Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.5)(26)

A pattern for a child’s blouse and skirt was carefully laid out on the big table Galina used to cut the fabric.

“It’s okay, Mom. We’ll donate it to Goodwill or the church. It’s really pretty. I would have loved it when I was a kid,” Cassandra lied. She was very happy her mother hadn’t taken up sewing until after she was eighteen and out of the house. She shuddered to think of the outfits her mother would have made her wear.

“I keep forgetting that you’re all grown up.” Galina bit her bottom lip, snatched up her notebook, and scoured through the pages.

“Ah, that’s your problem,” Cassandra said, leaning over and carefully extracting a photograph from the worn pages. “This goes in the front of the book.”

It was a cute photo of Galina clutching a gangly-limbed little girl who was missing a few teeth and sporting a horrible Mary Lou Retton haircut. Cassandra took the notebook from her mother’s hand and placed the picture at the front of the notebook on a page that described the photo and the date it was taken on.

“Oh,” Galina said, frowning.

Cassandra flipped through the notebook and found the most recent photo of them. It had been taken at Christmas. Though Galina looked exactly like she had in the first photo, Cassandra was glad to see her old haircut and missing teeth were a thing of the past. “See, this is me now. I’ll put this in the back of the notebook.” Cassandra clipped it to the latest entries and handed the notebook back.

Instantly, Galina’s face lit up. “That’s right! You’re all grown up!” Pressing the notebook to her chest, Galina smiled. “You’re so pretty. You look like your father.”

“I look like you,” Cassandra answered, gently tucking a stray strand of her mother’s hair behind one ear. “Everyone says so.”

“Is Felicity here?” Galina looked over her shoulder. “Oh, wait.” The notebook had several colorful tabs sticking out of the pages and Galina turned to a specific one labeled with a Sharpie pen. She read it, then said with excitement. “I remember! I don’t like Felicity because she cheated on you!”

“That’s right, Mom.” The pain that would have stung at such a comment before was surprisingly missing. Cassandra rubbed her hands together nervously, not really sure if she was ready to accept why that was the case. She was still reeling from the dream and Scott’s phone call. The beauty of the witch’s eyes and her plea haunted her.

“Are you staying for dinner? I have a chicken roasting. Well, not me. Teresa is roasting it, but when the timer goes off I have to get it out because she already went home for the night.”

“Actually, I think I’ll crash here for tonight if that’s okay. I need to do a little research and I miss my mom.”

“I miss you, too! All the time!” Her mother clasped her hands together joyfully. “I’m going to make us a wonderful dinner!”

The beauty of her mother’s smile never failed to touch Cassandra’s heart. The simplicity of her mother’s mind was heartbreaking, but lovely. Galina’s motherly love was the power that had kept Cassandra from falling into despair and following a dark path.

After dinner, Cassandra escaped into her mother’s second bedroom that was set up as a small office with a desk, bookshelves, and a futon. Powering up the big desktop computer, Cassandra collapsed into the swivel chair and rubbed her face. She had to be crazy to do what she was planning all because of a pretty girl and a weird dream. With a weary sigh, she logged in, pulled up Skype, then entered her password. Tugging on her lip as she waited for the program to fully load, she sat with her feet tucked on the edge of the chair. Being long, lean and a dhamphir, it was easy to fit onto the very small office chair. The way she was perched probably made her look inhuman. The vampire powers singing in her blood agreed.

Scrolling down, she found the name she was looking for and initiated the call. Dr. Summerfield always kept Skype open behind his other windows while he worked and if he didn’t answer right away, he would call back within a matter of minutes either from his computer or phone.

When Jeff Summerfield’s face popped onto the screen, Cassandra was a little surprised. “Hey, Boy Wonder. What’s up?”

Shoveling cereal into his mouth, Jeff chewed vigorously. “Starving. Just got home from the book store.” His thick eyelashes hid his pretty eyes as he averted them. Unruly brown hair fell over his brow, badly needing a trim, and he wore a faded t-shirt emblazoned with the Batman symbol. He vividly reminded her of the little boy she used to run around with playing games and getting into mischief with at summer camp.

“Still playing Giles?” She loved to tease him and giggled despite the seriousness of her situation. Jeff and Cassandra shared a secret that made him a bumbling nervous wreck around her, which amused her to no end. She supposed they should one day talk out what had happened, but she rather enjoyed his awkwardness. Maybe it was mean of her, but she couldn’t help it.

“Uh, so sick of that joke. I think I hate Buffy now.” Jeff rolled his eyes and wiped a drop of milk from his lips.

“Ha, I don’t believe that for a second. You have a soft spot for blondes. I’ve seen how you get all googly-eyed around them.”

“Notice my eyes rolling sarcastically,” Jeff said, then dramatically did so.

“So is your dad around? I need to talk to him. It’s urgent.”