"Since everyone's on board, I'll go tell her," Claire said, pushing back her chair with
a smile. She could see Helena really needed this chance to say thank you. Holding her back would probably just make things awkward, so why not let her handle it in her own way?
As Claire left to pass on the message, Shirley's phone buzzed. It was Lance.
She hesitated for a split second before answering. "Hello? Lance?" It was weird. He'd been trying to reach her more than usual lately, which made her instinctively put her guard up. In her experience, when someone suddenly started acting all concerned, they rarely had good intentions.
"Shirley, were you in a car accident?" There was genuine worry in Lance's voice, which honestly caught her off guard.
She frowned, skeptical. "Since when do you care about me?"
To Shirley, Lance had always kept his distance. He'd grown up acting like he was above everyone else, the perfect heir, and they'd never really clicked. Maybe it was the age difference, or maybe it was just how Lance was. Whenever she tried to talk to him, his responses were always cool and detached. Over time, that distance just became normal. So this sudden concern didn't warm Shirley's heart. It just felt off.
Lance cleared his throat. "I saw your post. The accident looked pretty serious. Are you alright?"
Shirley could tell he was only asking out of obligation, but the fact that he bothered at all was new. "We're okay. Luckily, Claire was driving."
“Really?” Lance asked. His voice sounded a little tight when he heard Claire's name, like he was trying to sound casual, but wasn't quite pulling it off.
"Yeah, Claire's amazing behind the wheel. At the crucial moment, she kept things under control. You probably wouldn't believe it, but there was a massive pileup right behind us. Our car was the only one untouched. She even managed to help minimize the damage for everyone else."
,10
Shirley realized too late that maybe she was saying too much, given how things stood between Lance and Clame. Cindy was the real James, daughter, the one Lance had gone out of his way to bring home. And Lance had long since stopped treating Claire like family
Shirley pulled a face, her voice turning playful. "Anyway, I don't even know why I'm
giving you the play-by-play. Bottom line, we're all fine."
"Claire's okay too?” Lance asked quietly. He almost sounded uneasy.
"She's good. Don't tell me you were hoping she wasn't?" Shirley teased. Lance went quiet.
Shirley thought she'd hit a nerve and decided to prod a little. "Lance, you can't be serious. Honestly, if you ask me, you should be more
open-minded about all this. Sup
Claire grew up in the James family and yeah, she used some family resources, but it's not like any of that was her choice. She seems genuinely happy with her real grandmother now. Turns out, her real family isn't even struggling the way everyone thought. She's making a great life on her own. And Cindy, well, yeah, her life wasn't easy before, but now you guys are going all out to make up for it and give her all the love she missed. It's not like Claire did her wrong. If Cindy came back and Claire refused to leave, that would be a different story. But she didn't. There's no need to get hung up on tiny details like this."
Shirley honestly believed she was being reasonable, but she could picture Lance clenching his jaw on the other end.
That was exactly the problem.
Claire's new life wasn't nearly as
hard as they'd expected. Lance had thought she'd struggle to fit in or get by, but instead she was
ver
thriving-winning the Math Olympiad gold to come out on
medal,"
top in the national exams. The results weren't even out yet, but
Lance was pretty sure Claire would take first place.
"We're not being petty," Lance said, but the words sounded weak even to him.
Shirley just laughed under her breath. Nothing he could say now would change her mind.