“Coward!” she cried out. “Get back here and face me like a man!”
She took off toward the pool.
Obviously Claire had gone insane. Sad, really. Val watched her run a circle around the pool twice before she spotted what the woman was after.
The rat. It was running like a miniature race horse, staying just a few steps ahead of her.
Every now and then she’d bring down the bat with a loud crack, then shriek with dismay when she missed her mark.
The rat broke its circle and started coming toward Val. Right toward her. She tried to step out of the way, but it darted behind her slipper. She turned and it followed, one paw on the fuzzy pink material.
“Get away from him,” Claire said and Val looked to see she was directly in front of her with the bat raised above her head.
She held up her hand. “Claire, take it easy. We’ll put out a trap. One of those humane traps, of course, and maybe we’ll take it someplace where it can have a nice long and happy life. Do you know if they accept rats at the Toronto Zoo?”
Her eyes were wild. “I’m going to kill him. Move away now.”
“No!” the rat said. “Don’t let her hurt me, Val!”
Okay. Hold on, Val thought.
The rat said what?
“He cheated on me,” Claire said. “And now I’m going to kill him.”
Val looked down, eyes wide. “Reggie? Is that you?”
The rat was practically hugging her slipper. He looked up, whiskers trembling. “See? I told you she was a witch.”
“Oh, wait a minute.” Claire lowered the bat. “I think I understand what’s going on here.”
Val blinked at her. “Well, that makes one of us. Please explain.”
“You’re the other woman.”
“I’m the what?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to kill both of you.”
Claire raised the bat again. Val opened her mouth but all that came out was a little ahhh sound. Then Claire dropped the bat, put her hands over her scarf-covered face, and started to sob.
Val let out a long sigh of relief and looked down at Reggie.
“I told her I was a rat.” He shrugged his rat shoulders. “She agreed with me.”
“Obviously.”
He scurried away from them without another word.
Val kicked the baseball bat away, and crouched down next to Claire. “It’s going to be okay.
And just for the record, it was only a kiss. And it wasn’t with me.” She put her hand on
Claire’s shoulder and she tensed, pulled her scarf away so she could wipe her face, and stood up.
“You can have him.”
“I don’t want him.”
“He’s all yours. The jerk.”
She turned away, giving Val her back.
“You need to change him back,” Val told her.
Claire spun back around, her tear-filled eyes full of pain. “But he’s exactly what he is now. A rat. Now he can’t fool anyone else into believing he’s a wonderful, caring man who loves them.” Her bottom lip quivered.
Val didn’t have a response for that. “I had no idea you were so powerful.”
“Neither did he. Maybe if he’d known what would happen he wouldn’t have been so stupid.”
“Well, maybe—”
“You tell him that.” Her voice cracked on the words. “That he was stupid. And now he has to live with his mistakes.”
Before Val could say another word, Claire turned her back and stormed out of the motel’s courtyard.
Super, she thought. Now a witch thought she’d slept with her boyfriend. That was one
McDonald’s she wouldn’t be able to go to anymore.
Val frowned. Not that it mattered since she was leaving. But she’d miss her McChicken sandwich. Another okay thing about being human. And the french fries were pretty good, too.
Reggie had disappeared, and she gave up looking for him after a few minutes. She went back to her room, mopped up the spilled chicken soup, which unfortunately made her think about
Nathaniel and his visit last night. Then she pulled on a pair of dark jeans, a plain white tank top, and a big, warm purple cardigan. She brushed her hair, washed her face, and wiped the sleep out of her eyes.
Time to go home, she told her slightly bleary-eyed reflection. She hoped Reggie would be able to sort out his bizarre girlfriend issues without her help.
She considered asking Barlow to wait a bit on their trip. To make sure everything worked out.
But decided against it. She didn’t want any possibility of seeing Nathaniel again. She didn’t even want to spend any more time thinking about the evil jerk. The fact that when she closed her eyes she could still feel his body against hers was definitely not a good thing.
She had to get out of there.
She pulled on a cream-colored winter coat, and the last thing she grabbed was the notebook with her pages upon pages of scrawled memories, lists, and reminders. She decided to take it along with her as a souvenir of the two months stuck on her earthly vacation.