Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,16
Devin glanced at the alarm clock by his bed and felt his stomach drop when he saw what time it was.
“Oh, shit!” he snapped, trying not to panic when he realized that he’d slept for twenty hours.
There was no way that he should have been able to sleep all day, not with two six-year-olds in the house. With that frightening thought, Devin grabbed his phone off the nightstand and moved his ass. He headed across the hallway to find his son’s room empty. A quick look into Abbi’s room found her room empty as well and had him racing towards the stairs, praying that his mother stopped by earlier and took the kids even though he knew that she would never just take the kids without telling him.
“Dustin? Abbi?” he called out as he headed down the stairs, feeling his stomach drop when he didn’t find them.
“Dustin!” he said, moving his ass and headed into the kitchen to find it empty and…
He turned around and headed back to the living room and the closed door that he’d been trying to pretend didn’t exist, praying that the kids hadn’t listened to him. He didn’t bother knocking, he simply walked inside and-
“Damn it,” came the sadly sighed words that drew his attention to the left as his mind registered something soft sliding against his legs in time to see a large lilac sheet fall down onto a large lump on the bed. There was a soft grumble, and then, the sheet was pushed aside and Devin sighed with relief when he spotted his children curled up on Charlie’s bed, fast asleep.
“They just fell asleep,” came the whisper that drew his attention to Charlie to find her sitting on the bed with a warm smile as she pushed the sheet aside. At his questioning look, she gestured absently to the sheet with a sighed, “We tried to make a tent in the living room, but we couldn’t get it to stay up so we decided to make one in here instead.”
“I see,” Devin said, watching as she pushed the covers aside and climbed out of bed.
“I hate to say this,” Charlie said with a sad shake of her head, “but your daughter cheats at tic-tac-toe, checkers, and hide and go seek.”
“She really does,” he murmured absently as he watched Charlie make her way around the bed, untying the jump ropes that they’d used to create a tent as she went.
“Your kids are lightweights,” she said with a teasing smile as she walked past him and headed towards his living room.
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, following her through the living room and into his kitchen.
With a sigh and a sad shake of her head, Charlie headed to his refrigerator and said, “They couldn’t cut it playing Go Fish.”
“They don’t like losing,” Devin murmured absently as he watched her pull two foil-covered plates out of the refrigerator and placed them on the counter.
“They really don’t,” she said, smiling as she grabbed a carton of chocolate milk and some condiments out of the fridge and placed them on the counter before she set to work on replacing the foil with paper towels and-
“I’m not a bad father,” he found himself saying, for some reason hating the idea of her thinking that he was a horrible father more than anyone else.
“Why would I think that you’re a bad father?” Charlie asked, looking genuinely curious as she placed a plate with a large stack of pancakes, bacon, and home fries in the microwave.
“I don’t make it a habit of staying in bed all day,” Devin said, sighing heavily as he tried to figure out how this happened. No matter how fucking exhausted he’d been before, he’d never left his kids to fend for themselves.
“You were exhausted,” she said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal.
“I’m always exhausted,” he said, chuckling without humor as he rubbed his hands down his face.
“I know,” Charlie said, making him frown as he dropped his hands away to find her shrugging it off as she pulled the plate out of the microwave.
At his questioning look, she said, “The kids told me. They told me that you always get up with them in the morning and take care of them. They got nervous when you didn’t wake up, so we checked on you during the day so that they could make sure that you were okay. I think the selfies helped.”
Eyes narrowing on her, he swiped his phone open and-