My brain was starting to hurt. “We need to know where Wesley was. We need to know how he got from his ranch to the cemetery.
“I don’t think he was there the whole time. He was somewhere else. We need to figure out where and why. My mother seemedsurprised when I said that I thought Wesley was on the other plane. Maybe he never was.”
Galen opened his mouth, then shut it.
“You don’t think that’s my mother,” I guessed. I felt a small tug in the vicinity of my heart when I said it this time.
Galen looked conflicted. “I don’t know what’s better for you at this point,” he admitted. “You seem to need it to be her. If it’s not, it’s a cruel attack.”
“That would be right up Declan’s alley,” I said.
“It really would.”
“But?” I prodded.
“There are questions.” He held out his hands. “I haven’t figured out how it being your mother benefits him. It doesn’t all fit together yet. I also haven’t figured out how faking it benefits him.”
I spooned up the last of my ice cream and put the empty container on the coffee table. “It is a lot to consider,” I said.
“It really is,” he readily agreed, angling himself to loom over me. I had to lean back on the couch to see his face. “We’ve thought about it enough for one night. Let’s think about something else.”
“Oh, yeah?” I said on a laugh. I knew exactly what he was getting at. Playing the game was half the fun. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, for starters, show me your tongue.”
“What?”
“Is it blue?”
“Probably.”
“I might not want to eat a Smurf, but you look good in blue.”
That made me laugh hard. “Is that so?”
“Why don’t you come upstairs and I’ll show you.”
“Sounds like an absolutely fabulous idea.”
GALEN WORE ME OUT. I EXPECTEDto slip into a black abyss of sleep and not emerge for eight hours. Instead, I dreamed.
A dark shadow chased me on a dead plane, whispering enticementsand threatening to kill everybody I loved if I didn’t do what it wanted. It never told me what it wanted. It was a frustrating experience, which had me waking in an even darker mood than normal.
“Nice face you’ve got there,” Galen said as I grumpily rolled to rest my cheek against his shoulder. He put his arm around me. He had his phone out and was working.
“I’m not in the mood to be funny,” I warned him.
“And here I was just about to get out my big rubber shoes and red foam nose.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Clowns are never funny.”
“I agree. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re crabby.”
“Sorry.” I sort of meant it. “I had a dream. It seemed to go on and on forever.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t good.”
I told him about it. He frowned almost immediately.
