The Baby Bargain Read Free

leg. Her dresses usually came to the bottom of her knee. Now she felt exposed. But she'd seen other girls wearing short skirts. She set her teeth. Just for tonight she was going to find out what it was like to be like the other girls.
    Just for one night.
    ❧
    Dan Remington stared at the TV dinner he'd just pulled from the oven, his expression morose. New Year's Eve and he was sitting in his apartment with nothing for company but an ailing plant and a very healthy alley cat. He watched without interest as the cat leaped to the top of the table and boldly walked over to sniff at the TV dinner.
    "You have the manners of a warthog, Grunge."
    Grunge looked at Dan, gauging the seriousness of the accusation. Deciding, correctly, that Dan wasn't going to protest his presence, he returned his attention to the food. He sniffed at the vegetables, dismissing them as unworthy of his attention. The apple cobbler received dubious approval—the crust might be edible. The sliced turkey and gravy were tasted, considered and then approved.
    Dan scratched behind one battered gray ear, knowing that the cat would just as soon be left alone. From Grunge's attitude, it was sometimes hard to tell who paid the rent on the apartment. Grunge had moved in soon after Dan, not precisely asking permission, but more as if he were granting a favor by allowing Dan to stay. Dan had never considered himself much of a cat lover but he'd found the big torn helped alleviate some of the loneliness.
    Loneliness. Dan shook his head. He'd never expected to find himself turning to a cat for company. But then he had never expected to find himself so cut off from the people he'd known all his life.
    Who was it who had said that you couldn't go home again? He was finding that more true than he cared to admit. He stood, leaving the cat to eat in peace. Moving over to the television, he flipped it on. Only a few more hours till midnight. The people in Times Square were looking smug. After all, they had a jump on the rest of the country. They got to shoo the old year out earlier than everyone else.
    Dan snapped off the television and wandered over to the window. The park that lay across the street was dark and full of mysterious shadows. The snow that had fallen just before Christmas lingered only in sheltered places, catching the light here and there, giving the look of a patchwork quilt.
    What was he doing here? Not just here in this apartment but here in Remembrance? There was nothing for him here. After nearly two years in a Central American prison, he'd come home, wanting nothing more than to pick up the threads of his life. It had been foolish of him to think that everyone else's life would have stood still just because his own had been dragged to a halt. People had moved on, changed.
    He'd left, traveled for a couple of months and then somehow found himself back here. This was home. Or it had been all his life. Now it was just the closest thing to a home that he had.
    Restless, he let the curtain fall, turning to look at the sterile apartment. If he moved out tomorrow, there would be nothing here to show that he'd once spent several months of his life here. If he disappeared tomorrow, his absence would leave a gap in no one's life.
    His mother lived in Europe with her new husband, a man half her age who treated her as if she were made of gold. She would miss him but her life would go on.
    And Brittany? Brittany would miss him. The love they'd once felt had changed, not without pain, into something approaching a friendship. Yes, Brittany would be sorry to see him go, but her life was wrapped up in Michael and little Danielle. She had a family, people whose lives were intimately entwined with hers. A husband, a child.
    "That's what I want."
    Grunge looked up from the tray, licking gravy off his whiskers. Well fed, he was willing to provide an audience.
    "A family. Is that so much to ask?" Grunge licked one paw and began to wash his face.
    "I suppose you think that's