Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“Trying to burn off some pent-up energy.”
She could understand.
“How about I walk you back home?”
Was she done with her walk? She could be, but she also felt like she needed to be alone more. “I’m going to walk for a bit more,” she told him. “Thanks, though.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it’s a nice night.”
Gorgeous, half-naked Hayden stepped forward. He touched her hip with his fingers, sending a spark of desire and longing through her. He leaned down and brushed his lips right below her ear. “See you in the morning, Devorah.”
Hayden began jogging again, and Dev turned to watch him. Wishing all the same that she hadn’t. Why did he have to come into her life when it was such a mess?
Twelve
Hayden
People in New England had an old saying . . . if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it’ll change. Hayden waited. He stood in the front room window, drinking coffee from a mug declaring him the World’s Best Grandpa. Cars drove along the road, tires hitting puddles and splashing water and road grime onto yards and parked cars. Hayden glanced at the watch on his wrist and then leaned forward to peer out the window and up at the sky, forgetting that the roof of the porch would hinder his view.
The showers had come out of nowhere and, as of the night before, hadn’t been on the radar. The random burst hovered over Oyster Bay, threatening baseball tryouts. Hayden set his coffee down and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen to bring it alive and then clicked on the weather app, scrolling until he found the video of the rain showers.
“It should be clear in a minute,” Darcy said from behind him.
Hayden let out one of those humph sounds, neither believing nor disbelieving his mom.
Darcy stood next to him and sighed. “Figures.”
“Of course it does.”
As a kid, Hayden remembered many times when rain would dampen or ruin an outside activity for him. The worst had been his junior year of high school during football season. The team had lost one game all year and were vying for the state championship in their division. It had rained for three straight days, and no one had had the keen sense of mind to push the game off for a week. They’d been lucky all season with little to no foul weather, but when it mattered the most, Mother Nature unleashed on them. The “mud bowl” ended with a score of two to zero, in favor of the other team. Hayden was the one who’d been sacked in the end zone.
“Tryouts start in an hour,” he said to his mom. “And I promised the kids I’d take them to the field beforehand to toss the ball around.”
“They’re not made of sugar,” Darcy said. “They won’t melt.”
“I’m definitely made of sugar,” Hayden said with a smile. “According to the radar, this storm will be over in a minute.” Hayden picked his coffee up and took another sip.
“Is there an echo in here?” Darcy looked around the room as if she was looking for the echo to come out of hiding.
“Funny,” Hayden said. “I’m stressed. I can’t help it.”
“It’s baseball tryouts. They can happen later in the day.”
“Yeah, it’s not just the tryouts,” he said as he frowned at his phone.
“How was dinner last night?”
“Fine. Took the kids to the Pizza Palace. They had fun.”
“And you?”
“What about me?” He eyed his mother cautiously and saw the slight lift of her shoulder as she brought her coffee cup to her lips.
“Just, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.” Hayden knew that his mother and her friends were gossips. If you had or wanted news spread, you asked the Crafty Cathys, or the CC Club. The women of Oyster Bay took their blabbermouthing very seriously. The Crafty Cathys were also the first to come to someone’s aid when needed. They were the first to volunteer, be there with food when there was a crisis, and set up watch parties when a fishing boat hadn’t returned yet or organize a knitting party for babies in need. The group had a purpose and had been around for eons. It was an honor to be part of the CC Club.
“Tabitha may have mentioned she saw you and another recently single resident chatting it up in the parking lot last week, and then again at dinner.”
Hayden rolled his eyes, hard. Tabitha was the worst of the worst when it came to the CC Club. She patrolled the streets in her hot-pink spandex pants and matching jogger jacket, and she often wore a headband to keep her unruly short, curly blond hair out of her eyes. She was the epitome of what people thought the eighties looked like, with all the neon colors. Hayden was curious, though, if Tabitha still wore the same Reeboks now that they were back in fashion and if she had upgraded her Walkman to an iPhone.