want, but deep down, you know what I’m saying is true.”
He put his arm around her, a fond sort of gesture, as they stood there gazing out the window together. She didn’t pull away. It felt good—companionable.
And he said in a musing tone, “Even as a baby, she would lie there making happy, cooing sounds. Hardly ever cried. I gotta say, the way she’s been behaving lately, I almost wish she was a baby again. I’ll take the loaded diapers and the feedings every four hours, any day.”
That’s right, Crystal thought. Kelly was still in high school when she had DeDe—and living with her big brother at the time. Tanner would know all about DeDe as a baby. The idea pleased her. He might be a tough, private eye type, but he did have experience with babies. More experience than she had, when you came right down to it.
She predicted, “I’m sure DeDe’ll get used to the changes having her dad around has made in her life. She’ll be her old self again in time, just watch.”
Tanner grunted. “I only hope it’s soon. Think. She’s almost ten. She’ll be a teenager before you know it. When that happens, all bets are off.”
Crystal’s thoughts strayed back to the baby—their baby. “It’s not easy, is it, raising a child?”
He put on a dark look. “Hell, no.” And then he grinned. “Haven’t you heard? Only crazy people have kids.”
She laughed. “Crazy. Right.”
“That’s us,” he said low. “Out of our minds in a big, big way.” And they shared a long look of what could only be called mutual understanding. Bizarre. Crystal and Tanner, all bondy together. But then he said, “Well, I guess we ought to bring our stuff in, get settled, all that….” He dropped his arm from around her shoulders and started for the door.
Our stuff? The good feeling fled. He was up to something.
“Wait a minute.”
He turned back to her. “Yeah?”
“You just said our stuff?”
“That’s right.” His expression was way too innocuous—and Tanner Bravo was never innocuous. The vague sense of alarm she felt ratcheted up a notch. Then he said, “I gave it some thought last night after I left your place, and I realized that this was a great opportunity and we shouldn’t let it pass us by.”
She stared at him, not following. “A great opportunity?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“For what?”
“To live together.”
She still didn’t understand. “But…why would we want to live together?”
“Oh, come on, Crys. You know it’s a good idea.”
“No. No, I don’t. There’s no reason we need to share a house.”
“Yeah. We do.”
“No. We don’t.”
“Think of it this way. It’s like an experiment. To see how we get along, being around each other every day. Just in case.”
She fell back a step. “Just in case…what?”
“In case we decide we want to get married, after all.”
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