A couple of minutes later, Jenny watched her parents shuffle through the security gate. She waved a last good-bye, then turned and headed for the parking lot. They were okay, she thought. Sometimes they drove her crazy, but in general, they were pretty good at being parents.

As Jenny walked to the car she thought about the night before. The ride home from the rimrocks had been quiet, to say the least. Jenny was silent, still not over the scare she'd had, and David must have decided that any attempt at conversation would be futile; except for asking directions to her house, he hadn't said a word.

A long, hot bath helped soak most of the aches out of her, but the fear had lasted all night, and was still with her in the morning. Which was why her

parents kept looking at her, then at each other. Jenny read their signals, as usual, and knew they were trying to figure out what was wrong.

Jenny slid into the car and started it up. It was a sunny, cloudless day, and all she had to show for her battle with nature were a couple of scratches and a bruised elbow. She turned on the radio and laughed out loud when "Don't Worry, Be Happy** came on. She decided to follow the advice.

Jenny stayed cheerful for the entire twenty-five miles back to Rimrock, but she was a bom worrier, and as soon as she pulled into town, she started to fret. She fretted about the painters, who she was sure were going to be hardnosed and high-priced. She fi^tted about being alone in the big house at night, even though she knew that if anything bad happened, it would probably be something like a toilet backing up. Mostly, though, she fretted about David.

She had to admit, she'd treated him harshly. It wasn't his fault that a storm came up, after all. Or that she was scared of the rimrocks and that being stuck up there was like a nightmare come true. Of course, he could have tried to be a little more understanding. He could have admitted that he'd yelled and not blamed it on the wind. They might even have joked about it, instead of driving home in unfiiendly silence.

The worst part was that they'd been so attracted to each other, Jermy thought. Well, she*d been attracted, anyway. But so had he, she was sure of it.

S7

She was good at reading signals, and even if he hadn't kissed her, his signals would still have been very positive.

So what now? Should she just forget it, write him off as nice, but not quite right? Let him write her off as a bad sport, nice, but not worth the trouble?

Pulling into the driveway, Jenny turned off the car, but she didn't get out. Instead, she listened to the motor tick and thought for a moment. It would be easy to let him write her off. After all, even though they'd been attracted to each other, it wasn't exactly a long-term passion she was dealing with. In a few days, the memory would fade away.