we’ll make an appointment with the doctor of your choice. Fair enough?”
“Sure.”
She ignored his patronizing tone and the fact that he still didn’t believe her. It didn’t matter now. She would convince him the only way she knew how. At the very least, she was about to have the satisfaction of watching Jasper eat his words. Metaphorically, of course.
* * *
RENEE KEPT HER attention on her driving as they headed up the mountain. Beside her, Verity looked out the window and admired the scenery.
“I can’t believe how different the topography is up here,” her mother said. “We’re only a few miles from town, but it’s totally different. How wonderful to live so close to the mountains.”
“It is nice. I don’t get up here often, but I really should make more of an effort.”
She could start camping, she thought, holding in a laugh. Or hiking. Maybe she could commune with the wild animals. They could tell her about buried treasure or an abandoned gold mine. Only they didn’t talk to her, they spoke with her mother and now everyone was going to know.
Renee had yet to find her zen center on the topic—obviously—but she was going to have to get there eventually. After years of ducking and weaving, of hiding, pretending and twisting the truth, the family secret was going to be exposed and then...well, she didn’t know what was going to happen.
“So who is Jasper?” her mother asked. “Dare I hope you’ve met someone?”
Renee wanted to bang her head against the steering wheel. She’d been so intent on showing Jasper she wasn’t a loon that she’d acted without thinking and now she had to tell her mother that she and Jasper were...were...
“We’re friends,” she said cautiously. “He has a dog, Koda.”
“Friends? What kind of friends?”
“The kind who don’t fall in love and get married. I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Renee, you have to get yourself out there. You have to be willing to risk your heart again.”
“No, I don’t. You haven’t. You haven’t been with anybody since Dad left.” She paused, realizing she actually didn’t know all that much about her mother’s love life. “Not anyone special enough to tell me about.”
“That’s different. I’m fine. You’re the one I’m worried about.”
“I’m fine, too.”
Her mother looked at her. “Not everyone is going to be frightened of me,” she said gently. “You need to give people a chance to surprise you.”
Renee held in a sigh. “That’s the problem, Mom. They rarely do.”
* * *
JASPER HAD NO idea what was going on. He didn’t want to believe Renee was unhinged, but she’d been acting strangely ever since telling him she believed her mother could talk to animals.
Nothing about the past few hours made sense. They’d had a great time together the previous night. The sex, the conversation, all of it. They’d laughed, they’d gotten to know each other better. Was she reacting to that? Was she so scared of getting involved that she was putting up barriers to keep them apart?
He didn’t think that was possible or even likely and if she didn’t want to see him anymore, why not just say so instead of inventing such a weird story? It wasn’t like her at all and that was what troubled him the most.
He glanced at his watch. She should be here any minute, he thought, admitting he was unexpectedly nervous about seeing her. He didn’t want there to be something wrong with her. He wanted them to go back to what they had been. He liked her and liked what they had—he didn’t want to lose that. But in the end, it might not be up to him.
He heard a car pull up and hurried to the front door. Renee got out, along with an older woman who looked enough like her for Jasper to believe it was her mother. Verity Grothen was about her daughter’s height, with a similar build. Her hair was darker, her eyes blue, but they definitely came from the same gene pool. While Verity was casually dressed in jeans and a flowy blouse thing, Renee still had on her work clothes.
“You made it,” he said, moving toward them. He held out his hand to Renee’s mother. “I’m Jasper.”
“Verity.” She smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
They shook hands, then she glanced past him and raised her eyebrows. “Who is that handsome boy?”
“That’s Koda,” Renee said, leading the way inside. She hesitated just before reaching Koda, then seemed to steel herself before petting him.
So she wasn’t afraid of dogs in the