Lucas and his mommy (one of them, anyway)

Okay, this may be my favorite part of the novel. I love Lucas's mom, I'm glad I thought of a way to get her into this one (she'll probably be in the sequel more).

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Given the reputation Lucas had built up in his new neck of the woods, he was not-too-secretly glad that when he went to pick up his mom at the airport, nobody would be around to spot her and their...drastic contrasts.
He stood around the baggage claim area until he spotted the lone person in the room with screeching rainbow tie-dye. He waved above the crowd, and she came running.   “Hi, darling,” she said, standing on tiptoe to give him a hug and kiss. “It’s nice to see you again, whether or not you think it’s nice to see me.” Lucas grimaced. He never knew quite when she was going to break out with the brutal honesty, rather than being artfully obscure. “Right.”
She grabbed her carryon, a handcrafted bag from Guatemala, and her luggage (much more expensive), and followed him out the door.
“So, I assume you want to go to my place first, get some sleep?”
She frowned. “No.”
”Huh?”
”Did something happen tonight? With regards to the whole curse thing?”
“No. Not to my knowledge. I went over to the Artisan for awhile before I came to pick you up, but it was pretty quiet.”
“Take me there now. Don’t stop at your place,” she said. “My guides are screaming at me to go over there tonight.”
Lucas inwardly groaned at the whole “guides” thing. “Fine. Let me call Madeleine. She has a key.”
“Madeleine?” His mother perked up. “Who’s this?”
”She works there,” Lucas said as he thumbed through the names in the phone.
“Is she in on this whole curse thing?”
“She suspects something’s wrong, yes.” The phone rang, and Madeleine picked up.
“Hi. Think you can open up the building for us tonight?”
”Tonight?” Madeleine sounded surprised, but pleased. “Well, she likes to get a move on, doesn’t she?”
Her guides told her to. “Yes. Think you can do it?”
“Sure, give me an estimated time of arrival and I’ll meet you at the door.”
He did, and they hung up.
“You like this girl, don’t you?”
”Mother, don’t go jumping to any conclusions just because she’s female and shares my breathing space on occasion.”
“You know I don’t do that.”
She really didn’t. Unfortunately with his mother, when she picked something up, she generally wasn’t wrong.
“I don’t plan on doing anything about it, if that’s what you mean.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, she has a boyfriend.”
“Hm,” she said, “I am getting unpleasant vibes at the mention of the word boyfriend.”
”You should see the fucker,” Lucas muttered.
“Ooh, struck a nerve, did he?” she said snarkily. “Well, don’t worry. My impression is that it is not a love match. Your time will come.”
“Great. Except for the part where I don’t want to date her.”
“Why not?”
“You’ll figure it out soon enough. Or your guides will tell you.”
She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at her son. “Fine. I’ll wait a few and see for myself. In the meantime, you’ve never asked how Marianne is.”
“How’s Marianne?”
”Marianne is fine.”
”I knew that.”
“Of course you did. She misses you, though. Strictly speaking, since I seem to be the one that you have issues with of late, you really could still speak to her on occasion. She’d like that.”
“If she wasn’t going to pass everything directly on to you, I might.”
“Grow up already, Lucas. Sulking like a pouting emo boy may turn on the girls, but for everyone else, it’s just irritating.”
“It’s not turning on any girls.”
“In that case, no wonder you’re extra pouty lately. If you were a girl I’d tell you to go get a vibrator and some Midol already.”
“Ha ha. That’s so funny coming from you.”
“Do you really want to go there with your mother?”
“God, no.”