“Ya were not a mess. Ya were lovely,” he said.
“Tell that to the lady who never got her margarita,” Jennifer answered. She made sure to lock up as Rory carried her bags for her.
The ride to the motel was quiet. Jennifer drank her latte while worrying about how she’d apologize to Kay about dropping the ball.
At Hotel Motel, Maura appeared only too happy to put them in a room. She admitted that they were nowhere near capacity with the remodeling going on and had plenty of space. She gave them a room close to the parking lot so that they didn’t have to carry their bags too far.
When Rory unlocked the motel room door for them, he instantly recoiled. This time, instead of cherub butts, the theme was clowns.
Nothing but pictures of happy smiling clowns, clown wallpaper, and carnival light fixtures. There was even a giant clown doll sitting in the middle of the bed.
“Oh, hell no, Bruce,” Rory said, even though his twin wasn’t there to hear it. He instantly pulled the door shut. “Wait here. I’ll get us another room.”
Rory ran back to the front office and returned minutes later with a key to the room next door.
“Apparently, Maura didn’t know about the clown addition,” Rory said. His movements were stiff, and he flinched a little as he opened the door to look inside. He let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness. I’ll take commercial banality over creepy circus any day. Sometimes Bruce is a little too artistically strange for his own good.”
What the motel room lacked in character, it made up for in a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting. The pastel landscape on the wall of desert sands and cacti was borderline uninteresting. It matched the delicate pattern of the comforter and a chair next to a small table.
Jennifer found herself staring at the picture of the desert. Her vision blurred, and it looked as if the printed grains of sand were shifting and becoming darker. She blinked, but the idea remained, like a dream trying to peek through to reality.
“Jennifer?” Rory asked.
“What?” She forced her eyes away and found him next to the bathroom door staring at her.
Rory slowly came toward her. “How are ya feeling? Is the anger coming back?”
She shook her head. If anything, she felt sad. She never really talked about her mother and doing so had stirred a lot of feelings.
He lifted his thumb and brushed it across her cheek. She felt it slide in moisture. When he pulled it away, he showed her a dark tear staining his thumb.
Jennifer hurried into the bathroom to look into the mirror. Dark trails had leaked from her eyes down her face. She took several deep breaths, afraid to move in case the mud again filled her mouth. She lightly touched a tear and rubbed it between her fingers. There was a grainy texture to the moisture.
Rory appeared behind her in the mirror.
“I didn’t want to believe you when you said the strangeness might come back. I hoped resisting the urge to kill you would have broken the spell.” Jennifer grabbed a hand towel and wiped her face.
“Most spells and possessions are not easily broken. I’m not sure what this is.” He touched her arm, and she pulled away from him.
Backing deeper into the bathroom, she faced him. “Rory, maybe you should not be around me.”
Jennifer didn’t want him to leave, but she was afraid of what might happen if he stayed.
“I don’t know what I’m capable of and—” she tried to explain.
“I’m not afraid of ya, love. I know ya won’t hurt me,” he interrupted.
“I won’t, but the spell might.” Jennifer turned back to the mirror. She stared at her eyes, trying to see if something else lingered there. “Or the possession.”
The idea of something living inside her terrified her.
“It’s like I’m living a bad made-for-television movie,” she whispered, pulling down her bottom eyelid to examine her eye more closely. “I have multiple personalities living inside me. When the alter takes over, I can’t remember attacking you, except for the last time. Then I felt the outside will trying to force my hand.”
“That might be because of the cheese,” he said. “The potion was supposed to reveal the truth. I think that’s what it did.”
Jennifer didn’t want to think about the tainted cheese ball.
A loud knock sounded on the door. Jennifer stiffened at the noise. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this.
“It’s probably Maura,” he said. “I promise we’re going to figure this out.”
Jennifer nodded. She reached to shut the bathroom door behind him. “I just need a minute, and then I’ll be out.”
Rory leaned to kiss the back of her wrist as she held the knob. As if reading her deepest fear, he said reassuringly, “Ya are not alone, Jennifer. Ya have the whole of the MacGregor clan at your side. But, most importantly, ya have me. I’m not leaving ya.”
“Thank you.”
Jennifer closed the door behind him and turned to the mirror. She opened her mouth wide and tried to look into her throat. Then she held open her eyelids and studied each eye.
She heard muffled voices coming through the bathroom door. Maura and Bruce had joined them. A small bark followed their words.
Jennifer leaned her ear against the door to listen. She could barely make out what they were saying.
“Ma called. She’s worried…” Bruce’s voice sounded serious.
“…Jenny Greento…” Maura said.
“…bog…Ireland…can’t….” Bruce added.
Jennifer quietly turned the handle and inched the door open, hoping they wouldn’t notice and kept talking. She peeked out into the room through the narrow slit.
“I don’t remember,” Rory said.
“Sure ya do,” Bruce said. “Ya were in Ireland, and ya followed a woman into a bog.”
“No, I…” Rory gave a small laugh. “Oh, hey, little fella, easy there.”
“Jennifer.” Bruce smiled. “So good to see ya.”
“Heard about ya trying to stab my brother,” Maura said. “Can’t say ya are
