Page 41 of Hypnotized By Love

Despite both of their reassurances to the contrary, a part of me still worried that this was all a big, secret setup and that Mason and Sierra were going to blindside me with their engagement.

Which I never would have thought my sister capable of, but the fact that she’d been friends with him for years and I never knew? I thought Sierra and I didn’t keep secrets from each other, but it turned out we very much did.

So I didn’t know if his niceness and flirtatiousness were due to a bigger plot or if Bridget had it right—that Mason wanted to go out with me.

If he had a crush on me, well, it gratified my ego more than it should have, because the shoe was finally on the other foot, but it didn’t matter in the long run, because nothing would ever, ever happen between us.

And despite the fact that I’d been making a lot of declarations where Mason was concerned, I was pretty sure I’d have no problem keeping that one.

I decided to do my evening sessions at home, which turned out to be a mistake because the house wasn’t empty. I had thought my mom had her quilting circle, which she always dragged my dad to, over at Heather’s house. Instead she was in the kitchen, washing up dishes.

“There’s leftovers in the fridge,” she said when she noticed me. Whenever I saw my mom, I was struck by how different we looked from her. People used to joke that they must have accidentally switched us with another set of twins. Where Sierra and I had dark hair and were tall, my mom was a short blonde. If anything, she looked like she could be Bridget’s mother.

When my mom pivoted toward the dishwasher, I noticed that she had quite a bit of gray hair that I’d never seen before. I wondered how many of those I was personally responsible for.

“Thanks,” I said. “I thought you had your quilting thing tonight.”

“Tomorrow night. Do you want me to heat something up for you?”

“No. I’ve got an online appointment in about ten minutes, so I’m going to go up to my room.”

“Do you want to sit and have ice cream with me after?” Eating ice cream was our family’s go-to activity. Going to the ice cream parlor down the street was always a major treat, and my mom would stock our freezer with pints of their bestsellers for when we were sad or needed a pick-me-up.

Or when she wanted to have a serious conversation with us.

I sensed the latter was the reason for the offer. “I can’t. I have studying I need to get done after that,” I said.

Time to make a quick escape.

I’d just put my foot on the first step when she said, “I heard you hypnotized Mason.”

Trying not to sigh, I walked back over to the kitchen doorway so that I could see her more clearly. This conversation was going to happen sooner or later—I might as well get it out of the way. “I did.”

“And Heather says he’s been acting differently ever since. Do you think he’s going to stay that way?”

“It’s not a movie, Mom. Hypnosis doesn’t work like that.”

She put another plate into the dishwasher. “But you have told me that sometimes people only need one session.”

“I ...” That made me hesitate. That was true. I had said that. And I had witnessed it. There were clients who would find their anxiety gone or their physical pain cleared up after just one session. It was pretty rare, but it could happen.

Despite my assuring everyone, including myself, that Mason was going to snap out of it soon, what if he didn’t? Shell-less turtle or not, I couldn’t follow him around indefinitely to make sure he wasn’t making life-threatening decisions.

“He’ll be fine,” I said, and I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to convince myself or my mom.

She closed the dishwasher door and pushed the start button. “I appreciate you doing it. I know it meant a lot to Heather that you were willing to spend time with him.”

That ouched. I hated that my anger toward Mason made his mom sad. Heather had always been like a second mother to me. “I’m glad.”

And I was. At least one good thing had come out of this.

“I heard you’re going to dinner with him tomorrow night.”

News spread fast in Playa Placida, and even faster between my mom and Heather. Our houses were only a few minutes apart. Mason must have told his mom right away, and she had immediately called my mother.

It felt like that meant something, but I didn’t know what.

“Yes,” I said hesitantly, worried about what she might be getting at.

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