A week later, as Taylor waited in the lobby for her mother, she idly flipped through the pages of a Cosmopolitan magazine, reading the article captions. “What to do if your man has a work spouse.” “What to do if your man wants to make a sex video.” No articles on “What to do if your man can shift into a bear.”

She sighed and set the magazine aside as her mother came out through the door of the locked ward of the psychiatric facility.

Grinning, her mother gave her a hug. If had always been baffling to Taylor that her mother could stay so positive when working with people with severe mental illness. I try to stay upbeat, so I don’t bring other people down. Taylor aspired to be positive like her mother in her everyday life.

“It’s good to see you, Pumpkin,” Her mother, Maria, said.

“It’s good to see you, too.”

“What’s bothering you?”

The downside of having a mother who worked in a psychiatric hospital was that her mother was super in-tune to her daughter’s moods.

“I’ll tell you over lunch.” Taylor didn’t even bother pretending to keep things from her mother anymore. She’d given that up as a teen. Her mother could see right through any façade she might try to put up.

Taylor drove to the Rock Bottom Café. It was crowded and noisy, but they found a table toward the back. After they ordered salads, Taylor braced herself for telling her mother about Brayden.

“Before I tell you this, you have to promise not to admit me to the psych unit.”

“I would only admit you if it was for your own good.”

“That’s not helping, Mom.”

“I know. Tell me what it is so I can decide.” Maria smiled at her daughter.

It had been an ongoing conversation between them since Taylor was old enough to understand what it was her mother did for a living.

“Have you ever heard of shapeshifters?” Taylor blurted.

“Of course.” Maria said. “We have two in the hospital right now.”

Taylor nearly spit out her soda. Not the answer she was looking for. “No. I’m serious.”

“I’ve heard the stories, but I don’t have any direct experience.”

“I met one.”

Her mother narrowed her eyes.

Taylor kept talking. Now that she’d started, she wanted to tell everything. “His name is Brayden, and he lives with his family at a lodge in the mountains.” She took a deep breath. “He’s a bear shifter.”

“How do you know this?”

“I saw him.”

The server brought their salads, but neither of them touched their food. “That’s not what I expected.” Maria said.

“I know. I might be hallucinating, right?”

Maria picked up her fork. “Actually, you might not be. We had a guy, a psychologist, come in about a month ago who talked about the possibility. He suggested that we not automatically think people who claim to be or to have seen shifters to be delusional.”

“Really?” Taylor bit into a tomato.

Her mother’s words, though vague, were more supportive than she had expected.

“Of course, I never expected my daughter to be one of those claiming to have seen a shifter.”

“Um.” Taylor felt her face warming.

“You said him so I’m safe in assuming that you aren’t a shifter, right?”

“Right.” Perhaps this hasn’t been such a good idea after all.

“But you didn’t just see him…”

“Mom. I… We… I sort of kissed him.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. The mother who rarely showed surprise at anything. “I see. Your boyfriend is a shapeshifter.”

“I don’t know that he’s my boyfriend, exactly.”

“I’m not sure that helps.”

Taylor sighed. “Remember, I told you I have an interview.”

“In Atlanta.”

“Right. So, I’m being careful.”

“What’s he like? Brayden?”

“He’s really good-looking. He’s kind and funny.”

“What about the bear side?”

“I guess he’s okay as far as bears goes. I don’t have a lot to compare him to.”

“So… when you’re kissing him. Is he a bear?”

“What?” Taylor scowled. “God no! Eww!”

“I’m just asking. I hear of things on the unit.”

“I bet. No. He’s just like a regular guy.”

“Except when he’s a bear.”

“Yes.”

“When you get married and have children, will they be bears or humans?”

“Humans.” Taylor shoved her salad around in her plate. Her mother’s questions were making her uncomfortable. “I guess. I don’t know. We aren’t getting married.”

Maria set her fork down. “Taylor. I’ve know you for how long?” She held up her palm. “Right. Your entire life. The expression on your face when you talk about him says you care about him.”

“I do care about him.” The words spilled off her lips before she thought about it. She’d barely thought about anything other than him. And he was coming to visit this weekend. Maybe her timing wasn’t an accident. Maybe she wanted her mother’s blessing before she got even more involved with him.

Maybe she wanted her mother to tell her that she was delusional or having a hallucination with regards to Brayden. But instead, her mother had gone along with her. She did that sometimes, only to come back and blindside her with some kind of logic.

Maria leaned forward. “When I was in high school, there was a kid in my grade. His name was Quinn. There were rumors that he was a shifter, but I never believed them. Besides, I thought he was kinda cute.” Maria took a deep breath. “I had a terrible crush on him.”

“What happened with Quinn? Was he a football player like Daddy?”

Maria chuckled. “Quinn was nothing like Daddy. We’d been hanging out some. We talked about things like books and going to college. Things your father didn’t have any interest in. I went to a dance after one of the football games with the other cheerleaders. Most of them had dates, but I didn’t that night. Quinn was there. I’d never seen him at one of the dances before.” Maria’s gazed was focused in the distance, seeing something only she could see.

Taylor didn’t interrupt.

“We talked for a few minutes, then we took a walk outside to get away from the loud music. I remember it was a full moon that night. Cold. We sat on a bench outside the door, so I could still hear the music, but it was in the background. Pleasant even. Then he kissed me.”

“I thought you were going steady with Daddy all through high school.”

“I was. That’s when he was out with a sprained ankle.”

“Mom!”

“I know.” Her mother shrugged. “I was seventeen. Anyway, after he kissed me, he stood up, grinned, and turned into a wolf.”

Taylor’s mouth dropped open. “No. Way!”

“Yeah.” Maria chuckled. “I think I squealed. All I remember is running back inside the building. I stayed in the bathroom until somebody came and told me my mom was there to pick me up.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. “What happened next?” Taylor held her breath. Was Quinn her real father? Maria had only been married for a short time. So short, that Taylor’s memories growing up were only of her and her mother. Her father, Mike, had visited a few times, mostly on holidays, but those visits had finally stopped. He’d never seemed too invested in having a child.

“I never saw Quinn again.” Maria blinked and focused on Taylor. “So, no, he wasn’t your father.”

Taylor let out her breath. At least her father wasn’t a secret shapeshifter. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

“He just disappeared.”

“Yeah. I looked for him, but they said he’d moved away.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Maria reached out and put a hand over Taylor’s. “So, even though we have people who claim to be shapeshifters who probably aren’t, I know there are people out there who really are shifters.”

“I never expected you to tell me anything like this.”

“Yeah, well, I never got over him.”

“But you married Daddy.”

“People marry for all sorts of reasons. I think I married your daddy to help me get over Quinn.”