Yeah, the guy could be a major dick sometimes, but right now she loved her CO. Knowing the camera still focused on her, she kept her face composed and tried not to let that smug smile play out on her lips as Santiago continued.
“Most likely the tests are being conducted down south, so Serrano is relocating to your area to head up the search teams. Don’t worry. Your region won’t be thin, ours will.”
Dom moved to the front of the room, and Lily stepped aside.
“Thanks, Lily, for that detailed analysis,” he said. “In the Seattle field, although we don’t believe the facility to be located up here, we’re putting the known sweetbloods on our patrol swings in order to catch any Darkbloods who show up. You’ll all need to hack into your local Darkblood systems to get their lists of registered sweetbloods. Cordell shared that information with all of you. Lily, keep us up-to-date with what your contact tells you and let us know the moment you learn anything new. And when any of you discover any information about the location of their research facility, let us know ASAP. San Diego, I’ll be seeing all of you shortly.”
Lily cut the live feed and wondered how long ago he’d accepted the transfer.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dom parked the black SUV at the Ocean View Convalescent Center and held the door open for Mackenzie. As she got out, he lifted his face, letting the ultraviolet rays warm his skin. Funny how you could see a contrasting image of the sun on the inside of your eyelids. He’d forgotten what that was like. The pull on his energy levels was much stronger today. This would be his last time to enjoy it, he thought.
“You didn’t have to come, you know.” Mackenzie tossed her blue scarf over one shoulder, the beaded fringe flashing in the sunlight. She wore jeans, a pair of well-worn black boots, and a T-shirt with long sleeves pulled down so that only her fingers were visible.
“Yeah, but I wanted to.”
He thought about how things could never work out long-term between them. Like a match that flares brightly at first, their relationship was intense but doomed. It couldn’t last forever. At some point, he’d have to tell her about San Diego and everything would end. It had to. But for now, he wanted to enjoy the time they did have.
“This means a lot to me.” She was quiet, almost melancholy.
Her tone didn’t surprise him. He’d overheard her trying unsuccessfully to convince her brother to take their mother to see the cherry blossoms. The petals would be dropping soon and her car was still in the shop. If Corey couldn’t take their mother through the arboretum, she’d miss the trees blooming this year.
“Will she have any trouble getting into the passenger seat?” Dom asked. “It’s a high step. Perhaps I should’ve brought one of my company’s vans instead.”
“She’ll be okay, but thanks. It’s only her mind that’s going, not her body. I should warn you before we go in though. Sometimes my mom is totally with it—so much so that you can carry on a normal conversation with her and you’ll wonder why she’s here. But then, just like that, she’ll go back to her dark place where nothing she says makes any sense and you just have to go along with it. Are you okay with that? I mean, if you want you can wait here and I’ll go see?—”
“I’m fine. I can’t wait to meet her.”
After checking in at the front desk, they rode the elevator up to the Alzheimer’s wing. The place smelled of antiseptic and old things as they walked down the hallway and entered her mother’s room. A gray-haired woman stood at the wall next to a television. She held a roll of tape in one hand and a piece of paper—a torn page from a magazine—in the other.
“Hi, Mom.”
The woman turned. Her jaw was slack, her expression blank.
“Mom, I’d like you to meet someone.” Mackenzie crossed the small space and hugged her. “This is a friend of mine. Dominic Serrano.”
Her mother handed Mackenzie the tape and paper and faced him squarely. “You may call me Tabitha or Bea, although many people here call me Cathy”
“What name would you prefer, Mrs. Foster-Shaw?” he asked.
She cocked an eyebrow and gave him a confused look. “Why are you calling me by my husband’s name? It’s his, not mine. You’d need to call him that, except that he’s dead.”
“Mom, please. Dom didn’t know.” Turning to Dom, she said, “My father’s name was Foster Shaw. I hyphenated it, making it my last name when we moved here and I started college. My mother is Cathy Shaw.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Shaw.” Dom took her hand and bent to kiss it, but with a scowl, she pulled away and slapped his fingers.
“Young man, your forward behavior will get you nowhere with me. I’m a married woman and that is just not acceptable.”
Dom bit the insides of both cheeks in an attempt to stifle a grin. “Yes, of course. Please forgive me.”
“Mom, here.” Mackenzie put her arm around the older woman, guiding her to a chair next to the bed, and threw a rueful smile to Dom over her shoulder. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
A nurse entered the room as Mackenzie was getting her mother situated in the chair. “Mackenzie, could I see you up at the nurses’ station when you get a chance? We need to update some of your mother’s paperwork.”
“Dom, do you mind sitting with her? I’ll be right back.” When he nodded, she crouched down next to her mother. “Mom, I’ll be right back. Do you want Dom to read from some of your journals? He doesn’t know about all the travels you and Daddy made. I’m sure he’d love to hear about them.”
When her mother stared at her with blank doe-like eyes, Mackenzie kissed the woman’s fingers, then stood up and walked back to Dom. “Over there is a shelf of her travel journals. She’d probably enjoy it if you picked one to read to her. She and my father traveled everywhere—didn’t you, Mom—and she journaled the whole time. I won’t be long.”
