As they fell silent, Clara was content to drink her tea even as she halfway noticed that Troy was sizing her up. And then he was taking the tea from her. This couldn't end well. Then again, Troy was good at knowing her and half the time it seemed as he would know when something was wrong even without looking at her. Usually she was the one doing the sizing up and figuring things out, not the other way around.
With nothing to hold in her hands and keep her focus, Clara was left with keeping her hands in her lap. Might as well hold the look because otherwise it would definitely be obvious that something was going on and she really didn't want to deal with that. Questions were tiresome and she had to wonder just what Troy had to say.
It was hard not to break in that moment. It wasn't that she didn't think Troy or John or her dad or Amy would be there for her. But voicing things aloud, talking about it would make it too real for her and Clara wasn't ready for that. She wasn't ready to say out loud that Samuel was dead. She didn't know how to. She had already lost her parents to death. She had already had to bury them and then Samuel. So thankfully Troy said he wouldn't pry and instead she just hugged him. It wasn't a hug of greeting or excitement. It was just a hug because maybe she needed it more than she was willing to say.
"I know."
It was also easier to say that when she wasn't looking at Troy and watching his expression and feeling like she had to say more. If she could just hug him and say she knew (and she did know that when or if she was ever ready to say what happened, she could go to Troy or anyone really), that at least he'd know she heard him and didn't shut him out because she wasn't wanting to deal with it.
Settling back once she was certain there weren't betraying tears that would beg for questions, Clara was relieved to have her tea returned and nodded.
"Brain burning is a very bad thing and I really do hope John is right when he says nothing's wrong. Though from what I've seen, it seems others don't have that side effect from Orange County dreams."