Finally

by R. L. Mathewson

  When he only stood there, glaring at her, she said, “Pretty please!”

  With a sigh and a muttered, “God, you’re a pain in the ass,” Devin grabbed the spider and headed towards the maple tree only to sigh and head towards the oak tree when she shook her head since she planned on hanging a ghost from the maple tree.

  “I really am,” Charlie said, reaching over and pulling the bin filled with gravestones closer.

  “Can I ask you something?” Devin asked as he tossed the black rope over a branch and tied it off.

  “Will you set up the cemetery if I say yes?” Charlie asked, because she wanted to ensure that the cemetery was set up otherwise she wouldn’t have anywhere to put the zombies that she bought at a yard sale last year.

  Sighing, he walked over and grabbed the bin of gravestones and-

  “Why were you crying in your sleep?” Devin asked as he set the bin down and grabbed the largest headstone.

  Slowly exhaling, Charlie shook her head as she admitted, “I don’t know. I never remember why.”

  “How long has this been going on?” Devin asked, glancing up at her as he set the gravestone in place and grabbed another one.

  “Since I was little,” she said, shrugging it off.

  It used to upset Grandma Bea and Ben, but they’d eventually stopped worrying about her. At least, they’d stopped letting her know that they were worried, but she saw it on their faces in the morning, the way they watched her, the forced smiles, and the extra hugs to go along with her favorite breakfast, silver-dollar pancakes. It hadn’t taken long before she’d started hating waking up to the scent of maple syrup.

  “Does anything help?” Devin asked, glancing up at her as he grabbed another headstone.

  “No.”

  At least, not until yesterday, Charlie thought as she watched him. Devin Bradford was an incredibly handsome man. There was no denying that, but up until yesterday, she’d never realized just how much she liked him. She’d always known that he was a good father and a decent boss, but that was all she knew about him. Then yesterday, she’d realized just how good it felt to be in his arms. She liked the way that he’d held her, the way that he’d touched her, but it was the way that he looked at her that had her realizing that…

  She didn’t need another complication in her life.

  Not now when she was finally trying to stop making excuses and get her business going. It was going to be hard enough when it was time to tell him that she was leaving Bradford Creations, she didn’t want to make things more difficult. The problem was, she really liked him and she loved his kids. Her only hope was that she didn’t lose them when this was all over.

  *-*-*-*

  “Tell me again why we’re doing this,” Devin said, looking from the television where a werewolf was tearing apart another unsuspecting camper down to the small woman sitting next to him with her hands pressed over her face and-

  “Tradition,” was all she said before she released what sounded like a whimper, turned towards him so that she could carefully throw her legs over his lap, and pressed her face against his arm with another whimper.

  “I see,” he murmured, placing his arm over her legs as he leaned forward, careful not to dislodge the small woman that had announced that they were having a horror movie marathon when he came back home after dropping the kids off at school, and helped himself to the bowl of Halloween candy that she’d put out.

  “You can’t have Halloween without a horror movie marathon,” Charlie said as she gave up trying to cover her eyes so that she could wrap her arms around his and hold on tightly as the sounds of growls filled the room.

  “It’s not Halloween yet,” he pointed out around a handful of M&Ms as the high school jock being ripped apart by a pack of werewolves released a bloodcurdling scream.

  “Close enough,” she mumbled against his arm.

  “And you do this every year?” Devin couldn’t help but wonder.

  Nodding, Charlie said, “Every year since I turned twelve.”

  “And before that?”

  “Grandma Bea banned me from watching anything that could give me nightmares,” she mumbled, releasing her hold on his arm so that she could blindly reach back, grab hold of the Mickey Mouse blanket that Dustin left on the couch and pulled it over her head.

  “And she changed her mind when you were twelve because…”

  “Because I promised that she wouldn’t find me hiding under her bed at two in the morning again if she did,” Charlie said, wrapping her arm back around his.

  “And did she?” Devin asked, resting his other hand on her ankles.

  “No, I kept my promise. She found me at one in the morning instead,” she mumbled against his arm, making him chuckle as he absently ran his thumb over her ankle.

  “And you loved being scared so much that you decided that it was a good idea to continue the tradition?” Devin asked as he settled back against the couch with a heavy sigh as he resigned himself to spending the day watching shitty horror movies.

  “Yes, I did,” Charlie said, reaching up to pull the blanket back up when it began sliding down, threatening to expose her to the horror movie that she’d picked out.

  “Have you ever considered doing something else?” he asked, glancing at the woman curled up against him.

  There was a heartfelt sigh and then, “I love traditions.”

  “I can tell,” Devin said dryly.

  *-*-*-*

  “I…” Charlie began to say but she was at a loss for words.

  She closed her mouth, swallowed hard and watched as Devin continued destroying her will to live as he put the final touches on his pumpkin and-

  “What are you doing?” she found herself asking, glancing from the man that kept her company all day while she’d secretly worked on her company that she really needed to come up with a name for and then to the pumpkin that he’d given two round eyes, a triangle nose, and a small, “O” for a mouth.

  Frowning, he gestured to the pumpkin and said, “Decorating my pumpkin.”

  “But we agreed on a scary theme,” Charlie pointed out.

  “And he’s scared,” Devin said, nodding as he tossed the marker on the table and sat back in his chair as he waited for the twins to finish drawing their designs on their pumpkins.

  “I just feel like this is a cry for help,” Charlie murmured weakly as she once again found herself looking back at the large pumpkin with tiny eyes and-

  “What the hell are you doing?” Devin asked when she stood up, careful of her foot, hobbled the short distance over to his chair, and sat down on his lap.

  “Saving Halloween,” Charlie said as she picked up his discarded marker, pulled the cap off, and focused on giving the pumpkin a terrifying face worthy of Halloween while the man that had drawn the saddest pumpkin that she’d ever seen sighed as he put his arm around her.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he said, only to grumble something when Dustin said, “Yes, it was.”

  “Fine. Then let me fix it,” Devin said, reaching to take the marker from her only to drop his hand away when she blindly reached back and absently patted his face with a, “Shhhh, not while I’m working.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a controlling little thing?” Devin asked as he absently caressed her stomach through her shirt while she did her best to focus on the task at hand.

  “I prefer holiday perfectionist,” Charlie said, biting her lip as she turned the sad “O” into a terrifying smile.

  “And I prefer a pain in the a-” Devin started to say only to get cut off when she was once again forced to reach back and slap her hand over his mouth with another, “Shh, not while I’m working.”

  Chapter 14

  “Oh, don’t forget my bag,” the woman that refused to listen to reason, said as he debated leaving her in the car for a few minutes while he ran inside to make sure that everything was ready, but…

  He’d seen the way that she’d been eying the crutches in the backseat
since he managed to get her in the car. If she’d been anyone else, he would have simply helped her out of the car and handed her the crutches, but this was Charlie, who couldn’t seem to remember that she wasn’t supposed to put weight on her bad foot whenever she tried using them.

  “And my cousin told you to stay off your feet,” Devin said as he placed her backpack on her lap, handed her the bag of donuts that he’d grabbed from Dixon’s Bakery, and-

  “Don’t forget the pictures and the teddy bear!”

  -grabbed the items that she’d promised Dustin that she would take to work with her and picked her up before she could argue. Once he had her in his arms, Devin forced himself to ignore just how good she felt, kicked the passenger door shut and headed towards the back door of Bradford Creations.

  “Devin, I can walk if you’d let me get the crutches so that I could-”

  “Forget that you’re not supposed to put weight on your foot and end up gasping for air, struggling not to cry while I lose my fucking mind trying to convince you to take a painkiller that you’re too damn stubborn to take because it makes you sleepy,” he drawled, watching as her eyes narrowed on him.

  “We’re no longer speaking,” Charlie said, slowly nodding as she hugged all the shit in her arms against her chest and pointedly looked away while he shifted so that he could open the door and carry her inside.

  “Wait. Where are we going?” the woman that could never seem to remember that she wasn’t talking to him, asked as he carried her past the back stairs.

  “To work,” Devin said, making his way to his office.

  “Umm, my office is upstairs,” Charlie said, gesturing towards the back stairs.

  “Not anymore,” Devin said, still wondering if he was making a mistake by letting her come back to work this soon.

  He’d given her two weeks off, but the incredibly fucking adorable woman that had spent the last four days making it difficult to remember why he couldn’t be with her had adamantly refused to stay home one more day. She wanted to come back to work and no matter what he said, Devin couldn’t convince her to wait until her foot was better.

  “Wait. What are you talking about?” Charlie asked, throwing a wistful glance over her shoulder towards the stairs that there was no way in hell that she would be able to navigate right now.

  “We compromised,” Devin said as he pushed his office door open and carried her inside, careful of all the boxes filled with her things that T.J. packed and brought downstairs for her.

  “We did?” Charlie asked as she glanced around their office, taking in the other half of the room set up for the twins before shifting her attention to the two desks facing each other, her mini-fridge plugged in the corner, her computer and monitors that had been placed on her new desk, the boxes, large windows overlooking the workshop, and-

  “This isn’t going to work,” Charlie said hollowly, staring at the large glass windows in horror.

  “It’s either this or go home,” Devin told her because there was no way in hell that he was leaving her upstairs in that office all alone.

  Worrying her bottom lip, Charlie glanced around the office again before looking at her new desk with a sadly mumbled, “That’s not my desk.”

  “It’s better,” Devin said, deciding not to mention that he’d decided to take advantage of this situation and had T.J. grab a new desk from the storeroom for her.

  “I love my desk,” Charlie mumbled sadly as she shifted her attention to the windows and back again before sighing, opening the white bakery bag that she’d somehow managed to hold on to and helped herself to a jelly donut with a dejected sigh as he stood there, holding her and wondering why she had to be so damn difficult.

  “The new desk is better,” he pointed out.

  “No, it’s not,” Charlie mumbled around a bite of donut as she forced herself to look away from the desk that was fucking perfect and laid her head against his chest with another, “I love my desk.”

  “And you’ll love this one once you get used to it. This one is brand new. There are no dents, dings, or scrapes,” Devin said, moving to carry her over to her new desk when she mumbled, “The beanbag.”

  Biting back a sigh, he turned around and headed towards the play area. “Are you planning on pouting for the rest of the day?”

  Sniffle. “Yes.”

  “You do realize that this only works on Ben, right?” he pointed out only to be met with another sniffle.

  “I’m not putting that desk in my office, Charlie.”

  Nothing.

  “I built that thing out of scrap wood to test a design. It was supposed to go in the trash,” Devin explained to the small woman who thought she had him wrapped him around her little finger.

  When she still didn’t say anything, he narrowed his eyes on her. “I’m going to work. Don’t let me catch you moving from that spot,” he said while she continued to nibble on her jelly donut with the saddest fucking sigh that wasn’t going to work on him.

  “I’m not kidding, Charlie. Don’t leave that spot,” Devin said one last time before he left, determined to focus on everything that he needed to do to catch up with the orders waiting for him and-

  “Damn it,” Devin sighed, shaking his head in disgust as he headed to the back stairs only to find T.J. waiting for him.

  “Didn’t like the desk, did she?” his best friend asked only to chuckle when Devin leveled a glare on him and headed upstairs to get the desk for the little brat.

  *-*-*-*

  “Okay, this might have been a bad idea,” Charlie finally admitted to herself as her grip tightened around the bookshelf while she slowly put her foot down and-

  Quickly rethought that decision with a shaky breath when pain shot through her foot. It wasn’t as bad as it was a few days ago, but it didn’t feel great either. Slowly exhaling, she hugged her camera against her chest as she slowly slid her other hand along the edge of the bookshelf, raised her foot and-

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Charlie mumbled, glancing over her shoulder to gauge the distance back to the beanbag before shifting her attention to the office door and-

  “Oh, sorry, Charlie. I’m looking for Devin,” Scott said as Charlie stood there, taking in the large man that was in charge of shipping and realized that she may have found a way to make this work.

  “Could you grab that chair for me, please?” she asked with a hopeful smile and a slight gesture with the hand that held her camera towards Devin’s desk chair.

  “Yeah, of course,” Scott said, quickly making his way over to Devin’s desk and grabbed hold of the large chair that looked really comfortable so that he could push it over to her and once she sat down…

  “Any chance that you could push me out there?” Charlie asked even as she gestured towards the small bakery bag that she’d been forced to leave behind.

  Frowning, Scott walked over to the beanbag and picked up the bag. “You’re not supposed to be in the shop,” he said, handing it to her.

  “It will only be for a minute. I just need to get some pictures for the website,” Charlie said, already using her good foot to move her towards the office door.

  “I-I don’t know about this.”

  “I’ll be in and out. Devin will never find out,” she promised him as she pulled one of the delicious donuts that Devin bought for her out of the bag and took a bite.

  “Devin doesn’t like anyone in the shop that doesn’t belong there,” he reminded her even as he grabbed hold of the chair and slowly pushed it the rest of the way as she picked up her feet.

  “Which is why he won’t find out that I was here. I’ll be in and out before he knows it,” she promised him since she knew better than to let Devin catch her in the shop.

  That was the reason why she always made sure to get here before Devin in the morning and the reason why she stayed late a few times a week. Devin didn’t play around when it came to safety. If you didn’t belong in the shop, he’d better not catch you anywhere near it. If you w
orked upstairs, you were automatically banned from entering the shop and while she absolutely agreed with that rule, the problem was that she couldn’t follow it.

  Not if she wanted to be able to do her job.

  That’s why she came in early before the saws were turned on and took pictures, talked to T.J. to see what Devin wanted pushed, grabbed a few new pictures of anything that hadn’t sold in the past week to see if she could give some attention on Facebook and Instagram, and got the hell out of there before Devin caught her. Normally, if she missed work, which wasn’t often, she would wait for Devin to leave for the day before she came downstairs and got her pictures, but since that wasn’t an option today…

  She was going to have to risk it and hope that Devin took pity on her if he caught her.

  “He’s going to kill me,” Scott said, cursing under his breath as he pushed her towards the latest creations.

  “You’ll be fine,” Charlie murmured absently as she took a bite of her donut as she took in the selection in front of her, taking in every detail as she tried to decide which one she should feature on the website when a large tan hand grabbed hold of the armrest of her chair and slowly turned her so that she was facing Devin, who she’d like to point out looked really pissed as he leaned forward so that there was really no missing that fact.

  When he continued to glare at her, she held up the last bite of jelly donut for him. “Look, I saved you the best bite,” Charlie said with a hopeful smile. Narrowing his eyes on her, Devin leaned forward and took the last bite out of her hand with his teeth and finished it off all while glaring at her.

  “I needed pictures for the website,” she pointed out, cleared her throat, and gestured towards all the beautiful furniture that his men had finished this week.

  When he began pushing her back towards the office that he’d told her not to leave, she nervously licked her lips and said, “I was careful?”

  When he continued to glare, she shifted nervously in her chair, somehow resisted the urge to look over her shoulder and said, “I still need pictures for the website,” which was met with a narrowing of his eyes and her decision to shut up.