the back. “Where do you want it?”
    “Um, inside, I guess.” Claire hurried to open the front door, standing back to allow the deliveryman to wheel the box into the small foyer.
    “Sign.” He thrust a clipboard into her hands and slid the cart out from under the box. “I guess one of your
estate
butlers will take it from here.” He snickered.
    “Very funny,” Claire said with a sarcastic smirk, closing the door behind him.
    “Open it!” Todd urged as he rooted through the mess of papers on the white vestibule table. He found their mother’s silver-plated Bank of America letter opener and handed it to his sister.
    Claire stepped up on the hallway bench to reach the top of the box and stabbed at the packing tape along the seams. A gust of Chanel No. 19 wafted out, like she had just released Massie Block from a genie bottle. Claire opened the front cardboard flaps and saw a note pinned to a white, wrinkle-free wardrobe bag. She lifted the purple card and read:
    Are we hair dryers?
    Claire said, “No,” as she flipped the card over.
    Then there’s no need for outlets!
    “How did she know I was at an
outlet
?” Claire wondered aloud.
    “What is it?” Todd looked up at his sister as if admiring the Statue of Liberty.
    Claire unzipped the bag and anxiously dug her hand inside. The textures were unmistakable. Denim, silk, beading, ruching, leather, suede, buttery-soft cotton (Splendid!). “It’s a gift from my fashion gawdmother!”
    “For what? Staying away all summer?” Todd snickered at his not-so-funny jab.
    “She must have sent these for me to wear to the
ball
!” Claire thank-hugged the box as if it were Massie.
    “What ball?” Todd ducked under Claire’s arm and peered inside the box. “Whoa!”
    “Long story.” Claire nudged him back. She was so excited she didn’t know what to do first. The clothes
felt
great. She couldn’t wait to play her Miley Cyrus CD and try them on. But more than that, she was excited times ten by the gesture. Massie must have truly considered her a BFF if she had gone to the trouble of sending such an extravagant gift. Everything her parents had told her about Massie was right:
“She only acts mean because she’s insecure. And lashing out makes her feel safe. On the inside she is a caring, thoughtful person who will show kindness and let down her guard once she knows she can trust you with her feelings.”
    Well, it was beyond clear from the size