“And why do you call her Lucy? She doesn’t like it. I can tell.”
Billie ruffled his hair. Her son was as observant as she was, a people watcher. It was one of the things he’d inherited from her. “She said something to me once. I don’t remember exactly what but the upshot of it was, she didn’t think I was treating her as a respectful daughter should, so I stopped calling her mother.” She raised her eyebrows, waiting for his response. “Told you I was a brat.”
“Don’t you think you should go back to it now?”
“Too late, I’m afraid. Oh we battled over it. I doubt she will ever forgive me for it either.”
“But you were hurting.”
She dropped a kiss on his forehead. “You are very understanding. I think it went deeper than that though for my mother. We clashed so often it became a battlefield at home. I was so unhappy and I think she was too. It seemed easier for both of us to ignore each other after a while. I think that was the only thing that saved us from plotting each other’s demise.”
“Don’t you love her enough to try again? You’re both adults now.”
“I know we are but we’re also stuck in our own ways. I tried before I left home, Alex. Your grandfather sat me down and convinced me to mend the fences for her sake. I did as he asked but even though she offered to try and forgive me, I know she never did. She can’t help herself, I think. Something happened to her when she was younger and its scarred her for life.”
Alex peered at her sideways, his face serious. “Is this true or are you making it up?”
Billie laughed. “I swear its true. Lucy isn’t the mothering type. Not like I imagine a mother to be anyway. She never said why but I put it down to past experiences. It was a different era then and I learned to live with it.”
“How did you do that?”
“I had psychiatric help which didn’t go down well with her either for some reason and perhaps that was why she got snarky with Hamish. There was no pleasing your grandmother. And then I upped and left the country, figured it was easier to put some distance between us.”
He gasped. “Do you mean she was annoyed because you had a shrink talk to you?” Alex giggled. “That’s just weird.”
“Yeah, well. She had the family name to consider and I wasn’t being very nice to her.”
He ran his fingertip over the face of her watch. “Where did this come from? I haven’t seen you wearing it before.”
Billie moved her arm so she could see the time clearly. “Found it amongst the boxes when we moved in. Back to my mother, I’ve tried Alex. Let’s just see how we go, okay?”
“Fine. I’m all good if you decide to go and do that job. I know how much getting back into it means to you, Mom. Grandad and Hamish will be here to keep an eye on me.”
“If you’re sure you’re okay with it, I’ll go.”
Alex wandered off to his bedroom, Billie decided to soak away the day’s stress with a hot bath. She filled it with sweet-smelling bath salts, lit a couple of candles and went back to her bedroom to tidy up. After she’d stripped off her clothes, lay her watch on the bedside table and switched on the lamp. Billie padded back into the bathroom. She closed the door and tested the temperature with her toe before she stepped into the tub and sank into the hot water.
Billie closed her eyes, feeling the tension release from her body using an age-old method of relaxation. She started at her toes the way the hospital had told her after the first serious panic attack had her admitted overnight. Wiggle and release, feel them go weightless, then move onto the calves, then the knees and travel up the body until she was loose and calm, in control of her emotions.
A branch scraped the tiny bathroom window. She jumped and lost concentration. “Jeez, Billie, get a grip.” Rain dribbled down the dark pane and thunder rumbled in the distance. She huffed out a breath. It didn’t help that the room was so damned small, making her feel closed in, claustrophobic even, but determined to go through with the relaxing mantra, she closed her eyes and started again at her toes counting from one to one hundred. By the time she got to her shoulders, she was having trouble keeping count, which she’d decided was a good thing.
A shimmer of awareness rippled over her skin. No tension, merely calm and cool white light and a sense of peacefulness surrounded her. Billy opened her eyes and found herself lying back on a patchwork quilt, her hair spread out around her and a delicious, sexy vibe humming through her body.
“Wilz.” She recognised the voice and turned toward it. He stood by an open door, a bunch of roses in his hand.
“Hey, stranger, where have you been?” She sat up and slid from the day bed, her bare feet warm against the cool tiles. She stepped toward him but he moved away, ducked around the other side of the room as if he couldn’t bear to be close to her. She frowned and held out a hand, desperate for his touch.
“What’s going on? Why are you doing this to me? Darling, wait, please.”
She reached for him, feeling as though she was fighting through thick air to get to him. The temperature in the room dropped, chilling her skin, bringing up goose-bumps on her bare arms. She rubbed her skin and he dropped the roses on the floor and walk outside, leaving her alone. He glanced over his shoulder at her and then
