He rarely drove his own car. She’d only seen the vehicle once. They always used his car service or hailed cabs.
Realizing she was still standing in the wide open doorway, allowing the bitter chill inside, she hastily withdrew into the apartment and shut the door.
She hurried back into the living room, grabbed a brush from the end table and began pulling it through her hair in short, rapid strokes.
“Ash? What’s going on?” Pippa asked cautiously.
Ashley stopped and frowned. “I’m not altogether certain. Devon wants to talk. Asked if I’d give him the afternoon and then he’d take me to the apartment and help me pack if that’s what I wanted. He’s acting…weird.”
Pippa snorted. “Of course he is. You dumped him after telling him you were pregnant with his baby. That has a way of altering your priorities.”
“I guess I’ll go…talk,” Ashley said as she put the brush aside.
“Call me later,” Pippa said. “I’ll want a full report.”
Ashley blew Pippa a kiss and went to the closet to retrieve her coat and scarf. She pulled on a cap and tucked her hair carefully underneath before heading back to the door.
When she opened it, Devon was standing there holding a pair of fur-lined boots. When she would have reached for them, he bent over and said, “Here, let me.”
She put a hand on his shoulder to balance herself and stood on one foot while he pulled her boot on the other. After he zipped it up, she switched feet and he put the other one on for her.
When he was done, he straightened to his full height and then took her hand to help her down the steps. He walked her to the car and settled her into the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” she asked as he pulled away into traffic.
“You’ll see.”
She wrinkled her nose and sighed. He slid his hand over the center console and tangled his fingers with hers.
“Trust me, Ash. I know it’s a big thing to ask and I totally don’t have the right to ask it of you, but trust me just this once.”
The utter sincerity in his voice swayed her as nothing else could. There was raw vulnerability echoed in his every word and expression. He looked as terrible as she felt, almost as if he’d suffered as much as she had.
It didn’t make sense to her. She had no doubt that he wasn’t exactly celebrating her departure from the marriage, but with the deal still intact, he was getting precisely what he wanted without the unnecessary burden of a wife.
When they pulled up outside the shelter, Ashley sat there, bewildered. “Why are we here, Dev?”
Devon opened his door, walked around to hers and held out his hand. “Come on. There’s something I want you to see.”
She allowed him to help her out of the car and they hurried toward the entrance of the older building. As soon as they ducked inside, the sounds and smells of the animals filled her senses. Her heart softened when she saw Harry the cat sound asleep on the reception desk. He was their unofficial mascot and the children who often filtered through the shelter in search of a pet loved to pet him as much as he loved being petted.
To her further surprise, Devon ushered her past the reception area and through the hallway lined with cages. He’d never been here before. How could he possibly know where he was going?
He stopped outside the larger room they used for animal orientation when they’d put pet and new owner together for a period of adjustment before the animal was released to his new home.
He gave her a quick, nervous smile and then pushed the door open. Inside, Molly and the other shelter volunteers stood beaming in a line, and when Devon and Ashley walked fully through the entrance, they let out a loud cheer.
“What’s going on?” Ashley asked in bewilderment.
“Say hello to your new staff,” he said. “You are now the acting director of the Copeland Animal Shelter.”
Ashley’s eyes went wide as she stared at Molly and then at the other grinning volunteers. Then she glanced back at Devon. “I don’t understand. We aren’t closing?”
Molly rushed forward and threw her arms around Ashley. “No, we aren’t closing! Thanks to your husband. He gave us the funding we needed to stay running. Not only can we stay open, but we also have the money for improvements and for marketing so we can heighten awareness for the animals we need homes for.”
She disentangled herself from Molly’s embrace and then turned back to Devon. “You did this for me?”
“I did it before you left,” he said gruffly. “I talked to your father about it the night of the party. I threatened to refuse to take his position if he didn’t agree to fund the shelter.”
