Page 18 of Out on a Limb
I eyed the bird. “Are we taking him with us?”
Collette chewed her lower lip a second. “I guess I should put him in the pen.”
I took in the slight pout of her lips. The way they turned down at the corners.
It didn’t seem like she really wanted to abandon her new friend.
“We could put him in a box until we get back.”
Collette’s lips lowered even more. “That seems mean.”
“It’s less mean than putting him in a pen with a bunch of other roosters in it.” The bird was the smallest I’d come across today, and roostering was competitive business. “The other birds will try to kill him.”
Collette’s eyes snapped open wide. “What?”
Farm life wasn’t for the faint of heart, and while I might be wrong about some of the things I thought Collette was, I was still positive she was not the kind of person who could handle seeing the chicken sitting on her lap pecked to death.
“We’ll get him a carrier.” My outing with her just got a little longer, but I knew damn well I couldn’t deal with the look on her face if something happened to that chicken. “Then we’ll take him to pick up some of his friends for lunch.”
The snorting sound caught me off guard. I glanced her way, trying not to linger too long. “Are you laughing?”
“Are you telling me you didn’t mean for that to be funny?” She laughed harder. “That makes it even better.”
I was used to not being in on the joke, usually because I didn’t get it.
But I wasn’t used to being the joke.
Collette wiped at one of her eyes. “I like that you’re a little innocent.”
“I’m not innocent, Collette.” I was aggravated and it showed. I forgot to filter my words. Temper my tone. That meant what came out was sharper than I usually tried to be. A grumble that some people might call a growl.
It used to happen more often and it kept people at a distance. Made them back off. Keep some space between me and them.
And I didn’t want space between Collette and me.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but the words cut short when I saw the look on Collette’s face.
She didn’t have the expression of surprise I expected to see. Her eyes weren’t wide and her jaw wasn’t slack.
Instead her nostrils were a little flared. Her lips were barely parted and the tip of her tongue slid between them, moving from left to right before her teeth peeked out to bite down.
It was another expression I’d memorized so I could identify it easily.
Because it wasn’t one a man wanted to miss.
Or get wrong.
Normally I loved seeing it. Loved knowing a woman wanted me in spite of my emotional shortcomings.
But as much as I wanted to believe a woman like Collette would find me desirable, it couldn’t happen.
Because while I might struggle to understand other people’s feelings, I also struggled to keep my own in line.
I got attached too fast.
In too deep.
When I found someone I thought understood me I latched on, holding tight, even if it was the wrong thing.
