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He gave me an odd look. “Are you a bad driver?”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I drive very well, Harley, but many people out there don’t, and they might hit us.”
“Oh, okay.” He climbed in, took a seat, and then I showed him how the seat belt worked.
Once I was behind the wheel, I glanced back at him, and my heart sighed. If I had a child with Mike, would he come out looking just like him too? Now that was silly even to consider. I blocked that thought and quickly got on the road.
Harley was quiet on the way there, and he finally spoke when we pulled into my driveway. “Whoa, how many people live here?”
“Normally, just one, me, but you and your dad will be here with me for a while.”
I told him to take off his seat belt, and he jumped out and leaned between the two seats, staring at the house. “You live here alone? I thought you said you weren’t rich.”
“Come on, kiddo. Let’s get all this stuff inside and get you unpacked.”
“Can I help you?” he asked as he crawled over the console and into my seat the moment after I vacated it.
“I hope you do! I don’t think I can carry it all by myself.”
He grinned at me and rushed to the back of the SUV. I hit the button, and he watched it open. “That’s so cool.”
I gave him two things to carry and managed to collect the rest myself. When I opened the front door, he grew quiet as he stepped inside. Gone was the energetic boy from inside the car. This one was pensive, and his eyes never stopped moving.
“Let’s take all this to the kitchen and put it on the table.”
“You have a kitchen?”
“I do. Did you?”
“No, we just had a microwave and a fridge.”
“You didn’t have a stove?”
He frowned and then shrugged. “I don’t think so. What is a stove?”
I pointed to mine. “That’s a stove.”
“What do you do with it?”
“You put pots and pans on it and cook food.”
“You can do that?”
“Yes, you can. I’ll show you later. How about we check your bags and see what is inside. Then we can make a list of all the things you might need.”
I unzipped his bag and winced at the sour odor that had come out of it. I almost gagged as I turned my face away. What the hell was in this bag? I started to pull out clothes that had seen better days years ago! My God, this poor child. I glanced at Harley and found him watching me carefully. I forced myself to smile and gave him a wink to go with it.
I zipped the bag shut and set it aside after looking at a few things. “I’ll look at that later. Let’s see what’s in the other bag.”
It didn’t smell as bad in this bag, but the clothes were just as worn. Several papers were shoved inside, and I pulled them out and spread them on the table to brush out the creases. The first paper was a note addressed to Mike, and I folded it and put it to the side. I had no right to read it without his permission. The second was Harley’s birth certificate, and Mike’s name was listed as the father. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to deal with paternity tests to prove it later. Not that there was any doubt in my mind.
“Your birthday is October thirteen,” I stated. “Did you know that?”
He shook his head.
“Well, that is an important date to remember. You never want to forget your birthday.”
Harley also had a social security number, a few other legal documents, and a copy of his mother’s death certificate. I stared at it and realized that his mother had only been deceased for twenty days, and her death was listed as a heroin overdose—not from cancer. I set the papers on the counter with a sad sigh and dug further into the bag. I figured there would at least be a toy, a favorite stuffed animal, or a blanket, but there were only clothes that weren’t fit for anyone to wear.
