couple of days. The mechanic loaned me an old clunker car to get around. I went up the mountain and found a house for sale.” He took a bite of pie. “I had my advance money burning a hole in my pocket. Between that and my savings, it was enough to buy the house. I bought the place, drove back to LA, packed up and returned here.”
“You sound happy.”
The statement surprised him. Jasper didn’t think of himself as happy. He was broken or damaged goods or whatever variation of that made sense in the moment. But happy?
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would.” Her tone was firm. “Have you been married before?”
“What?” He put down his fork. “No. I’m not the marrying kind.”
“You don’t like children?”
“What? No. Of course I like kids. Why would you ask that?”
“Just curious. It’s a reason not to get married.”
“You never remarried,” he pointed out.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
Verity sipped her milkshake for a minute. “At first I didn’t want to hurt Renee more than she had been already. You’re very accepting of my...”
“Gift,” he said firmly.
“Fine. My gift, but not everyone is. Renee’s father left because of it. I’m not so sure he wouldn’t have left anyway, but my abilities gave him something to blame.” Verity looked away, as if trying to keep him from seeing what she was feeling. “It was hard on her. Renee loved her dad.”
“They didn’t keep in touch?”
Verity returned her attention to him. “No. He was simply gone. I suppose I could have forced him to visit her through the courts, but to what end? It wouldn’t have been better for her. My point is, getting involved with a man seemed to invite more heartbreak into her life and I didn’t want that. I suppose by the time she grew up, I was out of the habit of dating.”
“You could start now.”
Verity laughed. “I see. Because you’re writing about a relationship, we all have to be in one?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you expect us to be serial killers, too?” She shook her finger at him. “I’ve been reading up on you and I know what you write.” Her humor faded. “There’s darkness in those stories.”
“There is, but to quote Shrek, ‘Better out than in.’”
Verity laughed. “That’s an excellent point. How do you know about Shrek?”
“I’m friends with a kid in town. His mother and I used to be involved. Hunter always claimed to be too old for animated movies but he would bring them up to the house for us to watch together.” Jasper thought about Hunter’s most recent visit and grimaced. “I miss the movies. He’s growing up too fast. He’s thirteen and the last time we hung out he mentioned a girl in his class. I’m not ready for him to be interested in girls.”
“You can’t stop time.”
“I can try.”
“Good luck with that.”
He finished his pie. “Why didn’t you ever go into animal consulting?” he asked. “You could have done well with something like horse racing. Or maybe helping with the big dog shows.”
“I never thought about it,” she admitted. “I suppose I could have...after Renee left for college, of course.”
Because Renee didn’t like that her mother was so different. No, he mentally amended. She didn’t like the impact it had on her life. He wondered what other pain Renee had inadvertently suffered.
“I’m happy with the show,” Verity said. “I want to help and I think it will be fun.”
“You’re going to be a big success.”
She ducked her head. “I don’t really care about that. I’m just ready for a change. I’m not getting any younger.” She took another sip of her milkshake. “Are you in love with my daughter?”
Jasper nearly bolted. He felt his muscles tense as fight-or-flight kicked in. As there was no way he was going to fight Verity, and running was stupid and cowardly, he was left with an uncomfortable adrenaline rush and nowhere to put it.
Love? No and no. He didn’t love Renee and they weren’t going there. That was the point. Sex with a few laughs and nothing more. Not that he could say that to her mother.
“That’s a pretty personal question.”
“Is it?” She studied him. “You care about her a lot.”
“She’s, ah, great and we have fun together but I haven’t known her very long. Besides, it’s not like that for us. Renee doesn’t want anything permanent and I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t? You said you weren’t married.”
“I’m not. I’m single. It’s what I told you before. About coming back broken. The therapists warned me I