Every Glance (Every Life #3) (14 page)

She sits back, stunned by my little outburst. “Well, I guess I made a poor assumption. But that doesn’t mean I need you to be my knight in shining armor, Dalton. I don’t mean to sound unappreciative of your willingness to help me and Simon, but the last thing I need is another man in my life to…” She makes air quotes. “…‘help’ me. My God, that makes you sound just like Carter. He’s ‘helping’ me by letting me keep our house instead of paying child support. He’s ‘helping’ me by keeping Simon more. He’s ‘helping’ me by letting me keep my job in his firm. I’m tired of all the help. I’m sick to death of it. I just want to stand on my own two damn feet without anyone running along to hold me up.”

Well, now that she’s put it that way, I can see exactly what Carter is doing, and it in no possible way benefits the well-being of her or Simon. He’s doing everything he can to keep her from being happy unless he’s there to administer it. He wants the new life but wants to keep a firm grip on his old one, too.

“Hell, no, that’s not helping you, Devyn. When I say that I’m here for you, I don’t have any hidden agendas. I have nothing to gain except the satisfaction of knowing you’re okay. Carter only wants to control you, and he’s doing a damn good job of it. His name is on your home. He makes you work late hours to show you that he is the one who determines exactly how much you see Simon. He wants you to work for him, so he knows there’s no way anyone there will ever hit on you. As long as you’re under his thumb like this, it’ll never stop.”

Taking a deep breath, she folds her hands and rests them on the table. For the first time today, she looks at me. I don’t mean a passing glance or a prolonged stare. She truly looks at me. I can feel it. “Why do you care? You don’t know me. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. But it’s true.”

This is the perfect moment to confess. The perfect moment to tell her exactly who I am. I have to do it.

“No, wait.” She blurts out before I can ever begin to form the words. “Don’t answer that. I’m being bitchy because I’m exhausted. Carter came over late last night, and we got into a huge fight, so I didn’t get into bed until three. I never should’ve brought you into this, and I should’ve gratefully accepted your willingness to be a friend to Simon.”

She reaches up and twirls a long strand of hair around one finger, then realizes she’s doing it, so she flips all of her hair over her shoulder. “I’m an absolute mess and a horrible person. I’m so
so
sorry for accusing you of being anything like Carter. He never would’ve done anything like what you did for Simon today.”

It’s strange how quickly she flipped that switch. It’s almost like she’s just putting up a front, so I’ll drop it. I would imagine it’s a lot easier to just go along with everything Carter tells her to do instead of fighting him on it. When I challenged her to change things, it didn’t take long for her to back down.

“I meant exactly what I said. Anytime. Anywhere. If you or Simon need me, I’ll be there.” Reaching across the table to take her hands again, I’m glad when she meets me halfway and turns her palms up to press them against mine.

“Thanks, Dalton.”

“When can we have dinner, Mom?” Simon appears in the back door. As soon as I look up, his eyes are on our hands.

Awesome. That’ll confuse the hell out of him after the lecture I gave on only being friends with his mom.

I jerk my hands back, even though I know it’s too late, and look at my watch. It’s nearly five-thirty, and without a snack this afternoon, I can understand why he’s hungry. Time really got away from us today.

“Tell you what, buddy. Since your mom and I have work tomorrow and you have school, let’s go inside and order a pizza. It’ll be quick and easy, and that’ll be one less thing your mom has to worry about when you get home. Sound good?”

Reminding him that there’s school tomorrow clearly wasn’t the best idea. “Fine,” he growls, rolling his eyes. “But I don’t understand why weekends can’t be three days long.”

I laugh and jump up from my chair. “Me either, Simon.”

The pizza arrives within forty-five minutes, which isn’t bad compared to what it usually is. Simon is practically ravenous by this point, so he tosses three slices into his plate without batting an eye. He’s pretty thin like I was, so I know it won’t hurt him to have a little extra. Devyn won’t allow him to have soda before bed, so he settles for milk, taking it and his pizza to have a carpet picnic in front of the TV. Devyn and I soon join him, but we opt for the couch instead.

So here we are. The three of us. Eating pizza and watching cartoons as if we’ve done it a million times before. It’s oddly comforting, even though I’m used to having the place to myself. There’s something so domestic about all of it, and it worries me a little that I like it.

I’ve never really wanted to get married or have kids, but tonight, I’m getting glimpse of it, and it’s not so bad. Just like when I looked over at the parmesan cheese, and Devyn passed it to me without even thinking. I noticed her string cheese down her chin, and I handed her a napkin. Simon’s giggles at the cartoon character getting squished by a piano were freaking adorable, not irritating like I would expect.

I like living alone, and I enjoy the quiet moments to myself and being able to watch whatever I want on TV. Tonight, though, the other side of the coin isn’t too damn bad.

Before I know it, we’re all finished eating and completely wrapped up in this kids’ movie about lost, talking dogs.

“I think he fell asleep,” Devyn whispers. “He’s breathing really deep, and I swear I just heard him snore.”

I lean up and peek over the coffee table at him, wearing his new scrubs and curled into a ball on his side. “I think you might be right.”

Devyn has one foot tucked under her and the other rests on the table, which she didn’t dare do until she saw me do it first. It’s strange enough to have her here in my home, but for her to be on my couch and barefooted brings a whole new light to the weirdness. But damn, I like weird.

“We really need to get going,” she says, stretching her arms high over her head and exposing just a sliver of skin at her waist. “Thanks for everything. You really made his day, you know. He hasn’t been that happy in a while.”

“He made
my
day. Thanks for bringing him.”

She stands up and slips her feet into her shoes before walking around to look at Simon. “It looks like he’s going to get his bath in the morning. Waking him up to do it tonight willingly isn’t going to be a possibility. Just waking him up to willingly walk to the car is going to be a chore. Just a warning…prepare for a fit to be thrown.”

“No, don’t wake him.” I jump up and jog around the table before she can reach over to shake him. “I’ll just carry him out.”

Without giving her a chance of rebuttal, I scoop Simon up in my arms, and he only stirs a little.

“Hi, Dalton,” he murmurs sleepily before wrapping both arms around my neck and falling back asleep. I can’t ever remember a child hanging onto me like this before. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t tug on my heart a little bit.

And Devyn’s soft smile tells me it got her, too.

Not caring at all that I’m barefooted, I slowly walk Simon out to the car, cringing occasionally when a jagged piece of gravel stabs into the soft flesh of my foot. I’ve never liked walking on gravel, and I especially don’t with an extra sixty pounds added to me. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

He doesn’t even stir when I lower him into the seat and buckle his belt. He just curls toward the armrest in the middle and snores softly. I’d give almost anything to be able to sleep that soundly.

Pushing the door closed as quietly as I can, I take one last glimpse of my new friend. He’s probably the coolest kid I’ve ever met, and I can say with all honesty that I’m looking forward to the next time we can hang out.

Devyn leans against her door and crosses her arms over her chest. The temperature has dropped quite a bit this evening, so the chill is a little strong for her to be without sleeves.

“Be right back,” I say with a finger in the air. Walking carefully through the gravel and into the open garage, I reach into my backseat to grab my hoodie and carry it back to Devyn.

“I don’t need your jacket, Dalton,” she says with a laugh. “I’ll be just fine. I’m just going home.”

“And while you said all of that, your teeth were chattering.” I raise my eyebrows and hold it open until she finally gives in and turns her back to me and slips her arms in.

“Thank you…again. I feel like I’ve had to say that a lot tonight.”

I shake my head while I slide the zipper halfway up. “You don’t have to thank me.”

“Kyler really would be lucky to have you in her life. You’re a good man.” She pats my chest and turns to open her door, but I stop her before she even touches the handle.

I swallow hard. I’m about to say something that I never thought I’d say. “Devyn, what if I’d rather take
you
out sometime?”

“Me? There are so many things wrong with that, I can’t even give you an answer.”

She reaches for her door again, but I grab her hand. “I’m serious. I want to take you out sometime. On an actual date. I know it makes me sound like an ass, but I don’t want to see Kyler anymore. I’d love to spend more time with you instead.”

“We can’t do that. Kyler would flip out and tell everyone that I stole you away from her. Carter would never leave me alone if he found out I was dating someone. It just wouldn’t work, Dalton, but I really am flattered.”

I can’t give up that easily, so I take a step forward. I’m so close now that she’s leaned back against the car to keep from touching me. If I take a deep enough breath, our chests would be touching. “We don’t have to tell anyone, not even Simon. We’ll keep it quiet until we see how things go. If we don’t work out, nothing changes from the way it is right now. And if it does, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“I can’t—”

Placing a finger over her mouth, I interrupt her. “You can. If you don’t want to because you don’t like
me
, then say so. I can live with that. But if it’s because of Kyler and Carter, it’s not a good enough excuse. Do something for
you
, not them.”

She takes my hand away from her mouth, but she surprises me when she cups my hand to her cheek and closes her eyes. I want nothing more than to kiss her senseless right here under the smiling sliver of moon and the winking stars. Except Simon would be seriously traumatized if he woke up in the middle of that. I’m already pushing what I’m comfortable with him seeing as it is.

“Dalton, I…” She trails off and opens her eyes, dropping my hand. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

Not willing to push her any further, I nod and step back, allowing her to get in her car and drive away. I just stand out in the middle of my driveway like an idiot until I can no longer see her taillights.

Rejection always sucks.

Knowing she didn’t
want
to reject me somehow twists the knife in a little deeper because that little shred of hope I saw in her face makes me want her even more.

And she’s too scared to give in to hope.

THE WEEK IS flying by but it feels like it’s dragging, too. Because Stan had a conference to go to, I was the only one in the clinic for the first half of the week. And because several other doctors in the area are attending the same conference, I ended up taking Stan’s on-call nights this week. Thankfully, he agreed to take my next two days, so I won’t have to go back into the hospital until Saturday morning.

The week has been fairly uneventful so far, so I’m hoping that the weekend follow suit. William has been doing great since I released him. The cheater is probably feeling worse than he was in the hospital because I sent him home with his wife. And everyone I’ve admitted this week will likely be going home tomorrow, so it should be smooth sailing.

Like most Thursdays, Stan and Ella left at four to have an early dinner with her sister and brother-in-law. So I decided to stay late to finish up all the paperwork that I’ve been too busy to finish this week. This is my least favorite part of my job, but I try to stay on top of it as much as I can. It really sucks to come in and spend your day off, trying to catch up.

It’s seven-thirty when I finally finish, which is earlier than I expected. I walk around my desk and go to the coat rack to grab my jacket, when I notice the lab coats that Simon and Devyn were wearing last weekend. I haven’t been able to bring myself to put them in the dirty laundry just yet. I’ve been looking at them every night this week, wondering how Simon’s day at school was or if Devyn has had any more problems with Carter.

I haven’t heard from Devyn
or
Kyler at all, so I wonder if they got together and decided I was trying to play them both. I know it looks bad, but it really wasn’t my intention. Once I realized that Devyn is Kyler’s sister, I never thought in a million years that I’d ask her out. I’m still not too sure why I did.

When I was in high school, I dreamed every day of dating her, so maybe it’s just still stuck in the back of my mind somewhere. Maybe it’s so deeply engrained in my subconscious that I’m still trying to make it happen. I don’t know.