Free The Mason Dixon Line (A Horizons Novel) by Linda Morris Page A

He told himself he needed some
downtime after working so intently, but the truth was, he needed time away.
    Carolyn claimed to understand about the
casual sex thing, but she’d been quiet. He knew he’d screwed up yesterday, but
he didn’t know exactly how.
    Best to avoid her for a while until she got
over this weird mood. Or until he got over his weird mood. He honestly couldn’t
tell who was the weird one here.
    He knelt beside the desk. He’d pushed the
box with his pet chameleon out of her sight, under the desk where he could
remove the tarp.
    “Hey, buddy.” He reached for the box of
meal worms and shook a few into the feeding dish. “Where you at, Barney?” The
tank was filled with fake plants and a couple of hidey-holes for the shy
reptile to take refuge in. Usually he’d come out when he heard someone messing
with his dish.
    The green lizard’s snout emerged from under
a tangled vine. “There you are, buddy.” He extended his hand toward the animal,
stretching it out to let Barney get a sense of him. Mason’s medications had
worn off for the day, but spending time with animals always gave him a sense of
peace that had been in short supply for him for the past couple of days.
    The thought of Carolyn made his palms break
out into a sweat, so he didn’t let himself go there. Slowly he took hold of
Barney and lifted him out of the cage.
    Barney sat unblinking, unmoving on the back
of his hand, his spike of a tail thrusting upward.
    A rap came on the door. “Hey, I made some
popcorn. You want some?”
    “Uh, no. Um, I don’t —” He trailed off, looking
around. Should he hide Barney?
    “What’s the matter? Is everything okay?” He
heard a note of concern in her voice.
    “Yes, sure.” Before he could replace Barney
in his cage, the lizard jumped off of his hand and scampered across the room. “Shit!”
    “Mason, what’s the matter? I’m coming in.”
    Before he could respond, she opened the
door. “What’s going on—” He knew exactly when she spotted Barney, because that’s
when she gasped.
    “What the hell is that thing? How did it
get in here?” She cast a frantic glance around the room, as if she were
expecting to see a big crack in the wall where exotic lizards might have gained
entrance.
    “I brought him. He’s my pet.” He jerked his
head at the cage under the desk.
    “Your pet?” The bowl of popcorn sagged in
her hands, forgotten, until a few kernels spilled. She righted it and stuck it
on the nearby desk. “You’ve had a lizard in here this whole time and didn’t
tell me?”
    “Well, I didn’t run out and buy him
yesterday.”
    “Testy, testy.”
    He didn’t know why he hadn’t wanted her to
know about Barney. Maybe having a reptile for a pet was one more weird thing
about him he didn’t think the cheerleader in her would understand.
    Why he cared whether she understood or not,
he couldn’t say.
    Barney took a few slow halting steps to
seek refuge under the hem of the drapes.
    “Does he bite?”
    “No.”
    To his surprise, she knelt down to get a
closer look.
    “Can I hold him?”
    “You want to hold him?” he repeated.
    “Yeah. Why? Shouldn’t I?”
    Why not? “I guess I thought you’d think he
was gross. Most people prefer cats or dogs.”
    “Well, I do prefer cats or dogs. He isn’t exactly
cuddly. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t interesting.” She looked at him. She’d
changed into baggy gym shorts and a T-shirt at some point, washed off her
makeup, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. It surprised him. He thought
she’d never want to be seen at any less than her best.
    Even though they were out here in the woods
alone together, she’d still blown out her hair and put on makeup every morning,
earning his mockery every day. This new casualness probably meant she didn’t
care what he thought of her, now that they’d decided to keep things
professional. She looked very young without makeup and not a bit