Free Halversham by RS Anthony Page B

he tell his father and let him intervene? Even if he did agree to help, Corrine would hate Andy and never trust him again. In the end, he didn’t have much choice. All he could do was keep talking to Corrine until she trusted him enough to open up. That might help a little. But it’d take time, and he had no idea how he’d stay sane while watching the drama of Corrine and Uncle Matt unfold. Andy sighed.
    What if he took that job with old man Milton? It might save him from losing it up there. If the hours were short, Andy could talk to Corrine every morning or evening, and work the rest of the time to keep his mind off things until his father returned.
    Fifteen minutes later, Andy was knocking on Mr. Doyne’s front door, staring out at the green meadows. He checked his watch; it was ten. Corrine might be awake and heading for her secret place, but he needed some time away before he could face her again. Perhaps he’d visit the scrawny dog since he didn’t have the chance yesterday.
    Mr. Doyne opened the door, said hello, and accepted the package from Andy. He went back in to get the money while Andy waited outside. A moment later, he handed him the cash and Andy turned to leave.
    He had barely taken ten steps when he saw something in the fields. It was the familiar face of a guy with dirty blond hair. He was crouching, his steel-grey eyes fixed on Andy as he rose slowly, exposing a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of dirty pants.
    “Hi,” Andy said, walking over. “You’re the one I saw the other day from my father’s car, aren’t you?” He nodded. “My name is Andy.”
    “I know who you are,” he said, his voice surprisingly deep. “I’m sorry about your mom.”
    “Oh, thanks,” Andy said, a little surprised. “Did you know her?”
    “I’m Jared Doyne. You just delivered bread to my father.” He extended his hand and Andy shook it.
    “I see.”
    “Yeah, I knew your mom. She used to visit my dad whenever she was in town. Magda told my dad when she died. I was there. Said she felt terrible she couldn’t make it to the funeral.”
    “You know their daughter Corrine too?”
    “Crazy Corrine? Who doesn’t? Weird as hell, but she’s harmless.” Andy wasn’t so sure about that, but he nodded anyway. “I mean, she’s wild and stuff, but she’s not a bad person. I think it threw the town off when we first discovered she was pregnant.”
    “Corrine was pregnant?” Andy asked, his eyes almost popping out.
    “Yeah. Didn’t you know?”
    Andy shook his head and waited for Jared to offer the details. Why hadn’t Aunt Magda told him?
    “Yeah. Well, nobody knows how.” Jared shrugged sheepishly. “I mean, we all know how, but nobody knows who. She wasn’t exactly dating anyone, and no one had seen her much.” He shrugged again.
    “Where’s her baby now?”
    “I don’t really know what happened, Andy. I try not to keep my ears out for town gossip. But word is that she had an abortion or something. Poor girl became crazier right after, refusing to talk to anybody.” Andy stared at the fields, his thoughts reeling back to what Corrine said the other day about telling him everything. This must have been what she meant. This must have been the reason she dropped out of school and became reclusive. But it didn’t explain why she hated her mother so much. Andy chewed his lip.
    “Listen, I’m going to release the sheep to graze. You can join me if you want to hang out for a while. I mean, sheep herding can get pretty lonely.”
    “Sure.” Andy looked at his watch and figured the dog could wait. There was time enough to feed it.
    “Great.” Jared ran through the meadow and turned right toward Mr. Doyne’s backyard, Andy towing behind. A hundred yards later, they reached a sheep pen. There were about fifty sheep, bleating impatiently at the sight of Jared. He jogged toward the entrance and opened a latch, and they scampered out two or three at a time. Jared picked up a stick and began herding