One of These Nights by Kendra Leigh Castle Page A

savoring it, Zoe could only give it a suspicious side-eye before getting into her car and driving away, uncertain of whether what she felt was the echo of a memory, a tantalizing hint of the future, or the promise of impending doom.

Chapter Seven
    O ver the past week, Jason had envisioned dozens of nightmare scenarios involving his mother’s visit. Some part of him insisted that in imagining something awful happening, he was actually inoculating himself against it. If he could dream it up, it couldn’t happen. So naturally, the one thing he hadn’t considered was the thing lying in wait for him just as he hobbled out of the downstairs bedroom, freshly dressed with his hair still damp.
    â€œRosie,” he complained as his dog continued the spate of operatic barking she’d launched into while he’d been dressing. “One of these days your head’s going to explode if you keep that up.” He figured she was probably losing it over a squirrel or something. Her intense hatred of squirrels was matched only by her loathing of the mailman, and she kept watch for both of them from her favorite perch—the back of his comfy reading chair, which backed up to one of the front windows.
    He might even have adjusted it a little just so she could see better, though he regretted it often enough that he would never admit to having done it.
    As soon as Jason moved into the great room, he could see that Rosie wasn’t on the chair. She was standing in front of the door, barking with such ferocity that she bounced every few seconds, her tail wagging furiously. She turned her head once to look at him with an expression that clearly said,
Come on, slowpoke, can’t you see I’m trying to tell you something?
That was when the doorbell rang.
    â€œChrist,” Jason muttered, heading for the door. It had to be Zoe, even though she wasn’t due for another hour. His heart lifted at the thought, which he immediately tried to mitigate by finding something irritating about it. He couldn’t, though—which he guessed was irritating enough all on its own. If he ever let on that he was actually glad to see her, who knew what sort of hell would be unleashed.
    Still, he found himself smiling like an idiot as he unlocked the door, murmuring at Rosie to cool it while she continued to try to bark their unseen visitor into submission. “Hey,” he said as he pulled the door open. “You’re—”
    His smile went tight, frozen in place when two pairs of eyes stared back at him, neither the color of a stormy sky.
    â€œSurprise!” his mother cried, throwing her arms wide before glancing down uneasily at Rosie, who was very close to clawing a hole in the screen of the storm door. Her eyes flicked back up quickly, but he caught the glance, and his stomach sank.
Great. She still hates dogs. One more thing to look forward to.
    â€œYou’re early,” he blurted out. He could tell immediately that he’d said the wrong thing. Her smile turned biting, and he sighed inwardly. “I’m glad you’re here, Mom. Come on in.”
    It wasn’t enough to please her, but it seemed to be good enough for now.
    â€œI’m so glad to be out of that car. Between the bumpy plane ride and Moira’s driving, I was tempted to kiss the ground right here in your front yard.” She opened the door, his aunt Moira trailing in her wake carrying a pair of large suitcases and looking deeply annoyed. When she caught his eye, though, she rolled hers and offered a small smile, which he returned. His aunt had always been a sweetheart, though one unfortunately prone to be dominated by stronger personalities. She’d finally found someone worthy of her, though, since her loser ex-husband had taken off, and Jason had enjoyed seeing her finally relax into the kind of life he’d always wished for her.
    It was why his temper quickly turned to a low boil when he saw that his mother,