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“Everything all right?” Seth asked, interrupting Dean’s thoughts as he tipped his chin toward the cell still gripped in Dean’s fist.
He groaned aloud at Seth’s mention of the texts. But since the texts that had him groaning were in fact from his mom, he wasn’t sure he was too keen on revealing that it was his mommy blowing up his phone to the four strangers surrounding him.
Eh, whatever. They all had moms too, right?
“All good. It was my mom just checking on when I’m getting in. Funny though. That lady at the desk was dead on when she’d guessed it was Mom. It was like she somehow knew before I even checked the phone myself.”
Noah’s brows rose. “You know what’s really funny? She just dumped a whole bunch of personal shit on me that was dead on too. Right there at the desk while I was signing in after you left.”
“You talking about Blessing?” Tyler asked.
Dean nodded.
Tyler sighed. “Oh yeah. We’ve all had experiences with her.”
Seth let out a short laugh. “No kidding. She told me the name of the vet in the town I’m going to. There aremaybethree hundred people in that town, and she knows two of them. What are the chances of that?”
“So she’s like…” Dean began but had no clue how to finish the sentence.
“Psychic?” Code suggested.
“Woo-woo,” Seth said in a spooky voice.
“A witch?” Tyler added.
Possibly all of the above. “All righty then.” Dean nodded and decided it was time to let the subject drop.
Even if Blessing seemed nothing but sweet and kind and helpful, there were some things a man shouldn’t mess with. Heading up that list, for him at least, was voodoo, Ouija boards and women who could predict the future and knew things they couldn’t possibly know.
Chapter Five
The ride home from Albany airport was… memorable.
His mother began by asking a dozen rapid-fire questions the moment after he’d tossed his bag into the trunk and settled into the backseat of the car.
Now, halfway through the long drive home, she’d gone silent, completely absorbed in her cell phone and, judging by the sounds he heard, her text app. Interesting for a woman who just today had declared that she hated texting.
His mom being her usual chatterbox was expected. Annoying at times, but tolerable. But his mother silent, especially given the fact he hadn’t been home in close to a year, was downright frightening.
What was she up to?
“Mom. Who are you texting?” Dean asked slowly, his voice deep with suspicion.
“What? Me? No one.” His mother’s hurried answer didn’t make him any less suspicious. Particularly the high-pitched tone in which she’d delivered it.
“Mom,” he repeated, low and with warning. “I see you typing. I heard thewhooshof the text you just sent.”
Ding.
He lifted a brow. “And there’s the notification for the reply coming from theno oneyou’renottexting.”
In the driver’s seat, his dad kept his mouth closed, his lips literally pressed together tightly as he pointedly did not speak.
After forty years of marriage Dad wasn’t stupid. He knew it was safest to not comment on his mother’s actions most times.
“Seriously, Dean. Why are you making a big deal over a couple of texts? It’s just the girls from the salon today. I’m not allowed to have friends? And you didn’t even notice or say anything about my hair. I just got it done.”
There was nothing like being reprimanded while stuck sitting in the back seat of his parents’ car to make him feel twelve years old again instead of thirty-two.
