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Well, maybe not unhinged, or not entirely, but her mother was definitely calling to give her grief. The tone and the sentiment suggested as much.

“Mother—” Magdalene infused her voice with as much calm as she could muster, but Candace was not deterred.

“Do not ‘mother’ me. Not only should you have dropped his name, you should stop associating with him altogether.” A displeased “tsk” followed the slightly high-pitched increase in volume. Magdalene turned the watch on her wrist and glanced at the time. Well, it was nine in the evening. Her mother had been imbibing for some time then. Sidestepping the issue of poor George entirely, since she was not in the mood to get into useless battles with Candace over her friend not being at her desk at this hour, Magdalene found no alternative but to inquire about her ex-husband.

“What did Timothy do to displease you this time, mother?”

“He exists, isn’t that enough?” A silence followed the outburst. Magdalene looked at the dark sky behind the glass and wondered what Sam was doing and whether she’d made it to the dormitory safely. She probably got wet, judging by the steady stream of water still battering the window. For some reason, instead of latching on to the ‘wet’ innuendo, her mind focused on the concern of Sam catching a cold, and whether she was now—thirty minutes later—warm enough wherever she might be.

Catching up with the stream of her own thoughts, jolted by her mother’s continuous litany against Timothy, Magdalene barely processed what was going through her mind.

Warm?Christ, she had lost it, that was for sure. Sex was one thing. Thinking about Sam, wet and ready and spread out for her, was fine. Perfectly fine. In fact, Magdalene had done a lot of that. Granted, she had given more thought to herself being wet and ready and spread open by Sam, on say, this very desk, where they had been engaged in much less fun activities lately.

“Are you paying attention, Magdalene?”

Busted, Magdalene touched the spot Sam’s fingers had lingered on earlier then tugged on the already loose collar of her blouse before scrambling to say something.

“Clearly you aren’t. That cheating wastrel said as much.”

Cheating wastrel? Her mother had adored Timothy when they’d first gotten together. She was happier at the wedding than Magdalene. But then, Candace’s wrath was swift and unforgiving once Magdalene had filed for divorce. And while she’d never told her mother about the scene she had discovered, of Timothy and his PA in her bedroom, Candace—once again—seemed to just know.

“What did Timothy say, and why are you upset?” She couldn’t quite stifle a sigh and received another answering “tsk” for her lack of trying.

“You have a cat!”

Magdalene did not bother to suppress the bark of laughter, giving into it entirely, feeling it shake her shoulders, while Willoughby stared at her with his bicolored eyes.

“Mother—”

“He will give you rabies. He will. Do not argue. Do you know that it’s incurable? Have you been vaccinated? I bet he scratched or bit you already. It’s too late now, anyway.”

“Mother…” She lowered her forehead to the windowpane and allowed the coolness to soothe her as her mother ramped up her assault on Magdalene’s senses.

“Do not google rabies, Magdalene. Especially not now that you’ve been clawed up and it’s too late to seek help. Dying from it is quite excruciating.”

“Mother…” Magdalene turned her cheek to the chill of the glass and allowed her jaw to relax. She’d do well to remember to do that more often. There was a headache brewing at her temples. Or perhaps it was just Candace.

“Also, I need you home for the ceremony at the State House. They are giving me an award.”

That garnered some of Magdalene’s attention, although she noticed even that little bit of it dwindling as soon as her mother started to explain. Candace, always attuned to her daughter’s moods when it suited her, pounced.

“You don’t care about this, so don’t ask. It’s an award. I donate enough money to the party for them to coddle me. I will send the details to that woman.” Candace’s refusal to even pronounce George’s name was so petty, it made Magdalene rub her aching temple. “Be there in two months.”

“Won’t I be dead from rabies though, mother? That excruciating death you have told me not to look up on the internet precisely because of how harrowing it is?”

The scoff coming through the line was loud and exasperated.

“The incubation period for rabies can be from a few days to three months to years. Chances are you’ll still be fine then. At least I don’t have to tell you to dress up. You have the Smith genes. You always make an entrance.”

Magdalene smiled. Wasn’t it just like her mother to dismiss mortal peril, praise with one hand, but immediately take credit for it with the other? She wanted to shake her head but was reluctant to lift it off the cool window, soothing her throbbing temples.

“Timothy also mentioned that you are distracted. By a woman.”

Now that made Magdalene stand up straight so quickly, she felt dizzy.

“Excuse me?”

“I knew it!” Candace’s triumphant shout forced her to pull the phone away from her ear. “I knew it, and I told him, ‘good on her.’ He didn’t like that, let me tell you. Serves him right. Nothing emasculates a man as much as his woman running off with another woman.”