Chapter 2
Devon Blue almost collapsed under the weight of the last box, adding it to the pile with a big whoosh, and straightened up, scrubbing at her face as she looked over at the kids.
“I’ve got to say, that was a little easier than I had expected.
” They were grinning madly at her. Everybody was in such high spirits with this move, but she wasn’t even sure how it had come to pass.
She’d pulled it off—though, without the broker, she probably wouldn’t have managed it. But here she was in their new residence, in the small town of Camas, in the Portland metroplex area of Washington State. She was completely astonished that such a thing was even possible.
The home really was beautiful. It was also very dated, and it was obviously older. But it had so much to love about it that she didn’t care. One day, maybe, she’d get around to painting it. Other than that, she wasn’t bothered about updating it.
The kids turned to her, and Tabby asked, “Can we go for a walk now?”
She’d been promising them a chance to get outside and to check out the neighborhood since they’d pulled in yesterday.
She’d insisted that a certain amount of work get done first. But now that they had this much completed, she figured it was time to get them outside.
They’d already driven past their school a couple times, which was just a few blocks away from their new residence.
In fact, driving from the school to the house, she noted some kids were walking in this direction.
Devon didn’t know if the twins knew anybody who lived nearby or not.
Yet only a few houses were down their street.
Although tired and worn out from the last couple days of packing and unpacking and trying to get things straightened away, Devon nodded. “Sure, let’s head down to that park at the end of the cul-de-sac.”
“Any money for ice creams while we’re at it?” Tabby asked with a cheeky grin, as she ran to get her hoodie.
Toby laughed and agreed, “Ice cream would be good.”
“I’ll check my pennies,” Devon muttered because it really was down to pennies these days.
She worked, and she worked hard, and she made a good salary—for a single woman.
However, the cost of taking on two kids put an added strain on her money.
Still, a treat was probably something they could all use.
Her best friend Tabitha, the twins’ mother, had set up a trust fund for the kids, and Devon wanted all that money to go to them.
So she was very happy when the bank approved her mortgage application for this home.
And the trustee was also setting up education funds for both kids.
With eight years to grow the funds, it should be enough to cover their college expenses.
Still, the trustee had made it very clear that some of this money was for current living expenses and to not be shy when Devon needed it.
Just ask. However, it was a hard thing for her to do.
Tabitha had set up that money for her kids, so Devon didn’t want to take advantage of it.
However, the trustee had been really clear, saying that times were not the easiest. So, if she needed the money, that’s what it was for.
And that’s what Tabitha had intended it for.
So, not to be prideful—something that she absolutely was—yet Devon wanted their mother’s money to be spent on the kids alone.
She also knew that Tabitha had known exactly what Devon was like. So, it made perfect sense that Tabitha would have inserted those stipulations into her will. Regardless, Devon was determined not to touch any of the funds if she didn’t absolutely have to.
So much was going on in her world, more than she could possibly handle in terms of work and time with the kids.
The move had cost her three days of unpaid leave, and her boss had been happy to give her that time off, knowing that this was a big change that would help her settle into her new life and her new routine.
Yet a lot of people at her office, where she—and even Tabitha had worked as a dental hygienist, thought Devon was crazy to take on someone else’s twins.
While some had understood and had been very kind in their responses, for many others, it was just not within their cognitive abilities to understand doing something like this for someone else’s kids.
Devon felt sorry for them and their failure to understand what it meant to have a friend like Tabitha—and to be a friend to Tabitha.
Without any family, there had literally been nobody else to help Tabitha.
So it had fallen to Devon to do everything she could.
And, even then, it wasn’t enough. At the time, it seemed as if it would never be enough.
When Tabitha had finally passed on, and the medical bills had been paid, not much was left—not in terms of raising two kids, college costs, or even daily living costs.
With two preteens in the house, actively involved in all kinds of after-school activities, that involved expenses, added on to clothing and food for them, twice the dental appointments, twice the insurance premiums.
Devon kept forgetting things to add to her budget. That had been difficult too.
Tabitha’s medical expenses had eaten a ton out of everything Tabitha had set aside for the kids, even after her husband’s life insurance had been paid out to her.
Thankfully a little bit remained, and, if Devon didn’t touch it, that little bit would grow by the luck of compounding interest. She hoped it was enough to fund two college students.
The kids were almost eleven and were more of an expense than she expected, but that was okay. She would adjust.
She looked around and smiled. “Okay, guys, I think that’s all for now. We made it.” And, with that, she grabbed her little wallet, plunked a credit card into her pocket, and called out to the twins, “Let’s go.”
They headed down the street, wandering and talking happily.
Only a few houses were close to her new place.
The street stopped at a dead end, which had appealed to Devon as she didn’t want to be completely surrounded by people for a change.
She’d only seen a few people since she’d started to unload that first load.
Yet the interactions had been friendly, if a little shocked to see her and the kids moving into the house.
As Devon and the twins walked past the last house, a man leaning against the porch railing stared at them. She smiled.
He smiled back and waved at the kids. “Welcome to the neighborhood.” Then he turned and walked inside. Still, it was a friendly enough gesture and a nice short exchange, and it helped her to settle in.
When she got around the corner to the big park, she sighed. “This is a really great space, isn’t it?”
The kids laughed and ran ahead to get to the playground, racing each other to the slides. Even though they were a bit old for it, they seemed to jump right in, happy to have an outlet for all that energy that Devon had tried to keep focused on unpacking.
She shook her head. Moving had ended up being a ton more work than she had expected. Such was life. She wasn’t one to complain about it.
After giving them twenty minutes to play, they were more than ready to rejoin her. Devon laughed as they came back over, arguing, not even sure what the argument was about. “Do you guys do anything but argue?”
They shook their heads and replied together, “Nope.”
“Good for you,” Devon quipped, with an eye roll. “You would think, with all that energy of yours, you could come up with something a whole lot less destructive than arguing.”
That just set them off on yet another argument that she obviously wouldn’t win. By the time they left their short dead-end street and turned the corner onto a bigger side street, they soon reached the ice cream shop. They fell silent as they stared up at the menu.
Toby turned to her, then stated, “The prices are really high.”
Devon sighed. “Yep, they are,” she agreed, “but today’s a treat day, so pick something that you want.”
Lowering his voice even more, Toby asked her, “Do you want to give us a price limit so we don’t go over it?”
She smiled at him and nodded. “Sure. How about fifteen dollars each?”
He looked at her, back at the menu, and exclaimed, “That means we can pretty well have anything we want.”
“Today, yes,” she clarified, with a smile. “Tomorrow? Well, that’s different.”
Toby laughed and took off with his sister to step up closer to see the menu better.
He’d been normal ever since that day they’d looked at the house.
Since they’d first seen the house, she had never seen a sign of the little otherworldly boy who had popped up while she was touring this house, hoping it would work out for them.
And, for that, she was glad. She kept watching for signs of who Toby had been back there.
She hadn’t known what to make of it, and it had certainly kept her awake several nights. However, since they had gotten the house, it seemed as if everything had fallen into place in a way that was almost magical.
It had been such a relief, after crying multiple nights as she had tried to sort out how to make this move happen.
The logistics were daunting. By the time they had gotten here, unloaded, and she had returned the rental truck, then switched back to her car and drove home again, she had been so exhausted that she hadn’t been able to do much unpacking for a time.
Even now they didn’t have everything unpacked. She had a lot in the garage still, but the boxes inside the house were unpacked, and some level of order had been established.