If we're going into insane troll logic, with the whole Clairemom stalking Marten thing... here's my insane troll hypothesis:
We know Clairedad cheated on Clairemom, and that's why they got a divorce.
This may be fairly recent, given how sore Claire still is about it.
We know the Augustus family is decently well off - they've paid for a robot hand for Clinton (even if it was a cheaper brand than Ellicott-Chatham), and they've paid for transition costs, a new car (granted, it's a DE-platform Mazda2, Mazda hands keys and a title for those out in cracker jack boxes if you ask nicely enough (they get mediocre fuel economy for what they are, so they can barely give them away), but still), and even educational costs up through grad school for Claire.
There's going to be a Meeting of the Meddling Mothers if this goes on long enough. I mean, both Veronica and now apparently Clairemom ship this.
Veronica has been known to make business trips to Northampton. We also know what her business is. Her hourly rate is high, but...
What if Clairedad was cheating with Veronica? That sure would make the MMM awkward. (And, Claire wouldn't have to know who it was with...)
All of this is damn unlikely, but then again, so is Clairemom stalking Marten and getting him a library job just to hook him up with her daughter a year later.