LITMIR.BIZ

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warily as Devon was eyeing the baby.

      “He’s a little young to throw a ball,” Keely informed. “If one appeals to him it’s usually only because he’s decided to try to get it into his mouth.”

      “Does he always chew socks, too?” Devon asked with obvious distaste as he watched Harley gnaw at the clothing.

      “It’s clean,” Keely assured with a laugh. “He has two teeth on bottom and he’s getting more, so it must feel good on his gums. We keep it in the fridge because he also likes it cold.”

      “You keep socks in your refrigerator?”

      “Not before Harley adopted them as chew toys. But it makes him happy.”

      “Can he do anything? Like walk or talk?” Devon asked, obviously attempting to figure Harley out.

      “He crawls a little,” Keely said, content to fill Devon in. “And if he’s near the coffee table he’ll pull himself up onto his knees. But he’s pretty wobbly. And as for talking, sometimes it seems like he’s trying to repeat something we’ve said but so far it isn’t coming out as anything we can understand.”

      “So he’s kind of like having a miniature space alien around.”

      Keely laughed again. Not only at what Devon said, but also at the way he said it and the forlorn expression that had his brows at odd angles above his denim-blue eyes. The whole concept of Harley really did seem foreign to him.

      But still she defended Harley. “He’s not an alien. He’s a sweetheart.”

      Devon didn’t appear to be convinced. But he didn’t refute her statement, either. Instead he continued his fact-finding mission. “Does he eat food or drink a bottle or—”

      “Both. He eats baby food and he takes a bottle.”

      “Can he feed himself?”

      “He can hold his own bottle. We don’t give him bottles that way except at night, though. We hold him to give him his bottles through the day and then when we put him to bed at night we let him have it on his own in the crib. But we have to go in and check on him after a few minutes because he’ll usually have dropped it once he’s fallen asleep and we take it away then.”

      “Sounds like a lot of work.”

      And what she’d told him wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.

      But Keely didn’t say that because she didn’t want Devon any more leery than he already was. She also didn’t want to mislead him, so she said, “Babies are a lot of work. But they’re worth it.”

      “I’ll reserve judgment on that,” he said more to himself than to her. Then, definitely to her, he said, “Could you get him to take the sock away so I could have a look at his whole face?”

      Once more, Keely bent over Harley. “I don’t know. What do you say, Harley? Can the nice man see you? Can you show him your teeth?”

      She tugged at the dangling end of the sock and the baby let it be pulled out of his mouth, but he didn’t release his grip on it. And he ignored the request to reveal his two bottom teeth. He just continued to stare suspiciously at Devon while Devon took inventory of Harley’s chubby cheeks and button nose, of his big brown eyes and the light tufts of downy, honey-colored hair.

      “Can you make him smile?” Devon requested after a few moments of studying the baby.

      The way he said it made Keely think he was looking for something other than Harley’s two teeth. But she had no idea what and since he wasn’t forthcoming she didn’t feel she should ask.

      “I don’t know,” she told him honestly. “It’s his bedtime and he’s not usually too jovial when he’s tired.”

      Then, from above Harley again, she said to the baby, “Do you want to do patty-cake?”

      Harley rejected the idea by putting the sock back in his mouth.

      “Sorry,” Keely apologized to Devon. “In the daytime he smiles a lot.”

      “When he does, does he have any dimples? Especially one over the corner of his mouth?” Devon asked then.

      So that was what he was looking for. “No, he doesn’t.”

      “Because my mother and my oldest brother’s daughter have a dimple.”

      “Ah, so you wondered if Harley had one as a sign that he might be yours. No, no dimple. Actually, he resembles Clarissa pretty strongly.”

      “I noticed that.”

      Harley let his head fall heavily against Keely then, and she knew he was fading. “I should probably get him to bed,” she informed Devon without much enthusiasm. It wasn’t that she wanted Harley to stay up, but she thought that since Devon had come specifically to see the infant, once Harley was gone, Devon would leave, too. Which, of course, was as it should be.

      But he’d just gotten there and, even though she knew she should resist it, she didn’t want him to go yet.

      Then, as if her wish for more time with him had been granted, he said, “I’m curious about a couple of things. Would it be all right if we talk after he’s in bed?”

      “Sure,” Keely agreed too quickly to leave him any doubts that she was willing.

      She stood with Harley and tried to get him to wave bye-bye. But he still wouldn’t let go of the sock and after a few attempts she admitted defeat. Then she took the baby to the kitchen to microwave his bottle and went upstairs to put him down for the night.

      By the time she returned to the living room, Devon Tarlington had removed his jacket and, although he was sitting right where he’d been before, he seemed considerably more relaxed.

      “Can I get you something to drink?” Keely offered. “Wine? Beer? Coffee?”

      “No, thanks. Just your company will be great.”

      Okay, there was no good reason that comment should please her so much, she told herself as she sat at the end of the sofa nearest to him, curling her legs underneath her.

      “Well, what do you think?” she asked bluntly then. “Besides not having the family dimple, did you see a resemblance in Harley?”

      “No, I didn’t. But I don’t suppose that means anything one way or another.”

      “Probably not,” Keely agreed.

      “How did you and your sister get into this?” he asked then.

      “By buying this house.”

      Devon glanced around. “How did buying this house get you involved in my potential mess? Did Harley come with it or what?”

      “No, Harley didn’t come with it. We just bought it and the payments are nothing to sneeze at. Neither is the upkeep. So we decided to offset some of the expense by getting a housemate and we ran an ad in the newspaper.”

      “And Clarissa answered it,” Devon finished for her.

      “She and Harley. We weren’t crazy about that at first. There was only one room other than mine and Hillary’s, but Clarissa insisted it didn’t matter, that she and Harley could share it. After about half an hour with Harley we’d fallen in love with him, so we agreed to accept them as housemates.”

      “Maybe he is mine,” Devon joked as if Harley’s charm could be attributed to him.

      It made Keely laugh. “I don’t know, if you can’t see the benefits in chewing cold socks I have my doubts.”

      “Okay then, I guess we can skip the blood test and I can just go on about my business.”

      “Sorry, you’re not off the hook that easily.”

      Keely liked the way his face lit up when he laughed. The way tiny lines fanned out from the corners of his eyes.

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