A Fool and his Honey by Charlaine Harris

Author:Charlaine Harris [Harris, Charlaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: sf
Published: 2011-05-26T08:32:30+00:00

"Unless you ask me first, never tell anyone about my female problems. Never."

"I promise."

"Okay. We're all right."

"You don't sound altogether all right."

"Don't push it."

We stopped at Dylan Graham's house next. After the squalor of the Harbors' place, Craig's brother's home was almost painfully respectable. It was small, and on a street of small houses. But every yard was neat, and Dylan's house in particular was freshly painted and shiny. The only disorder, if you could call it that, was the scattering of toys visible in the little backyard. I remembered Rory telling us that Dylan and his wife had a little girl. Rory, come to think of it, had been full of information, of the less-than-valuable-and-pertinent kind.

Martin went to the front door and knocked. After a long pause, the door opened, and a young woman began talking to Martin. At first her face looked suspicious and tight, but gradually she seemed to relax. She was plump and plain and friendly, with a small mouth, pale freckled skin, and crinkled light brown hair that was cut in bangs in the front and bushed out behind her shoulders. Martin turned and gestured to me to come on, and I slipped out of the car and started to walk toward the little house.

And then I remembered the baby. I heaved a sigh, the theatrical kind, and turned around to go through the process of retrieving Hayden. "Oh, isn't he beautiful!" the young woman said. "Won't you come in?" While we exchanged condolences on the death of her brother-in-law, she waved us into the tiny house, which reminded me of an apartment I'd had while I was in college. The complex had just been finished when I signed the lease, and everything in the small space had gleamed: kitchen cabinets, walls, countertops. Craig's older brother Dylan and his wife Shondra were obviously house-proud, and after a few days of taking care of an infant, I was impressed that Shondra, herself a new mother, was still keeping her standards high. Shondra was just as spotless as her house; her face was scrubbed, making me feel like a made-up tramp, her rose-tinted sweats were pristine, and even her sneakers were spanky white.

"Such a nice home," I said quietly, after she'd talked about Craig a little, without much sorrow. Shondra beamed, her conventional expression of grief shucked in a second.

"Thank you," she said, trying to sound offhand. "Dylan did most of the work on it himself, in the evenings and on weekends."

"That must have been hard," Martin commented. He had taken off his coat and was holding the baby while I tugged mine at the sleeves. "Well, I didn't get to see a lot of him. So I'd come over with his supper or a snack and just sit and watch, while I was expecting," Shondra said, a little smile letting us know she'd enjoyed that.

"Where's your little girl?" I asked politely.

"Kelly. She's taking a nap," Shondra said. "Can I hold this little guy? My brother was just here, and I wanted to thank you for bringing him home.

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