‘Uh, huh.’ Her bland expression told me how impressed she was by my idea. ‘I’ll meet you there.’
Roxy’s head lifted from her spot on the bed a second before a soft knock rapped on my front door. Not giving a second thought to my clothes, she sprang to her feet and scrambled off the bed, disappearing into the kitchen, taking several items of my wardrobe with her.
‘That’s Mum,' I explained.
We said goodbye, and I headed out to answer the door. Roxy’s tail wagged so hard she was seconds away from taking flight. Pushing her gently out of the way, I looked through the peephole to double-check.
‘Hi, honey, I’ve brought you some things,’ Mum announced when I opened the door. Flecks of grey smoothed seamlessly into blonde hair that hung loosely around her shoulders. Two plastic bags rested in the crook of her elbow. She cooed softly to Roxy, who started jumping up and sniffing the bottom of the bags. She hurried passed me, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek.
Suspicion immediately took root when she plopped the bags down on my kitchen counter, and the faint scent of sage wafted out of one of them.
‘I don’t need anything,' I said, cautiously. ‘What did you bring?’
Mum wore a long, flowing green dress. Hemp necklaces hung loosely around her neck. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a Fleetwood Mac album.
‘Just some things to help you out, you know.’ She waved away my concern with a flick of her slim wrist.
My reservations were warranted given the dubious nature of my mother’s interests. For over ten years, she’d barrelled head first into her ‘witchy phase’. Taking it seriously. She had weekly coven meetings—in reality, it was a chance for the local ladies to come together, drink wine and pretend to hex their ex-husbands. Every room in her house had charms and odd trinkets hung all over the place. Each one, she claimed, had a certain ability to heal all kinds of maladies.
I edged around the counter to peer into the bag she brought. Her hand came out to stop me. When she looked up, her eyes widened, scanning me from head to toe as if she’d only just seen me.
‘You look lovely.’
Leaning back against the cabinets, I gave a half smile. ‘Thanks, Mum.’
Turning her attention back to the bags, my eyes narrowed. ‘What’s in the bags?’
She sighed, expecting the scepticism. My lack of belief in her spiritual ideologies hadn’t stopped her from trying to lure me across that line of thinking.
‘Just some things I think would help you. I know you’ve not been sleeping too well. So I brought you a lavender spray.’ She pulled out a small purple bottle that looked worryingly homemade. Setting it on the counter, she carried on rummaging. ‘I’ve also bought you some crystals to put onyour bedside table. They’re specifically for an anxious mind, so pop them on there and it should help.’
A jagged pink crystal was placed in my hand and mum closed my fist around it, patting me sharply on the back of the hand.
I toyed with the stone, feeling the harsh bumps under the pad of my finger. ‘Mum, I’m fine, really.’ The lie tasted sour on my tongue, but it had become a ritual over the years to keep reassuring her I was good. Happy. Safe.
Her eyes pinched in motherly concern. She reached up and cupped both my cheeks. ‘I know, dear, but it can’t hurt, can it?’
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, I kept hold of the crystal as she continued.
‘Got some things for Roxy as well.’
Thankfully, what she’d purchased for my dog were standard chews and a squeaky pig that sent Roxy into a fit as she snatched it out of Mums offered hand and darted out of the kitchen to the living room, curling up on the sofa to loudly meet her new friend.
‘Now, where are you off to? You didn’t say, is Fallon back?’
I shook my head. ‘In a few days. I’ve, uh—’ I put the crystal on the counter and ran a hand through my freshly curled locks. ‘—got a date.’
Mum’s back stiffened almost imperceptibly. ‘With a man?’
‘No, a pigeon.’
‘Rosie—’ Mum started with an exasperated sigh.
‘Of course it’s with a man.’
Her carefully plucked eyebrows shot to her hairline. ‘So this is an actual date, then?’
My head dipped in a nod. Worry flashed across her face, the corners of her eyes crinkling in an attempt to smile that came out as more grimace than anything else.
