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)
“Maren, I thought I should tell you, before you hear from anyone else, Hayden and I are dating.”
She continued to eat her pizza. “That’s like old news, Mom.”
“What do you mean?”
Maren rolled her eyes this time. “Remember when we moved here, and you said everyone knows everything in a small town?”
“Yes.”
“Well, duh! Everyone except for you knows you’re dating Hayden. I think the town is tired of waiting for you to catch up.”
Devorah opened her mouth to say something back to her daughter, but she couldn’t think of anything. Instead, she looked at Hayden. “This has your mother written all over it.”
Hayden choked on a bite but agreed. Darcy McKenna was a blabbermouth.
“Hayden?”
He looked over at Maren and smiled. “What’s up?”
“Do you think I can paint my room pink?”
“Mine is going to be green,” Conor said. “I’m thinking I want a baseball diamond on the wall.”
“Oh, that sounds fun,” Maren said.
“What’s going on?” Devorah asked them.
Hayden shrugged as he dug in his pocket. He pulled out a key and handed it to her.
“Will you move in with us?” Conor asked before Hayden could say the words himself.
Dev opened her mouth to say something but closed it quickly when she met Maren’s gaze. “Do you want to live with Hayden and Conor?”
Maren nodded excitedly. “I really like them. Hayden treats me like his daughter.”
Hayden coughed to clear the lump forming in his throat at what Maren had said. He hadn’t told Devorah about the conversation he’d had with a former classmate of theirs when the person had asked how many kids he had. Hayden had answered two without even thinking. He couldn’t pinpoint when he’d begun to think of Maren as his daughter, but he was grateful for it happening.
“And you treat me like I’m your son,” Conor said to Dev. “Ever since the day we went shopping and you did the thumb test.”
Devorah wiped at her cheeks. “Wow, this is so . . .”
“Perfect,” Maren said, shrugging.
“I like that,” Hayden said. “So, what do you think? Would you and Maren like to live with the McKenna men?”
Devy nodded. “Yeah, I think we would.”
“One condition,” Conor blurted out.
“What’s that?” Dev asked.
“Cordelia moves in too.”
“Duh,” Maren said, as if this was a no-brainer.
Conor fist pumped. “Finally, I get a dog!”
Devorah and Hayden ambled toward the Oyster Festival headquarters under the cloak of darkness. It wasn’t even right to be up this early and have to work before the sun had even thought about peeking over the horizon. Dev sighed as she sipped the hot coffee Hayden had brewed and kindly put in a thermos for her. This caffeine jolt wouldn’t last long, and she was thankful a local coffee house was sponsoring the festival. In a couple of hours, she’d need an IV of the black tar to survive.
Soft white lights illuminated the tent where the festival committee would be for most of the weekend. Laila was there with her headset on, holding her own cup of coffee.
“Morning,” Devorah mumbled. “Remind me to send you my letter of resignation on Monday.” Although joking, Devorah wanted to quit. It had been years since she’d been up this early and functioning.
Laila set her cup down and gripped both of Devy’s hands. “I won’t accept it,” she told her pointedly. “Without you, I’d be stressed, and I’m not stressed. You saved me this year, Dev. You’ll never know how grateful I am to have you here. To have you back in my life.”
If Devorah wasn’t so tired, she’d weep a bit.
Hayden kissed her temple. “I’m with Laila. Our lives are so much better with you in it, here in Oyster Bay.”
Dev closed her eyes and leaned into Hayden. “I appreciate you both. So much.”
Laila clapped her hands and looked at Hayden. “Hey, I hear congratulations are in order!”
Hayden’s eyes widened in shock as Devorah shook her head. “The CC Club must have speakers buried everywhere. He literally decided last night while we were eating dinner.”
“I didn’t even tell my mom,” Hayden said, laughing.
“Huh, well, Link knew. He told me.” Laila shrugged. “Are you the new sheriff?”
Hayden nodded. “I start on Monday, once this festival is over. The only part I want in this is to support you ladies.”
“He’s a keeper, Devorah,” Laila said.
“Wait, I thought I was the funny guy?”
The three of them laughed.
“Let’s get to work,” she said as she handed Devorah a headset. “Parade participants will start arriving shortly, and we have an issue with the Pearl of the Ocean float.”
“Anything I can help with?” Hayden asked.
“I’ll let Link know you’re available, but for right now, I think he has it covered.”
“All right then. I’m going back to head over to my property and open the gate for parking, and then I’ll be back at Crow’s to set our chairs out and make breakfast for the kids.” He leaned down and kissed Devorah. She was extremely happy their relationship was out in the open now.