Ill Take Forever

the one in charge. She smiled, might be good for him to learn he wasn’t invincible and always the one in charge.
    When Jenny joined him half an hour later, he had turned the chair to face the west to better see the sunset. Shasta was lounging nearby in the growing shadows of early evening.
    'I never did thank you for my dog,' she said, handing him a mug of coffee. 'I love him, he's such a good friend and I feel much safer with him here. Though I will say that at the time I thought you had some nerve, sending me a watch-dog!'
    Kyle smiled and glanced over to Shasta. 'I'm glad you like him. I thought a lot about your being alone here.' Glancing back to Jenny, he gave a wicked grin. 'And I know how easy it was for someone to break in.'
    She ignored the comment. 'What am I to tell people about you? I've dropped small hints during the last few weeks, but nothing concrete. I didn't have a complete story, didn't have the particulars people like to know. If you were really Johnny's cousin, I'd have known lots more about you.' Like, was he married? She wanted to ask. She ought to know if Johnny's cousin was married, though why did it matter?
    He frowned. 'I thought Brownley had gone over the story with you.'
    'First you were a writer, now a college professor convalescing from a motorcycle accident. Where are you supposed to live, where do you teach, what do you teach? You don’t look like any professors I had in college. There are a lot of details I don't know, and people will ask. Our stories ought to match.'
    'They definitely should. Anyone around here attend San Francisco State University?'
    Jenny thought a moment, trying to remember where each of the kids she’d grown up with had gone. It didn't ring a bell. She shook her head. 'I don't think so. But I don’t know where every kid goes to college.'
    'Fine. I teach Etruscan History at San Francisco State.'
    Her eyes widened. 'What do you know about Etruscan history?'
    'I don't know an Etruscan from a Phoenician, but I don't think anyone else will, either. I want an obscure subject, so I don't get quizzed. If I do, whatever I make up will pass, if no one else knows about it.'
    'Stay clear of Mrs. Peabody. She's the town librarian and has the most amazing store of trivia ever. If anyone here knows anything about something obscure, it's her.'
    'Mrs. Peabody. Got it.'
    'You were planning to go to Europe this summer, but got into an accident, so you're visiting with your cousin's widow until you're better. That sure sounds lame.'
    'Hey, it was a big disappointment, not going to Europe, but this had advantages. I like the mountains, I've never been here before, and can report back to the rest of the family on how Johnny's widow’s doing.'
    Jenny was sidetracked. Was that how people saw her, as Johnny's widow? She had been happy in being his wife. But she was young and would like to go on and have a life for herself. She didn't want people to always associate her as Johnny's widow. She was Jenny Warwick, a person in her own right. Free and able to do as she pleased, not restricted and tidily classified away as someone's widow. That sounded depressing.
    ‘Lucky for you his mom moved away, or you’d have to stay with her,’ she said.
    ‘So fill me in on your husband’s family, those you know and those you’ve heard about. I don’t want to be caught off guard if someone asks about cousin Henry or something. The more I know, the more I can fit into the role.’
    She'd tilted her head as she watched him talk, hearing his voice, mesmerized by the planes and angles of his face. She had felt a long dormant tingling within her, the start of a longing to reach out and lightly draw her fingertips along the hard, firm line of his jaw. An awareness of him as a man and herself as a woman.
    Her eyes had widened as she'd realized what she was thinking. Clenching her fist, she drew a deep breath and looked away.
    Kyle had stopped in mid-sentence and peered at her closely. 'Did you hear what I said?'
    'Yes,' she had nodded, smiling a little and looking back. She would discipline her thoughts to the project.
    'Are you from California?' she'd asked.
    His face lost all expression, and it was a long moment before he replied, 'I'm from San Francisco State University, remember? In San Francisco. I'm a cousin of Johnny's. Weren't all his cousins born in California?'
    This was to be strictly business, and Jenny felt oddly disappointed.
    'What exactly are you looking for?' she asked.
    'You