Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,73

wagging, he happily followed Abbi into the bathroom.

“Your food’s waiting in the oven, too,” Charlie said, gesturing for him to move his ass.

“It’s your turn,” Devin said, helping himself to a piece of potato.

“I cleaned up the lime Jell-O mess last week,” she pointed out as she dug into the pancakes that looked really good.

“That was two weeks ago. Last week was Elmer’s glue,” he reminded her as he leaned down and stole the pancake off her fork.

“And I cleaned that up, too. This is all you, big guy,” Charlie said, gesturing with her fork for him to move his ass.

Sighing, Devin stole another bite before reluctantly heading into the bathroom, telling himself that she’d be back in a couple of days and then they could-

“Daddy, what’s this?” Abbi asked, drawing his attention to a small round pink plastic box.

“Those are Charlie’s, sweetheart,” Devin said, plucking Charlie’s birth control pills out of his daughter’s hands and closing it before placing it back in the medicine cabinet.

“What are they for, Daddy?” Abbi asked as she pulled her batter-splattered nightgown off and tossed it on the dog, who seemed more than happy to have something to play with.

“Nothing,” Devin said, sighing as he turned on the shower, still wondering how he was going to tell Charlie that she didn’t need them.

Chapter 34

Boston, MA

“Oh, come on! Just five more minutes,” Charlie said, making sure to look appropriately pathetic as she looked down at her iPad.

“No,” came the grumbled response from the man that had propped his phone against his headboard so that he could curl up with his pillow and ignore her.

“But I miss you,” she mumbled sadly, making sure to add a sniffle at the end there.

When Ben cracked one eye open so that he could glare at her, she allowed her bottom lip to tremble ever so slightly. “No, you don’t. You’re just using me because Devin’s busy.”

“How could you say that?” Charlie asked even as she couldn’t help but notice that Devin hadn’t called her back yet.

“Did you tell him yet?”

“Not yet, but I have a plan,” Charlie promised him as she reached over and grabbed her drink off the nightstand, careful not to disturb the stack of brochures, pamphlets, and business cards that she’d collected from information booths, lectures, and her attempts to network over the past couple of days.

“I sure hope so since you’re supposed to be quitting in six months,” he said, earning a glare.

“I’ve still got time,” she reminded him only to continue when he opened his mouth to argue. “But I won’t need it because I have a plan.”

“Are you going to tell me about this wonderful plan of yours or just keep telling me that you have one?” the smartass grumbled.

“It’s very simple,” she started only to glare down at her phone when he said, “It sounds it.”

“This right here is why I don’t like you,” Charlie said absently as she grabbed her phone off the bed and realized that it was after ten o’clock. The kids were probably already in bed, she thought, debating calling Devin only to dismiss the idea since he was probably trying to work.

“I’m still waiting,” came the grumpily muttered reply that dragged her attention back to the problem at hand.

Telling Devin that she was quitting without things ending badly.

“I’m going to set up Bradford Creations social media accounts so that Devin can handle it on his own,” Charlie said with a firm nod because this was actually a really good plan.

Thanks to all the changes that she’d made over the past few months, mostly adding pictures of the kids helping Devin and quite a few that showcased how incredibly hot the men working at Bradford Creations were, Bradford Creations had a very large following eager for Devin to interact with them. They loved hearing from him, seeing the videos that she’d talked him into doing and all he had to do at this point was to keep it up.

It was simple.

“And what if he can’t?”

“Then I’ll still be there to help him,” Charlie said, shrugging because she honestly didn’t see what the big deal was.

“And the reason that you haven’t told him yet…”

“I want to keep him in suspense?” Charlie said, only to drop onto her side with a groan because she was pathetic, she decided, following up that personal revelation with a nod.

Maybe she was overreacting and this wasn’t even a big deal.

“Do you think he’s going to be upset?” she asked, sending a hopeful look towards