Part 14 (2/2)

”This is your mother,” Mom said sternly.

Fear gripped me for a second, but then I remembered I was dead anyway, so what the h.e.l.l. ”I don't believe you. Do you have ID?”

”You're not funny, young lady.”

”Wrong on both counts, Mother.”

Ca.s.sie, still busy unpacking, dropped something in the sink with an awful clatter.

Mom heard. ”What was that?”

”Ca.s.sie.”

”She's in your room?”

For the love of G.o.d. ”She's in our room. Was there something you wanted?”

”Aunt Kitty and Uncle Edgar are coming over for dinner.”

”How nice for them. And...?”

”Don't get smart. They'll want to see you. You need to be here by 6.”

”Is that an invitation or an order?”

There was silence on the line.

”Mom?” The bed s.h.i.+fted as Ca.s.sie sat down next to me; she gave me an inquiring look, which I answered with a shrug. ”h.e.l.lo?”

”This is difficult for all of us,” Mom finally said. ”I don't think we need to discuss the...issue in front of them. Do you suppose your friend could just stay at the motel?”

I slammed the phone down so hard that everything on the night table jumped.

”Devvy? What is it?”

”I'm not leaving you anywhere,” I told her fiercely. ”Not now, not later, not ever.”

She smiled uncertainly and stroked my cheek. ”Good, because I'm not going to be left. What brought that on?”

”My mother.”

”I know.” She kept stroking. ”What did she say?”

It didn't matter. Suddenly, a five-alarm blaze was burning inside me, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about my mother. With a suddenness that surprised both of us, I swept Ca.s.sie into my arms and down onto the bed.

”Something you want, lamb chop?” she asked.

There was, as a matter of fact. And I was in no mood to wait until Christmas.

Fortunately, she wasn't either.

When we finally left the room a few hours later, we were surprised by a blanket of new snow -- several inches of it, topped with a thin layer of sleet. That meant digging Ca.s.sie's car out and sc.r.a.ping the windows, which was going to make us late.

After all the trouble I went to, teaching you how to tell time, Mom would say. Do you know how long it took me to do that?

I did know, as it happened; she'd mentioned it several hundred times in the course of our acquaintance. Maybe she'd be too distracted by the issue to bring it up tonight, though.

”You're sure this is a good idea?” Ca.s.sie asked.

I smiled at her over the car roof. ”No.”

She scooped a handful of snow off the hood and threw it at me.

”Not now, sweetheart. We're going to be late.”

I'd just bent back over my task when a s...o...b..ll clipped my shoulder. Ca.s.sie struck a mock-defiant pose, gloved hands on hips. ”Dare you,” she said.

”Don't be a fool. You can't win. And you'll just get your hair all wet.”

She made a moue and threw another s...o...b..ll.

”I love you too, Ca.s.sie. Now come on and finish sc.r.a.ping your side so we can get...”

A s...o...b..ll exploded on my chest, scattering down my coat and inside my sweater. Swearing at the shock of the cold, I danced around a little.

”Don't make me cluck at you, honey,” she said.

That meant war. In a matter of minutes, Ca.s.sie's BMW was all cleared off -- we'd thrown all the snow at each other -- and we were going down the parking lot, scooping ammo off other people's cars. We called a truce only when I happened to look at my watch and realized that we were already 15 minutes late.

Back in the room, we quickly changed clothes. Then, while Ca.s.sie dried her hair, I called the house. To my relief, Dad answered.

”Hi, Dad. It's me. We're running behind. Why don't you go ahead and start with...” I broke off, realizing that I was talking to n.o.body; he'd put his hand over the mouthpiece and was talking to someone in the background. ”Dad? You there?”

”Sorry, Devlin. Your mother's a little upset. You know how she gets. Where are you?”

”At the hotel. We'll be leaving in a couple of minutes. But go ahead and start dinner without us. OK?”

He put his hand over the mouthpiece again and relayed that information. Impatiently, I waited for him to come back. ”Devlin?”

”Still here.”

”Your mother wants to know if you're going to behave yourself tonight.” He dropped his voice confidentially. ”That's not quite how I would have put it, but...”

”Dad?”

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