Austin snorted. “And you think she stopped? People like that only care about getting what they want. She probably went right back to telling lies about you as soon as you’d signed the titles.”
Debbie shrugged again. “Probably, but I don’t care. I packed up my original belongings plus a few gifts Peter gave me, and I left. I’d rather surround myself with people I know who care about me than phony, pious snobs.”
“Agreed.” Austin said the word with such conviction, Debbie figured he’d been burnt a time or two by wealthy people.
Was that why he disliked her? Because he assumed she was like all the wealthy people he’d known?
He grabbed the bag at his feet. “I thought you might like me to replace the lock to the pool with this.” He pulled out a brand new lock with a double-sided keypad.
Debbie took the package and studied it.
Austin’s shoulder pressed against hers as he pointed out each of the features. “It’s keyless so you don’t have to worry about someone finding the key. It’s got a keypad, so only you will know the code. And the best part: it’s got a smart lock, which means it will notify your cell phone if the door is opened.”
“Where did you get this? The hardware store was closed by the time you left here.”
Austin leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “I bought it years ago, but never got it installed. It’s just been sitting in my garage since we moved to Providence.”
“Why is it double sided? I mean I don’t really need a key pad on the poolside.”
“I needed it to keep children from sneaking out of the house.”
Debbie laughed. “Were Dallas and Cody that bad? I know you said they could be rambunctious, and I’ve seen the excess energy in them, but compared to Noah, your boys are angels.”
Austin popped his knuckles. “It was really only for Dallas. He used to sleepwalk when he was a toddler. I found him outside more than once.”
“Oh no.” Debbie pressed her fingers to her lips. “That’s so dangerous.”
“Tell me about it. It scared me to death. I had to sleep on the couch so I’d know if he was trying to leave the house.”
“Why didn’t you ever install the lock?”
Austin popped his knuckles before answering. “Cheyenne le— We separated about that time, and I moved into my parents’ house for a while with the kids. Shortly after the move, he stopped walking in his sleep.”
“Just like that? That’s so weird. You’d think the separation and the move would add more stress and make the sleepwalking worse.”
Austin stared down at his hands. “Yeah.”
Questions raced through Debbie’s mind. Why did Dallas suddenly stop sleepwalking? Why did Austin end up with the kids? Had he been about to say Cheyenne left them?
A sharp piercing pain shot through her chest for Austin and his children’s sake. Did Cheyenne have something to do with Dallas’s sleepwalking like Debbie suspected she did with Savannah’s refusal to paint again until five years ago?
She wanted to ask Austin all her questions, but there was something about his hunched shoulders that made her hold her tongue. So much for thinking if she shared her life story with him, he’d do the same.
“Well, what tools do you need to install this?”
Austin stood. “I’ll grab what I need from my truck.”
He was back within a few minutes, and Debbie followed him out to the garage, wishing she wasn’t so attracted to this man who seemed so averse to trusting her.
* * *
Austin lookedaround Debbie’s garage as he removed the screws from the current lock. “You kept the Porsche when you bought the Escalade, huh?”
Debbie leaned against the nearby work bench. “I wasn’t planning on it, but my brother reminded me that the Escalade would be quite the gas hog when I don’t have a foster child.”
Not that she couldn’t afford the gas. Austin focused on the note of sadness in her voice. For someone who wanted a family so badly, having to wait for foster kids to come in and out of her home must be torture.
Life was so unfair sometimes. Often, the women who didn’t want kids and didn’t make good mothers had no problem getting pregnant, and the women who wanted them and would make excellent mothers couldn’t have them.
