Bubba’s eyes grew wide and he immediately rolled over, exposing his belly. He had met my mother. He knew what she was like.
“Thanks, Bub, but I don’t think that would be a good idea. Who knows what you’d conjure up for me, even if you were trying to help. I don’t think it’s a good idea to wish my mother’s plane to take a wrong turn. That could go very, very wrong.”
He sneezed, then sat up again, thumping his tail against the table. Then, he gathered himself and jumped onto my chest, resting his paws on my shoulders. He let out a loud purr, licked my chin, and nestled his head under my neck.
I cuddled him. “Thanks, Bub. I needed that.”
After a few minutes, I set him down and pulled out my notebook. My mother hadn’t said how long she planned on staying, but I was taking the lead on where she was staying.
I put in a call to Ralph, grinning wickedly. My mother wasn’t going to stay in my house, but I sure as hell knew where to put her. She’d be scandalized and maybe she’d leave earlier.
You’re just being passive aggressive, a voice inside said.
“Oh, shuddup,” I said. “I know that. I can’t be overt because she’ll just blow up. Sometimes you have to play their game in order to win the war.”
“What?” Kelson opened the kitchen door just in time to hear me.
“Arguing with myself, as usual. I really don’t want to talk about it, but you’re going to know sooner than later. Sit down.”
She placed the cake box and her other packages on the counter, then pulled up a seat. “What’s wrong?”
“My mother’s coming to visit and I can tell you right now, it’s not going to be pleasant. The woman’s a troll. Not literally, but in spirit. I’m going to rent her a room at Ralph’s.” I snickered at Kelson’s look.
“You think that’s wise?”
“Of course I don’t think it’s wise, but it will satiate my need to stick it to the woman. Kelson, you have to understand, Zara is the most selfish, pigheaded woman in the world. She drove my father away, she made him feel horrible when he was laid up—due to no fault of his own. She made my life miserable. Even her friends hide when she’s coming. She’s unhappy with herself and so she makes trouble for everybody else. And she’s going to be a bitch about Aegis and Bubba. She hates Bubba, and she’s going to butt heads with Aegis. That, I already know.”
“How could anybody hate Bubba?” Kelson stood. “You need more caffeine, right?”
“How could I not need more caffeine? Yes, and thank you. A triple latte, please. With plenty of caramel.” I rubbed my head. “Zara doesn’t like the fact that Bubba’s a cjinn. She doesn’t trust him. And she doesn’t trust me with him. Zara can’t stand anybody else being in charge. You’ll find out when she gets here.”
Bubba let out a sneeze and headed toward his food dish, chowing down with relish. I grinned, thinking that maybe he was packing on any additional weight he could in order to meet her at full force.
“What do you need me to do?” Kelson pulled the espresso, then poured it into a cold cup, adding milk, ice, and caramel syrup.
“I need you to remember that this is my bed-and-breakfast. You take your instructions from me. Zara is not your boss. You aren’t to answer her orders, and if she asks you to do something that seems remotely odd, come find me and tell me.”
“Absolutely can do!” She handed me the drink. “I suppose I should run the vacuum again and make sure the bathrooms are sparkling?”
I winced. “I hate to make more work for you. This place is already spotless. But yes, we’d better get ready to rumble because the queen of mean is coming to town.” And with that, Kelson got busy tidying up while I put in a call to Ralph Greyhoof, praying that he’d be reasonable for once. Unfortunately, he wasn’t home so I decided to go shopping.
Chapter 4
SUNSET WASN’T UNTIL almost 9:20 p.m., which meant Aegis wouldn’t even be able to start for home until then. While Kelson began a thorough shakedown of the house, I went grocery shopping. My mother was used to luxurious food, and—as she had pointed out to me in her letters—if the service wasn’t top-notch, she made certain to complain. By “top-notch,” she meant over the top, grovel on the ground, kiss her feet or at least her ass.
As I tossed cartons into the grocery cart, I could already feel my defenses rising. Damn it, why the hell had she decided to ignore my pleas and come anyway. I had written to her back in January after she had mentioned coming out, asking her to please wait. I had done everything but say “I don’t want you here,” but Zara wasn’t one to take a hint. Or an outright order. She ignored whatever she didn’t want to hear.
I started to reach for a jar of caviar and stopped, my fingers inches away from it.
“No, damn it. Just no. You aren’t going to make me spend a ton of money just to please you when I don’t even like you.”
“Maddy? Are you all right?” An all-too-familiar voice broke through my thoughts.
I shook my head and turned around. Ralph Greyhoof was standing there, looking at me with a concerned gleam in his eye. Just who I needed right now. Then again, he was the one I needed to talk to.
Shaking my head, I said, “Not really. I have a very problematic guest coming in tonight and I tried to call you, but you weren’t home. You wouldn’t happen to have a room open that I could rent for her, do you?”
The concern turned to suspicion. “Why? What’s the punch line?” He shifted, his hooves clicking on the floor.
“I’m not joking, Ralph. I don’t want her staying at my house.” I let out a sigh. “If you must know, my mother’s coming to town and we don’t get along. I haven’t seen her in about ten years and frankly, I don’t care if I ever see her again. I told her not to come but she never listens to me. I thought I could rent her a room at your inn and save myself a headache.”
He blinked, dropping the bag of potato chips he was holding into the cart. “Your mother?”
“Yeah, my mother. Trust me, I’m serious. So, do you have a room? I’ll pay you double what you normally charge, just to make certain she’s out of my hair.”
Ralph stared at me for a moment, then tossed his butt-length braid over his shoulder. He was a good-looking guy and the fur on his muscular legs was a very silky brown. But he was also a pain in the ass. We had, thanks to his paranoia, developed an ongoing feud since I opened the Bewitching Bedlam. He was convinced I was trying to steal his business. He and his brothers—George and William—owned the Heart’s Desire Inn. To be accurate, their inn was actually a brothel/hotel for horny, lonely women. And a few horny men. Our clientele had almost no overlap, but Ralph was convinced that we were out for the same guests. After a rocky past six months, we had agreed to try to coexist. I wasn’t sure he had it in him, but I was willing to try.
“You don’t have to pay me double, Maddy. We have a room open.” He worried his lip for a moment, then added, “I want to apologize again about my cousin Honey. I never should have done what I did.”
That gave me pause. I wasn’t used to Ralph actually taking responsibility for anything.
“All right. I accept your apology. I suppose we should let bygones be bygones.” I wanted to add, “As long as it doesn’t happen again,” but decided that was just poking the bear. Or the goat, in this situation.
“We’re good, then?” He flashed me a nervous smile.
“Sure. We’re good. And thanks about the room. I’ll bring Zara over around nine. I have to think of some excuse why she can’t stay in our own guest rooms. I suppose I can tell her that they’re reserved.”
He laughed. “Tell her that you have bedbugs. That should do it!”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah, and have her go blabbing it all over town how her daughter is a slovenly housekeeper? No, thank you. I’ll just say that all the rooms are booked for the rest of the week and we’re expecting the guests starting tomorrow. Hell, if I have to, I’ll dig up Snow and her boys and pay them to come back fo
r a couple days. I know they like their new apartment, but this is an emergency.”
That brought a laugh from the satyr, and I joined in. He had been responsible for Snow White and her dwarves joining our community, but again—water under the bridge.
We said good-bye and I ignored the caviar and headed for the checkout counter. Maybe Ralph could turn over a new leaf. I was willing to at least give him the chance.
BY THE TIME I got home, Kelson had some good news. “We’ve booked the rest of the rooms. Delia called. She has cousins—on her father’s side, I’m from her mother’s side—coming in from Bellingham and she doesn’t have enough room for them. A mother and father, and twin girls. I hope you don’t mind, but I booked your personal guest room, too. They’re bringing their nanny.”
“I heart you too, woman.” I grinned. “Finally, something is going our way. Now Zara will have to stay with Ralph. By the way, I ran into him at the supermarket. He’ll save a room for her.” I glanced at the clock. It was three p.m. “I should run back over to Sandy’s and see how she’s doing. Can you handle things here? By the way, I’ll take my mother out to eat, so don’t worry about dinner for her.’
“I’m fine. You go on. Bubba can keep me company.”
As I headed back to the car, I snagged a bottle of espresso-flavored vodka and tucked it in the back seat. Never let it be said I came without bearing gifts.
SANDY WAS IN front of her computer, arguing with the voice controls. “Stupid Oxbow, I said ‘Open new document,’ not ‘Open news site.’ ” She looked up as Jenna escorted me into the library. “Thank gods you’re here. This thing is driving me out of my mind. Can you tweak it?”
I groaned. I knew basic programming and how to work around a lot of software glitches, but I had spent a full week helping Franny tighten up the voice command recognition program, and it wasn’t a quick undertaking.
“All right, but we’ll have to schedule a time to do that. It’s not something I can help you adjust in just a few minutes.” I paused, setting the bottle of vodka down on the desk. “You on pain pills?”
Most of the pain medications for Otherkin were specialty blends, given the difference in our genetic makeup from humans. We couldn’t take ibuprofen and aspirin like humans. Every race within the Pretcom had its own mixtures that worked, and a list of those that could kill.
“Yeah. But they don’t contraindicate for booze. I asked Dr. Beems to make certain of that.”
Sandy and I were the original party-hearty girls, and we liked our cocktails.
“Good, because I’m going to need a pity party before the week is out.” I dropped into a chair, staring morosely at the computer. “Guess who’s coming to visit?”
Sandy squinted, then let out a groan. “Zara?”
“Yeah. Zara. She’s coming in tonight before Aegis will even be awake and on his way home. I’m boarding her at Ralph’s.”
That brought a snort. “Oh, she’ll just love that. Your mother is a…”
“You can say it—she’s a snob. She’s also a bitch. I wish to hell she would have listened to me when I told her not to come, but there’s nothing I can do now except try to make her stay as unwelcome as possible. If I just outright tell her to leave, she’ll put on a betrayed melodrama of angst and anguish.” I paused, then asked the question that had been needling at the back of my mind. “Do you think I’m wrong? Should I try to iron things out with her?”
Sandy rolled her eyes. “Maddy, how many times have you asked me that?”
I thought back. “Too many times to count.”
“How many times have you actually tried to make the relationship with her work?”
That one was easier. “More times than I want to admit.”
“And does it ever work out?” Sandy leaned forward as far as she could in her wheelchair. “I’ve watched you bend over backward for that woman and no matter what you do or say, it’s never been enough. You could hold your breath until you turn blue and she’d still say you’re using up too much oxygen. Isn’t it time to just admit that you and Zara are never going to find a comfortable place together?”
Max was edging toward the door, Jenna by his side. I glanced over at them.
“Don’t go. This is all common knowledge, at least with Sandy. She knows my mother and she knows what hell the woman has put me through.”
Jenna cleared her throat. “I feel like that with my mom.”
Sandy jerked her head up. “What?”
“My mother…I can never do anything right.” The girl lowered her eyes. “To be honest, when she said she was going on a world tour and that you were going to be my guardian for the time being, I was relieved. You don’t constantly nag me.”
I gave Sandy a quiet look. True, Jenna had never indicated that she was unhappy, but whenever we mentioned her mother returning, she had always quickly changed the subject.
“Well, maybe your mother is unhappy with her own life,” I said, trying to navigate a potential minefield. “That’s my mother’s problem. Zara doesn’t like herself or her own life. She’s never satisfied, and she always feels like the world owes her more than it ever has. So, nobody can measure up to her standards.”
Sandy shook her head. “Give it up, Maddy. Just tell her this time that you don’t want to keep up contact. That you’re both happier when you don’t try to connect.”
I nodded. I knew I needed to do that, and to some extent I had tried. But I had never just sat down with Zara and bluntly told her the truth: I didn’t like her, and she didn’t like me.
“I guess you’re right. Anyway, I should go. Kelson is cleaning, even though she already cleaned. Gods know why I even bother. It never matters anyway.” Feeling defeated, I stood up.
“Maddy, if it makes it any easier, I know your mother and I know what she’s like. It’s not you, sweetie. It’s Zara. Nothing will ever be good enough for her.”
As I headed home, I decided that Sandy was right. It was time to confront my mother and to be upfront with her. Straightening my shoulders, I decided to meet the dragon head-on.
EIGHT O’CLOCK. I tensed. My mother was notoriously late, but this time, I wished she’d just show up so we could get it over with. I was determined to have her back on the plane tomorrow morning. I also wanted Aegis by my side, more than I’d wanted anything in a long while.
Kelson was rinsing the last of the dinner dishes and stacking them in the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. I smoothed my skirt. I was wearing a vibrant royal blue sundress, heels, and my hair and makeup were impeccable. I needed to feel as pulled together as I could, because Zara was extremely good at pushing buttons.
“Do I look okay?” I glanced over at Kelson for one last bit of reassurance.
“You look wonderful, Maddy. Go on, and don’t let her cow you.”
Taking a deep breath, I answered the door.
And there she was. Just as I remembered her, though a little bit thinner and a little bit sharper looking. At five-foot-three, my mother was about two inches shorter than me. She had long black hair like mine, only it was starting to show streaks of silver. Her face was narrow and angular, her eyes a glittering blue. She plastered on a smile and held out her arms for an air hug.
“Maudlin, it’s so good to see you again.” She brushed my cheek with a whisper of a kiss and then skirted past me, pushing into the living room. “It’s been too long. You never visit your old mother anymore. I suppose you’re too busy with your new life.”
I pulled back. The zings were already starting. “Leave your suitcase there, Mother. Would you like some coffee? How was your flight?” I was determined to keep the conversation on a superficial level. Just keep it light and simple, Maddy, I thought. Don’t give her any more ammunition than she already has.
“Abominable, as usual. And I would love some coffee.” She stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. The newlyweds were out, and Mr. Mosswood was in his room. “Rather empty for a hotel, isn’t
it? You call this a lobby?”
“I’m not running a hotel, Mother. I’m running a bed-and-breakfast. My guests have eaten dinner and are off doing whatever it is they planned on doing for the evening.” I motioned for her to follow me. “This way.”
“I was surprised to see you bought such an old house. It looks like it was plucked right out of the English countryside. So quaint. I imagine it’s just falling apart at the seams.” She finally started moving, and I led her into the kitchen.
The Bewitching Bedlam was a long, tall house. I had been calling it a Victorian until Sandy had corrected me not long ago. A long stone mansion, it actually did resemble a number of houses found in England. Almost like a colonial, only made out of old stone. Two stories, with an attic and a basement, the house had been abandoned when I bought it, left to fall into ruin. But Aegis and I had restored it, bringing it back to life.
“Actually, this house has really good bones. Aegis and I have put a lot of work into it, and we’re returning it to a lot of its former glory in a modernized way. Which reminds me,” I said, entering the kitchen, “I’m going to have you stay with a friend of mine in his inn. I don’t have any empty rooms here.”
Zara froze, her eyes narrowing. “So you don’t have room for your mother?”
“No, since you didn’t give me any warning that you’d be coming in until today.”
“I sent you a letter several months ago—”
“Yes, with a vague mention of coming to visit. To which I replied, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. No arguments. You’re staying at Ralph Greyhoof’s inn.” I stopped, biting my tongue as the words came out sharper than I intended. “Sit down. I’ll bring you some coffee.”
She took a seat at the kitchen table. I carried over a tray with the coffee on it and the rest of the cake that Kelson had bought for dinner. As I sat down, I wondered how the hell I was going to get through however long it was she planned to stay. Which brought the question to mind…