“There’s got to be something we’re missing. I feel like it must be connected, but I can’t put it together.” Madison sat up. “I’m going to call my mom.”
I raised a brow. “You think she knows Deidra?”
“No. But she knows me, and of my parents, my mom is more likely to tell me what I want to know. My dad is…difficult.” She got out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. The sink came on and a couple minutes later she came out and flashed me a smile on her way to my closet. “It’s been a long time since I had to use my finger for a toothbrush. Hope you don’t mind I stole some toothpaste.”
I chuckled. “What’s mine is yours.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” She came back from my closet in one of my button-down shirts and peered over at me as she buttoned it up. “My clothes are still in the dryer.”
I cocked a brow. “I like this look.”
She grinned. “You just know I’m not wearing any underwear.” She finished with the buttons and looked over at me. “The woman who reached out to me is my sister. I can feel it. And I never heard her until I started working at the ranch. What if it’s all related somehow?”
She came back over to the bed. My shirt had never looked better. She picked up her phone from the nightstand. “If you’re right about Ridgemont being a school for girls with psychic abilities, then maybe there’s more to it than just my gut feeling.” There was a determined gleam in her eyes. “And if I can believe I slept with a werewolf last night, then how much more of a leap is it that I might have a psychic gift I never knew about, right?”
“Good point.” I got out of bed, following her out of the bedroom. “You’re going to ask her about the boarding school?”
“Something like that.” She started down the staircase. “Let’s see if we can get some answers.”
CHAPTER 16
Madison
My head was buzzing by the time I got downstairs and opened the contacts list on my phone. Again, I imagined myself as the fish-out-of-water heroine in an urban fantasy novel waking up to discover the world was nothing like she’d thought it was and the old rules no longer applied. In that scenario, I would be cheering for her to grab the new reality with both hands.
Easier said than done now that I was living it.
Cole came up behind me, his big hands sliding around my waist as he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I’m here if you need me.”
The heat of his body soothed me somehow as I looked over my shoulder. “You’ll be able to hear everything on both sides of the conversation?”
“Yeah, if I’m in the house.” He kissed my head. “Want me to go outside and give you some space?”
“No.” I turned around in his arms. “I want you to listen in case I miss anything. You don’t know my mom so you might catch something I miss.”
“All right.”
I leaned up to steal a kiss. God, I was already addicted to kissing him. Forcing myself to walk away, I searched my contacts and pressed Mom’s cell number.
“Madison?” she answered.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I need to ask you a couple of things. Do you have a minute?” I glanced over at Cole, suddenly a little self-conscious. I’d warned him about my parents, but he was about to get firsthand knowledge of all our dysfunction. Probably not the best way to impress a guy. Too late now.
“I’ve got ten minutes before my next meeting,” Mom replied.
My mother was a partner at an architectural firm in San Francisco. Her work was an extension of who she was in a similar way that my brother and I were. We weren’t friends like Vivi and her mother were. When something happened in my life, it wasn’t my mom who I called first to share it with. We were more like birthday and holiday chatters, at least until Dad’s heart attack.
“Okay, so I moved to Arizona, and some things have come up that—”
“Arizona?” she interrupted. Papers ceased shuffling in the background. Apparently, I’d just gained her full attention. “What are you doing down there?”
“Chandler got married, remember?”
Her tone turned ice-cold. “I remember not being invited to the wedding.”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “I already told you they eloped. There wasn’t a big wedding.” I almost mentioned the twins. Almost. Now that Cole had explained about shifter pregnancies only being four months long instead of nine, I understood my brother’s rush to get married and keep Wendy’s pregnancy on the down low. I was 90 percent sure he would wait until he’d been married nine months to mention to my parents that they had graduated to grandparents to avoid any questions.
“Anyway, I found a new job here so I could be closer to Chandler and Wendy, but something triggered a memory and I’m having a hard time placing it.”
“Okay.” My mom’s tension came right through the phone to grab me. The hair on the back of my neck stood. She was hiding something. “Ridgemont.”
Silence.
I prodded a little more. “Did I go to school there? I think I lived there. Maybe boarding school? I’m not sure why I can’t remember.”
After a pregnant pause, she finally said, “Of course not. You went to Lincoln Elementary, remember?”
“This would’ve been before that. I was maybe six or seven? I didn’t start at Lincoln until third grade.”
I locked eyes with Cole. He came closer and leaned against the desk, running his fingers along my thigh, propping me up emotionally through his nonverbal support. I wasn’t alone in this upside-down world.
Finally, she sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her tone sweetened as she feigned interest, but papers were shuffling in the background again. “Where are you working now? Did you find another brokerage firm in Arizona?”
I didn’t have to hear her heartbeat to know she was lying to me, and her abrupt change of subject only confirmed it. But why?
“No. I’m actually the marketing manager at a cattle ranch down here.” Before she could audibly gasp and groan about the damage to my pristine career, I went on. “This week I’ll be attending a fundraiser for neurological research with the passive goal of finding a few new investors for the ranch. It’s a great opportunity.”
“Neurological research?” Her words were clipped. The ensuing silence on her end came through the phone like an ominous shadow creeping across the wall.
Concern lined Cole’s eyes as he straightened to his full height. He sensed it, too.
My mother was…worried.
“Yes.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “The woman who owns the ranch is a biochemist. I think the research firm she runs is called Evolution Defense.”
Nothing.
I checked my phone to see if the call had dropped. “Mom? Are you still there?”
My mother’s usually confident, even tone wobbled. “Sounds fascinating. What’s her name?”
I’d never heard my mother rattled before. Goosebumps rose on my arms. What was I missing? “Dr. Deidra Harlow.”