Every Glance (Every Life #3) (13 page)

Devyn rolls her eyes, but a smirk soon follows. “Fine.” She pauses to take a step toward me. There’s only several inches between us. “But I’ll be right behind you, and if you go a single mile over the speed limit, be prepared to have your ass handed to you by a girl.”

“A dollar in the swear jar, Mom.” Simon yells from the passenger side.

“Okay,” she calls out to him, turning back to me. “I already owe the jar at least fifty bucks today already. What’s one more?”

I draw an invisible “x” over my heart. “I promise. You know…you can ride me, too.” I slap a hand over my mouth. “Shit. Sorry. I mean
with
me. Ride
with
me. I can drive you back to your car in a bit. Damn, I’m sorry.”

I cannot believe I just said that. I don’t know how I have any blood in the rest of my body right now because I can feel it all in my face. I’m just waiting for her to slap the shit out of me.

Devyn grins. And not a polite, I’m-just-tolerating-you kind of grin. It’s an honest to goodness, that-was-funny-as-hell kind of grin. “You must love the taste of your own feet because I swear you just stuck both of them in your mouth.” She giggles softly. “I knew what you meant. Don’t sweat it. And thanks, but no thanks. I’ll just follow.”

“Okay. And I really am sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” she says with a wink before walking over and getting in her car.

She winked at me. Devyn Rion freaking winked at me. I swear to all that is holy that I’m living in some alternate reality. That didn’t really just happen. It couldn’t have.

I get in the car, and after making sure Simon has his seatbelt buckled, I buckle my own and start the car. Simon kicks his feet and claps his hands with a Texas-sized smile on his face. Unlike a lot of kids, this one seems pretty easy to please. I can handle this.

But as soon as we take off down the highway, he throws a wrench in how well I can handle this.

After I look in the rearview mirror to make sure Devyn is keeping up—and I look again…and again—I notice he’s watching me carefully. His excitement is gone. He’s just fixed those big blues on me as if he’s trying to read my mind.

“What’s up, buddy? Something wrong?” I look back at Devyn again. She’s singing along to something on the radio. I bet she can really sing.

“You like my mom, don’t you?”

I almost hit the brakes, and it takes all of my strength to appear completely unfazed by the question. “Of course, I like your mom. She’s a nice person.”

“That isn’t what I mean.” He begins plucking at the lint on his shirt. “You like my mom like you like Aunt Kyler. You know…like you want to be her boyfriend.”

I can’t decide if he’s mad about it or just making an observation, but I have to let him know that Devyn and I won’t ever happen. “I’m only friends with Kyler, and I’m only friends with your mom. I’m don’t want to be anybody’s boyfriend right now.” And that’s mostly the truth.

“Why not?” He continues plucking at the lint as if it’s burning holes in his shirt. “My mom is nice, and she even makes pretty good chocolate cake.”

The kid is
trying
to set me up with his mom? “She is nice, and I love some good chocolate cake, but your mom is married to your dad, buddy. They’re just trying to work things out and do what’s best for all of you. You’ll see. It’ll all be okay.”

“Mom and Dad were divorced a year ago, and Dad is getting married in January to Blair, his secretary. She doesn’t like me like you do.”

Oh, hell. Devyn only said they were separated…she didn’t say it was a permanent separation. “She just doesn’t know you yet, Simon. I guarantee if she did then she’d think you’re as awesome as I know you are.”

“No, Dalton,” Simon growls. “She
told
me that she doesn’t like me. I have to go over there all the time, so she knows me. And my dad only wants me at his house to make my mom mad. I heard him tell Blair that. I think he likes to make my mom cry. She’s sad every day that she comes home from work.”

“Why is she sad when she comes home from work?”

“Dad is her boss. And he makes her work late all the time, so I have to stay at his house and she doesn’t get to see me as much.”

Damn, it’s worse than I thought. He hardly knows me, and he’s spilling his guts to me, begging for help. How do I make him feel better when his whole world is upside down? My parents were pretty screwed up in the parenting department, but they never split. And they certainly never used me as a bargaining chip or a tool to make the other jealous. His dad is more than enough
tool
for this equation.

I can only tell him what I can do about the situation because I have no idea what’s going to happen in his life. “Simon, no matter what happens, I’m always here for you, okay? As much as I hate it for you, I don’t have any control over what happens with your parents. But I’ll always be your friend.”

He nods only once and stares out the passenger window.

And I know now that I have to do something.

I just wish I knew what.

BY THE TIME we make it to my house, Simon isn’t quite as tense, but he’s still quiet. That is, until he notices that my house, and a few others, borders a small lake.

“You have a lake in your backyard?” His mouth is gaping open, revealing a couple of those missing teeth.

“Haha, well, it’s not quite
in
the backyard, but it’s close. Do you like to fish?”

“I don’t know,” he answers with a jerk of his shoulders. “Never been.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll take you sometime. I didn’t get to go for the first time until I was about seventeen when my friend took me. It can be a lot of fun if you’re patient.”

He squints his eyes and cuts them at me. “If it requires patience, count me out. That has ‘boring’ written all over it.”

I can hardly get out of the car because I’m laughing so hard. This kid cracks me up. Probably because we have the same sense of humor. Either he has the humor of an adult or I have one of a child, but either way, the kid makes me laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Devyn asks, her feet crunching in the gravel behind me until she reaches the garage.

“Dalton wants to take me fishing, and said the ‘p’ word. Not happening.”

I press a hand to my sore stomach muscles. “Patience is a hard limit for him, eh?”

“Oh, if you only knew.” She looks up at the house. “Nice place. It’s quiet out here.”

I look out at the wooded area across from my lot. There aren’t too many houses in this neighborhood yet, but I know of three being built right down the road. It won’t be quiet for too much longer. “Thanks. I like it. It’s actually the oldest house in this area. It took some work to get things a little more updated, and I eventually added on this garage, but I kept it pretty simple. The original owners had all of the land around here, but they passed, and their kids sold it off in little pieces. I bought this place and the vacant lots on each side of me and across the road, just to have a little more privacy and space.”

“That’s smart.” And I can tell that she really thinks so.

I show the both of them around the house, and of course, Simon is in heaven in my office. I have a shelf of different models of hearts and brains and…oh, shit, the female reproductive system. After quickly shoving that one in my desk drawer, I let him get each one down and take them apart. Devyn is worried about him breaking them, but I assure her that, if I hadn’t broken them yet, they were indestructible.

When I’m certain that Simon is going to be entertained for a while, I pull Devyn aside. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I whisper.

She looks back at Simon, seeming content with what he’s doing, and nods.

“Hey, buddy, we’ll be right back, okay?”

“Uh-huh.” He doesn’t even look up.

I lead her out on the back porch and offer her a seat at the patio table. Taking the chair across from her, I draw in a deep, shaky breath. I don’t know why I’m so nervous about this, but it’s beyond time to let her know that she knows who I am. She’s known me for a long time, but she’s actually never
known
me.

“Devyn, I have to tell you something.”

Before I can get any other words past my lips, she slumps forward and rests her forehead in her hands. “He told you, didn’t he? About Carter and I being divorced?”

Carter? I hadn’t even put that connection together. She actually married that douchebag Carter Jenson? He was the dumbass that led the crusade of making my life a living hell back then.

“Uh, yeah, he did. In the car.”

She drags both hands through her hair and groans. “I’m sorry he dragged you into our problems, and I’m sorry I told you that we were only separated. Half of my own family doesn’t even know we’re divorced yet, but I have to tell them soon. He’s planning on getting remarried in a few months.”

“Simon mentioned it. He’s also really worried about you. There’s more, too, but I’m not sure if I’m the person who should tell you. Maybe it’ll be best if you had a talk with Simon about it.”

“No, please, just tell me. I hate that he’s always stuck in the middle of Carter’s nonsense, so the less I have to make him talk about it, the better.”

I sit back in my seat and look out across the glassy surface of the lake. If it were any other woman sitting here with me, I’d think this was setting up to be quite the romantic scenario. The breeze is cool and clean. The sun is dipping lower into the sky, casting a warm golden haze over everything. I’d love nothing more than to light a fire in the pit and snuggle next to Devyn and watch the sun set.

Umm…I’m not even going there.

“Well, he told me that he overheard Blair saying that she doesn’t like him.
And
that Carter said he likes to have Simon over all the time to make you mad.”

She presses her lips together in a thin line and wrenches her hands together. “That bitch actually said that? I mean, the thing with Carter isn’t anything new. I’m well aware of what he’s doing. But her? I can’t believe she said that within earshot of Simon.”

“Devyn.” I don’t know why, but I reach out and cover her hands to stop their fidgeting. “I know I have no right to be involved in any way in the mess with you and your ex-husband. But I do really like Simon, and I know he needs someone to talk to. He’s really concerned about you. He’s told me more than once about how sad you are. That’s why he got you the necklace. He wanted you to be happy.”

“The necklace.” She slips one hand out to touch the little heart, but leaves the other one underneath mine. “He told you about that, too?”

I have to recover quickly, not wanting her to know I bought it. “Oh, yeah. We talked a lot in the car. He doesn’t know me very well, but he opened up to me anyway. Which tells me it’s really eating at him. I hope you don’t mind, but I told him that I’m his friend, and I’ll be here for him if he needs me. That’s really all I can offer him. But I thought you should know how he’s feeling.”

She doesn’t say anything right away. Staring off into the distance, she doesn’t seem to be focused on anything here. Her mind is somewhere else, and judging by the tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks, it’s not a good place. I don’t rush her, though. I just sit here with her and rub my thumb across her knuckles, a wordless promise that I’m here for her, too.

Ten years ago, Devyn wasn’t a good person. She was vindictive and heartless and she didn’t care at all who she hurt. Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I wished for all the pain she inflicted to come back and haunt her, to come back and pierce little parts of her soul, leaving her broken and withered. Just like I was for a long time.

But I think it’s haunted her enough. Besides, it’s not only affecting her; it’s affecting someone who’s completely innocent. Simon doesn’t deserve any of this. And regardless of how much I wanted to believe it before, Devyn doesn’t either. Spending your entire life in complete misery is such a waste. Before long, she’s going to look back on her life and only see turmoil and regret and wonder if living was even worth it.

I know because I was there once. I was so tired of never being able to live up to my dad’s expectations. Tired of being the guy that everyone hated just for being who I was. I was sick of feeling like I was a parasite to those around me.

That’s exactly why I can’t fault Devyn for the past anymore. She’s clearly a great mom, or Simon wouldn’t be so worried about her. I can see the love in her eyes every time she looks at him. She’s not the same person anymore. She’s a loving, caring woman with a broken resolve and a crushed heart. And she needs someone to remind her that keeping herself submerged in all the pain isn’t worth it.

“I appreciate you telling me, Dalton,” she finally says, so soft that it’s almost imperceptible. “And I’m thankful for you letting him know that you’re here for him.”

I squeeze her hand gently. “For you, too.”

“That’s not necessary, Dalton.” She pulls her hand away and rests it in her lap. “I’m a big girl, and I don’t need my sister’s boyfriend playing the hero in my life. Kyler is possessive enough without me coming in and taking up your time with my drama. Simon and I will be perfectly fine.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. Who said that I’m Kyler’s boyfriend? I had her over for dinner once, and she invited me to your parents’ party. Speaking of which, she hardly said a word to me at the party because she was too busy bragging to everyone there that I’m a doctor and talking bad about her own friends. I left early because I was frustrated with her, not because I had to go to the hospital.”