Free Misplaced Innocence by Veronica Morneaux

kneel beside the animal and disturb it any more than necessary. “I think he’s just fine. It’s kind of bright out here and I think he’s just resting.”
    “You’re sure, now?” Jenny asked, beginning to worry her bottom lip so he could see glimpses of even, white teeth flash in the sunlight. “I would just hate for there to be something wrong with him. He’s so sweet.” For extra emphasis she scuffed the pasture with her boot, sending up a small puff of dust.
    “I’d be willing to bet on it.” He wanted to smile and tell her she could call again if she was concerned about anything, like he would do for any good anxious owner, but he knew that Jenny would abuse the privilege, so he didn’t. And, he discovered, he got a perverse sort of pleasure out of it, too. “Don’t worry about the visit fee, it wasn’t really out of my way and I didn’t need to do anything for the horses.” He forced himself to smile. “I’ll think of it more as a pleasant interlude in my day.”
    She smiled. A million-watt smile, and Jared knew he’d said the wrong thing. Despite his very best effort he’d somehow managed to make it sound like he liked coming here on these nonsense errands. She seemed to be about to speak again, so Jared quickly started to talk. He knew what was coming next, it would be all, ‘well, you’re already here … I just made a fresh pie … actually I made three, apple, blueberry, and pecan, because I know those are just your favorite and you never have any homemade cooking anymore since …’ and she would just let the words kind of drag on into nothing, her voice would be heavy and sweet and her eyes would be big and entrapping and the next thing he knew he would be saying yes before he could put two thoughts together. It had taken him a while, but he was finally catching on to how things worked. “I have another appointment so I’m going to have to be leaving; sorry I can’t stay.”
    If there had been even a hint of disappointment it ruptured quickly into another million-watt smile when he said he couldn’t stay but would have really liked to. Not for the first time, Jared wished he had it in him to be utterly cruel and destructive so he could run around breaking all these young things’ pretty little hearts and never feel one iota of remorse about it. But, he knew that wasn’t the case, and so he just continued to stumble along, putting one foot in his mouth after the other.
    He made his escape to his car as quickly as possible, waving jerkily at Jenny, an obligatory response to her wave as she stood by the mailbox, waving gaily like he hadn’t just completely blown her off. Of course, he hadn’t really. At least, not to anyone except himself.
    He had never been happier to pull up to the dilapidated farm house. He found this oddly compelling, since a little more than twelve hours earlier he had wanted to be anywhere else except crouched on the ugly linoleum floor clutching the back of his head. Well, Jenny Doorman had a way of putting things into perspective for a man. At least he’d gotten a free breakfast and emerged commitment-free from Charisma’s. Every time he looked at Jenny he felt like he was promising her five more years and a ring. He had no intentions of ever giving that to anyone again, certainly not Jenny Doorman. He would be crying himself to sleep every night. Especially if she kept up these panicky phone calls about nothing. Of course, he highly suspected such phone calls would stop if he were somehow committed to her. He tried not to think about that too much, because then having a relationship with Jenny would begin to have some kind of merit, and he really didn’t want to think about that at all. He grabbed the bag of locks from the front seat and headed toward the door.  
    He was surprised to find it locked. After all, he’d lived in Carlton for … well, for too many years really, which was why he didn’t like thinking about how he had somehow managed to find