Amanda’s mother had a very flimsy hold on her pleasant-faced control. The immediate hate she felt toward Jacob was evident in her subconscious. She saw him as part of the problem; part of what she loathed, which was anything she didn’t understand. She didn’t like psychics. Her strong religious beliefs didn’t mesh with accepting anything supernatural. To her, a psychic of any kind represented all that was unnatural and evil.
“Will you please let go of my hand?” she asked evenly.
“In a moment,” Jacob said. “I have a question for you first, if you don’t mind.”
Her smile held, although there was no warmth in her cool blue eyes. “What is it?”
“Did your husband really leave you because of Amanda? Because he feared her clairvoyancy? Did he think she made that ghost push him down the stairs? Or did he leave for an entirely different reason?”
A flash of anger went through her gaze. “Our personal lives are none of your business.”
“No, you’re right. But I’m curious. I’m getting the sense that you have held a lot back from Amanda. Do you know what it’s done to her? Do you have any idea how much your lack of approval has shaped the way she leads her life and sees the world around her?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But she did. He could feel it under the surface. Repressed memories, ignored for years. Pain and heartbreak covered up with lies until the lies became larger and more damaging than the truth.
But at the heart of it, he could see a mother doing what she could, in her own way, to protect her daughter. A daughter of whom she didn’t approve of. A daughter she wished was what she perceived as “normal.”
And he knew then that Madeleine’s husband hadn’t left her because of Amanda’s psychic abilities. He’d left because he was an asshole. The Amanda excuse had seemed convenient at the time, that was all.
“Jacob, stop this.” Amanda’s arms were crossed in front of her.
He finally let go of her mother’s hand. She stared daggers at him, but underneath that angry expression, he could see a sliver of uncertainty.
“She deserved better,” he hissed at the woman. “And you know it.”
“Jacob—” Amanda said sharply. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the office and we’ll figure this out, okay? I want you to go now. Please.”
He stared at her for a long moment, and then tore his gaze away. “Fine.”
He left, slamming the door to Amanda’s house behind him. The house she was packing up to leave—along with her present life and him—behind.
He just wished it didn’t feel so damned bad.
CHAPTER 9
Amanda was quiet for a very long time after Jacob left. Her first impulse was to run after him, to apologize for being so harsh, but she forced herself to remain standing in place.
“He was very unpleasant,” her mother said. “I have no idea why you’d want to spend any time at all with someone like him.”
She didn’t reply to that. She was too busy watching the black Mustang peel out of her driveway. He was too far away for her to hear his thoughts anymore. The last thing she’d heard was something about her leaving him. The thought seemed to be edged with pain.
He’d shared other thoughts with her, as well. Thoughts about her mother that he’d gleaned from her subconscious. Thoughts that made her wonder what the truth really was.
“I really must be going.” Her mother cleared her throat after another few moments passed in silence. “Charles will be expecting me back soon.”
Her husband, Charles. The perfect rich guy who bought her nice things and made her life very comfortable after a lifetime of struggle.
“Is it true?” Amanda asked quietly.
Her mother frowned. “Is what true, dear?”
“Dad,” she began. “When he left—”
“Please, let’s not talk about that.”
“We never have talked about that. You always change the subject.”
“It was an unpleasant time of our lives that I have no intention of reliving.”
“Did he leave us because he didn’t want to be around a daughter who had the ability to attract ghosts?”
Madeleine pursed her lips. “That was part of it, of course.”
“Part of it?” Amanda repeated, and she swallowed past the thick lump in her throat. “I thought…I’ve always thought that was the main reason he left us.”
“This is precisely why I don’t like to discuss the past. It’s upsetting. Both to you and to me.”
“Jacob said—”
“Jacob?” her mother cut her off. “I don’t know who this Jacob person really is, but don’t let yourself be influenced by him. He’s trying to manipulate you. Trying to get you to stay in this town. It’s obvious to me that he’s in love with you, and he won’t accept that you’ve found happiness with someone else.”
This stunned her. “Jacob isn’t in love with me.”
“All I know, honey, is that love is not the answer. Love will only lead you into misery. I loved your father and he left me with nothing.”
“You had me.”
Her mother blinked hard at that and pressed her lips together. She reached forward and squeezed Amanda’s shoulder. “I think you will see this situation much more clearly when you leave here, get away from Jacob, and all of this craziness. I think you’ve chosen correctly. I don’t know David, but I get the sense that he is the right man for you and will make you very happy. I want you to be happy, honey, I really do.”
“I know.” She hugged her mother briefly before saying a last goodbye and promising to be in touch. Then Madeleine Harper got in her Mercedes and drove away.
SHE DIDN’T HEAR from Jacob again that day and she busied herself with packing up everything that wasn’t nailed down. She’d miss her little house and her neighbors. It was a nice area, and in the fall the oak tree out front turned a beautiful color.
She picked up the phone at nearly eleven o’clock that night and was about to dial Jacob’s number that she had found in the company directory, but she stopped herself. Whatever she had to say to him, and she wasn’t exactly sure what that might be, could be said at the office tomorrow.
The fact that her mother thought that he was in love with her made her want to laugh. What a ridiculous notion.
She let out a shuddery breath and decided to go to bed. By eleven-thirty her head was on her pillow and she willed the storm of thoughts competing for mental space to go away. Finally she drifted off.
But, of course, she dreamed about him.
She was lying on a lounge next to a swimming pool at an upscale tropical resort and soaking up the warm sunshine. She lowered her sunglasses as Jacob walked past and spotted her. He wore baggy blue swim trunks and no shirt. His muscled chest was bronzed and absolutely perfect.
“Amanda LaGrange,” he said. “Fancy seeing you here.”