Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

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!”