Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,92

fact that all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry.

“You have fluffiness in your life,” Charlie said with a pointed look at the small kitten trying to attack her feet beneath the blanket and the bunny currently snuggled in her arms, eating a carrot.

“I need more,” Abbi said, nodding solemnly as Bradford, whom Charlie would like to point out she’d only jokingly suggested calling Bradford when they got him, jumped onto the couch near Abbi’s feet and curled up, looking appropriately pitiful as he waited for someone to give him another treat.

“I tell you what,” Charlie said, pausing to kiss Dustin’s cheek as he continued to sleep, “if you can be good and super quiet so that your brother can take a nap, I will seriously consider asking your daddy if we can go to the zoo this weekend.”

“The zoo with the small petting area or the one where you can walk with the deer?” Abbi asked with a calculating look in her eye that let Charlie know that she was probably already making plans to try to steal a deer, again.

“The one with the deer enclosure, of course,” Charlie said, somewhat offended that her baby girl would think that she would settle for anything less than the best level of fluffiness.

Nodding, Abbi said, “That might be acceptable.”

“And if you are super good and let me get some work done while your brother naps, I might order Blackjack’s pizza for dinner,” she said, unable to help but smile when Abbi said, “I’ll be super good.”

“Okay, we have a deal then,” Charlie said, pointing to her apartment. “I’m going to leave the door open in case you need anything.”

“When’s Daddy getting home?” Abbi asked, absently petting her bunny while Charlie forced a smile on her face.

“Probably after dinner, sweetie. He had to run back to his shop and finish a project,” she said, repeating what Devin told them after he’d dropped them off.

“Okay,” Abbi said, shifting her attention back to the movie that she was watching as Charlie ran her fingers through Dustin’s hair one last time before she forced herself to walk into her apartment.

She told herself that she had absolutely no reason to be upset, especially not after today when the kids had called her mommy, which meant more to her than anything in this world. She loved them and that was more than enough, Charlie told herself as she grabbed her camera off her bed and headed to the office and-

“I’m sorry,” came the unexpected words that drew her attention to find Devin sitting at her desk, waiting for her with a bouquet of white roses in his arms.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Charlie said, forcing the words out that she hoped would end this conversation as she walked out of her office and headed for the kitchen, deciding that this would be the perfect time to clean her camera.

“Then why do you look like you’re about to cry?” came the strained question a moment later as she laid her camera on the kitchen island and grabbed her kit out of the bottom cabinet.

“Just leave it alone, Devin, okay? I’m fine,” Charlie promised him as she tried to remove the lens, but her damn hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“I’m not,” he said tightly as he laid the flowers on the kitchen island in front of her.

Slowly exhaling, Charlie closed her eyes and said, “Please,” because she wasn’t sure that she could handle this right now.

“Baby, look at me,” Devin said, but she didn’t want to look at him, not right now when she was struggling not to lose it.

“Look,” she said, licking her lips as she grabbed hold of the kitchen island as she struggled not to cry, “I love you, Devin and I can accept the fact that I am never going to have any children, but I can’t do this right now. I just need some time to accept this, okay?”

“When I made that promise-” Devin started to explain, but she didn’t want to hear about that damn promise right now.

“Devin, please don’t,” Charlie said, so close to losing it right now.

“When I made that promise I never planned on breaking it,” Devin said, ignoring her plea and continued. “I just wanted to be there for my children and to be able to take care of them. I didn’t want to do anything that would make it harder for them. The only problem is that I never expected that I would want