been going out of his way to avoid her, barely acknowledging her existence and forgetting who she was when he did, and now…
Now he wouldn’t stop glaring at her.
It started when he’d told her that the apartment was hers as he’d handed her the rental agreement to sign. She’d considered pointing out that she hadn’t seen the apartment yet, but that glare had her quickly deciding that it would be in her best interest to sign the agreement before he changed his mind and she knew that he wanted to change his mind. She could see it on his face every time he looked at her, which unfortunately for her, was something that he’d been doing a lot more over the past week.
Yesterday when she showed up with a moving truck and Ben by her side, she’d expected him to tell her that he’d changed his mind. What she hadn’t expected was for Devin to meet them at the door with a glare. Okay, so maybe after a week of glaring she’d expected it, but she hadn’t expected him to shift his glare to Ben as he told her to go have a seat while he took over unloading the truck. Once he had her things moved inside, he’d sent her one last glare and left, locking the door that connected the in-law apartment to the rest of the house behind him and then…
That was it.
She hadn’t seen or heard from him since. She’d assumed that she could expect him to avoid her at home like he did at work. It would probably make this easier, Charlie thought as she found herself watching her boss/landlord walk into her apartment wearing a pair of black boxers and another glare. She took another bite of cereal as she ran her eyes over him, taking him in from his messy short black hair all the way down to his legs, noting all those tan muscles in between and couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t dress like this for work. It would certainly help boost employee morale, Charlie decided with a wistful sigh.
“What are you guys doing in here? I thought I asked you to leave Charlie alone,” Devin said, only to be met with blank stares.
“Why are you in here?” Dustin asked, blinking up at his father.
Eyes narrowing, Devin said, “I was looking for you.”
“You didn’t knock,” Abbi pointed out, making Charlie bite her lip to stop herself from smiling.
“You’re supposed to knock,” Dustin said with a sad shake of his head as he picked up his glass of chocolate milk and carefully took a sip.
“And did you knock?” Devin asked, reaching over to run his fingers through his son’s messy hair.
“I’m having breakfast with my lady,” Dustin explained with an adorable smile.
There was a sigh and then, “I’m sorry if they bothered you,” Devin said as he plucked Abbi off the bed and set her down on her feet before reaching for Dustin.
“They were no bother,” Charlie promised even as she decided that it would probably be a good idea to pick up more Hostess Cupcakes and chocolate milk for her new BFF.
*-*-*-*
“What did we talk about, guys?” Devin asked, leaning back against the wall painted with a large smiling sun as he glanced down at his phone and went over the orders that needed to go out today.
“Many things, Daddy,” Abbi said, nodding solemnly as she leaned back against him, making his lips twitch.
“That’s true,” Devin said, only to frown when he noticed all the online orders that were waiting for him.
Not that he was complaining, far from it.
When he’d started this business five years ago, he honestly hadn’t expected to be doing this well. His only goal had been to be able to make enough money so that he could take care of his children. Up until that point, he’d been working full-time as a police officer and pulling in shifts on the side as an EMT. He’d never planned on quitting, but then again, he’d also never planned on becoming a single father at twenty-two.
After Heather told him that she was pregnant, Devin realized that he was going to have to make some difficult decisions. He’d loved what he did, the pay had been good, benefits had been great, and it would have allowed him to take care of his children, but he’d wanted more. He wanted to watch his children grow up and be there for all the big moments and that meant starting over.
He gave up