“I made you breakfast, Daddy,” Abbi said as she reached over and took his hand in hers.
“You did?” Devin asked, unable to help but smile as she led him downstairs.
“Uh-huh,” she said, nodding as they made their way through the living room towards their play table where a plate and what appeared to be a homemade menu waited.
“What’s this?” he asked, picking up the menu that appeared to have all his favorites listed.
“Your menu so that you can order what you want for breakfast,” Abbi said as she picked up a small notebook and a red crayon.
“I see,” he said, feeling his lips twitch as he sat down, more than willing to spend some time with his baby girl playing restaurant this morning. “Is Dustin and Charlie joining us?” Devin asked as he glanced back at Charlie’s door.
He’d been tempted, more than fucking tempted, to visit Charlie in the middle of the night and lure her away so that they could finish that kiss. He’d made it halfway down the stairs before he’d realized that he was already fucking this up.
In his defense, he didn’t have much experience when it came to women. Besides the obvious, that was. He’d never had to put much effort into dating because he honestly hadn’t fucking cared if a woman said yes. He’d never been interested in anything more than just sex simply because he hadn’t been looking for anything more. Even Heather had been nothing more than a fuck buddy. Neither one of them had been interested in anything more than sex and even after two years, he never saw her as anything more than just a good friend, but Charlie…
He wanted so much more with her.
He couldn’t rush this, not if he wanted to make this work, and he was damn well going to make this work. That meant doing this right, he reminded himself when his baby girl cleared her throat, reminding him that she was waiting.
“What would you like?” Abbi said with her crayon pressed against the notepad, ready to take his order.
“I’ll start with coffee,” he said, only to frown when she winced.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have coffee this morning.”
“How about orange juice?” he asked, moving onto the next item on the menu.
“Yeah, no, umm, I’m afraid we ran out of orange juice an hour ago,” she murmured with an apologetic smile.
“Apple juice?”
“We’re out of that, too.”
“Chocolate milk?”
“I can get an ice-cold glass of water for you,” she offered with a hopeful smile.
“Perfect,” he said, moving onto the breakfast menu. “How are the pancakes?”
“They’re delicious,” Abbi said with an approving nod as she started writing down his order.
“Great. I’ll take an order of pancakes and-”
“We’re out,” she said with a sympathetic wince that had his eyes narrowing.
“You’re out of pancakes?”
“I’m afraid so,” Abbi said with a sad shake of her head.
“French toast?”
“Nope.”
“Eggs?”
“Yeah, umm, it might be better if we discussed the cereal menu,” she said, gesturing to the bottom of the page.
“Fine. I’ll have-”
“We’re out of that, too,” she said, cutting him off before he could finish.
“Then what do you have?” Devin asked only to get ignored when the worst waitress that he’d ever had mumbled, “I’ll be right back,” as she walked over to greet Charlie and Dustin as they walked into the living room.
“Welcome to Abbi’s Diner,” she said with a warm smile that he couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t get. “How many are in your party?”
“Two,” Charlie said with a warm smile for Abbi as Devin sat there, waiting for her to look at him and-
God, he was fucking pathetic.
“Right this way. I have a table with a lovely view of the garden that I think you’ll enjoy,” Abbi said as she gestured towards the woman that barely spared him a glance to follow her to the kitchen.
With a mumbled, “I’ll be right back,” to him, Abbi headed into the kitchen to show them to their seats, leaving him sitting there, debating his next move.
Maybe he should run out and get her flowers, Devin thought as he absently drummed his fingertips against the table as he waited for Abbi to come back. He should see if his mother could babysit, Devin decided. He pulled out his phone and started to text his mother only to rethink the move since his mother would only end up wondering why he needed a babysitter on a Friday night.
Hoping that Jane was available, Devin texted the college kid that lived down the street to see if she was available this Friday. A few minutes later, Devin was trying to decide where he should bring Charlie when he realized that his baby girl hadn’t come back yet. Wondering if she’d grown bored playing restaurant, Devin headed for the kitchen and-
“Oh, my god…” he choked out when he opened the kitchen door.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t be in here. This is a private event,” Abbi said with a pitying look as she dropped the muffin that she’d been nibbling on back on her plate and walked over to usher Devin out of the kitchen.
“You said there were no pancakes,” he bit out as he took in the platter of pancakes, French toast, eggs, hash browns, bacon, and all the other shit the little traitor said they were out of.
“I’m really sorry about this,” Abbi said, sending an apologetic smile to Charlie and Dustin as they helped themselves to all the delicious food that he’d been denied.
“No need to apologize,” Charlie said, waving it off as he stood there, watching as his son took the last piece of bacon and-
“That’s it,” Devin said, shaking his head in disgust as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m leaving a bad review for this place.”
“Would you like to speak with the manager?” Abbi asked with a put-out sigh that he did not appreciate, not one fucking bit!
“Yes, yes, I would like to speak with the manager,” he said, opening up Facebook only to end up glaring at the little traitor when she said, “I’m sorry, but he’s not here right now. I can take a message if you’d like to speak with him later.”
Feeling his right eye twitch, Devin narrowed his eyes on his baby girl one last time before focusing on Facebook and-
“What the hell?” he demanded, shaking his head in disbelief as he clicked on the post that Charlie tagged him in.
She’d fucking review-blocked his ass!
“You gave her a five-star review?” Devin demanded as he leveled an accusing glare at the woman that should have taken his side on this.
“Of course,” Charlie said as she took a sip of chocolate milk, the same fucking chocolate milk that he’d been told that they were out of.
Another chime drew his attention back down to his phone and-
“You put in your review to ignore my review because I’m too damn demanding?” he snapped.
“I mean, you really didn’t leave me with much of a choice,” Charlie said with a sad shake of her head as she helped herself t
o another pancake.
Narrowing his eyes on the woman that he loved more than anything, Devin shoved his phone back in his pocket, stormed over to the table, snatched the muffin that Abbi abandoned before he stole Charlie’s plate and the bacon off Dustin’s plate before he turned around and stormed off as he bit out, “This is the worst service I have ever had!”
Chapter 25
“Why is Daddy glaring at you?”
“Because he wishes he was as cool as we are,” Charlie said with a sad shake of her head, not bothering to look up from the marketing book that she was reading on her phone.
“That does make sense,” Dustin said as he selected another book off the coffee table before settling back next to her.
“Doesn’t it, though?” she murmured absently as she tapped the screen so that she could see what time it was.
She should really get to bed early, but she wanted to give the man that had been glaring at her all day a chance to ask her out. It was the considerate thing to do after all, Charlie thought as she risked a glance towards the other end of the couch to find Devin sitting there, seething with rage. Not that she could blame him…
“Can we do a movie day tomorrow?” Abbi asked as she grabbed a book off the large stack that Charlie kept on the coffee table and climbed onto the couch next to her brother.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I can’t tomorrow. I have to get up early and go to a convention,” Charlie said, wishing that she’d splurged for a hotel room since she really wasn’t looking forward to the two-hour drive in the morning.
“What about tomorrow night? We could camp out in the living room and watch movies,” Dustin said.
“I’m sorry, sweetie, but I have plans tomorrow night,” she said, only to add, “We could have a movie day this weekend and maybe play outside?”