"Did Holiday say we had to be back at a certain time?" Miranda called out again.
"No," Kylie said.
Holiday, in spite of her emotional distance, had agreed to let Kylie, Della, and Miranda take one of the school vehicles into town and do some clothes shopping. It was either that or Kylie was going to have to borrow someone's shoes and bras. Thankfully, the growth spurt appeared to have come to an end. Not that it stopped Kylie from worrying. What did it all mean? And when would she know for sure what to expect next? The full moon would be here on Monday. The weres of the group had planned their show-and-tell event for that night, planning on allowing the group to actually watch one of them turn.
Every now and then, whenever Kylie let her mind go there, she worried she might be doing some show-and-telling that night, too. If her body's change was because she was werewolf, didn't that mean she might do a little morphing herself? Her heart raced at the thought. Would she know what to do? Would she remember who she was?
Kylie heard the cabin door shut and she reached for her phone to make sure she hadn't missed a call from Mr. Smith the PI. Looking at the phone, she realized she did have some messages. Her hope rose that it was him with good news.
But nope. No call from the PI. Two more messages from her stepdad and one from Trey. Great. Just friggin' great! She deleted all three messages without listening to them.
When she reached inside her drawer to find her brush, her eyes landed on Lucas's letter. Curiosity ate at her to open it, but another emotion-
one Kylie could best describe as guilt-kept the letter sealed and unread. Please don't break my heart, Kylie.
Derek's words played across her mind. She had no intention of breaking Derek's heart. She had no intention of getting involved with Lucas. So would someone please explain why she felt guilty about reading his letter?
Maybe because she kept dreaming about him. Almost dreamed about him. Oddly enough, the dreams always stopped before they really got started. However, Kylie had a feeling that was best. She somehow sensed that they would be all too similar to the dream she'd had about him before.
Dreams that involved kissing and touching where clothes were considered optional.
Why did she keep almost dreaming of him?
Because you have unresolved feelings for him, a voice from within answered.
A voice Kylie really wished would keep her mouth shut. Kylie didn't want to have any feelings for Lucas. He was off with Fredericka. And Kylie was now with ... well, almost with Derek. They hadn't even kissed since the night she'd seen him naked. A memory that never ventured too far from her mind. However, since that night, he'd sort of kept his distance from her. Kylie didn't know if it was because he sensed she still felt embarrassed about everyone picking up on her uncontrollable desires for him, or if it was something else.
It could be his way of trying to show how it felt to be avoided. Though Derek didn't seem the type to play head games.
Maybe it was simply because she still hadn't made any verbal commitment to being a couple, to going out with him. Not that this had anything to do with Lucas or his letter. Nope. Not at all. Lucas was history. Even if he came back. He'd made his choice when he took off with Fredericka. Not that she would be rude to Lucas if he did come back. They could even be ... friends. If his little she-wolf allowed it.
Thinking of Fredericka shot Kylie back to the night she'd been trapped in the bedroom with the lion. The Blood Brothers, a rogue vampire gang, had started terrorizing and killing the wildlife at the animal preserve next door hoping the FRU would blame the camp and then close it down. They had sent the lion into the camp as part of the setup. However, Kylie couldn't help but think that someone had made sure that lion had gotten in her bedroom. That someone would be Fredericka. Was she wrong to suspect her? Kylie didn't think so.
Oh, heck, this trip down memory lane was stupid. So was the fact that she hadn't opened Lucas's letter. She snatched up the envelope, opened the seal, and was just about to pull the letter out when her phone rang. Dropping the letter on the bed and checking the number, she took the call. "Hi, Mom."
"Hi, sweetheart." Her mom sighed. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"What is it?" Right then, the room's temperature dropped. Kylie felt her stomach twist into a tight knot. Had someone she loved been hurt, like the ghost had warned? "Are you okay, Mom?" Kylie asked as panic began to pull at her heartstrings.
"No. I'm not okay."
Oh, God! The temperature in the room dropped another ten degrees. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I just received an e-mail and my company is insisting I fly out today to a meeting in New York. It's with a big client and ... I'm going to miss seeing you on parents day. I checked to see if there was a red-eye flight back and it's already booked."
The chill hung on, even as Kylie's panic lessened. "It's okay." Kylie looked around to see if the ghost had materialized. She hadn't. Kylie reached over and petted Socks, who looked around with nervous, beady skunk eyes. Socks always knew when a spirit was here.
"I wanted to see you. I feel as if I haven't seen you in months."
"It hasn't been months," Kylie said. "Just two weeks." Yet deep down, Kylie realized she was going to miss seeing her mom, too. "I'll be coming home in a couple of weeks for the weekend, anyway. We'll have plenty of time to catch up then."
"And we have the haunted B&B dinner and tour," her mom added, sounding so thrilled.
"Yeah. That, too." Kylie tried not to let her dread leak out in her tone. They talked a few minutes about her mom's schedule and about her mom's cousin who wanted to come down for a visit. Kylie almost brought up Daniel again, but couldn't figure out how to turn the conversation that way.
As they talked, Kylie pulled the blanket up closer. The cold from the spirit lingered and even grew colder, but she still didn't materialize. "Oh, guess who I saw at the grocery store?" her mom asked.
"Who?" God, it was getting even colder.
"Sara."
Kylie's heartstrings gave her emotions another tug. "How's she doing?"
"Actually, she didn't look good at all."
"What did she do, dye her hair or get a nose ring?" Kylie asked, knowing how Mom felt about such things. She might have suddenly found common ground with her mom, but that didn't make the woman perfect or change the fact that she was judgmental.