Prophecy Girl (Lacuna Valley #1)

Chapter Seven

Nevada, 1992

Trudy sat at the restaurant, waiting for her son to arrive. Even without the help of her prophetic dreams she usually knew what was going to happen next and found not knowing to be completely uncomfortable. She wished her son would at least try and arrive on time for a change so she could relax. He'd been the one to invite her to lunch, after all. He said he “had news”. What a cruel tease that was.

Laughter, the clinking of glasses, the plates hitting the counters in the kitchen—the restaurant was loud, or at least, loud to her. Her head had been hurting a lot lately; she hadn't been sleeping much. She was concerned about the uneasy feelings she had about her son's girlfriend and kept trying to get a hold on why that was exactly. Every time she felt herself getting close to some answers, however, she woke up.

A child seated at the booth behind her was vaulting himself into the seat, jerking her back and forth, when her son finally walked through the front door. Her smile slowly slipped away when she saw Danielle trailing behind him. She forced a smile back onto her face.

“Christopher, Danielle, it's so good to see you both!” She left the booth to meet her son, throwing her arms around him. No matter how often she saw him it was never enough, but since he'd started seeing Danielle she barely saw him at all. He wasn't usually this serious about his dates. She wished she could trust this woman more. Well, what she really wished was that she could protect her son—scooping him up and tucking him away where no one would ever hurt him sounded like the best plan. He was an adult now, of course, and he needed to make his own choices, but god how she hated that.

She released her son from the hug and put her hand out to Danielle, who stared at it awkwardly with her lip curled up in disgust. The look was gone so fast she almost thought she'd imagined it. It was replaced with a boisterous smile, like she'd never been happier to see someone in her life. Instead of taking Trudy's hand, she pulled her in for a hug, and patted her on the back while barely touching her. This was just another puzzling moment to add to the list. Trudy just didn't know what to make of Danielle. Her son stood by smiling, seeming to see nothing at all strange.

They sat at the table and Trudy resolved to ignore Danielle's behavior for the rest of the lunch. There was no point in wasting her time with her son on Danielle's nonsense.

“So, Christopher! Tell me how you've been. How's work? How's your motorcycle? Are you still working on it?” Trudy asked her questions so quickly Christopher barely had time to take them in, let alone answer them. She paused for a response, and the awkward silence was taken up by Danielle looking into Christopher's eyes, like she was telling him something. He smiled back at her and took her hand in his, turning back to his mother with a sheepish grin. That couldn't be good. Dread filled her and she watched her son impatiently. What was coming?

“Everything's great, Mom. In fact, that's why I've asked you here tonight. We've got some big news to share with you.” He turned to Danielle again, beaming this time.

Oh, no. She didn't need a dream to know what was coming, but it was impossible. They'd just met two months before. This wasn't happening. She worked on maintaining her smile.

“Yes?” she prompted.

“Danielle has agreed to marry me!” he exclaimed.

She had to wrack her brain for the appropriate response. What were people supposed to say here? Was “why?” an acceptable inquiry?

“Congratulations! When's the big day?”

“Six months! We haven't narrowed down the day, but we're working on it,” Christopher said, still smiling at his fiancé. Fiancé. The word nearly choked her.