Page 110 of Something Like Sunflowers

I try not to be affected by my mother sitting across from me for the first time in ten years, with tears of happiness flowing down her face…for me.

“All right,” Dad says, “I’ll get Randy to sign it. We’ll upload it to the court site, but it won’t show up as filed until the clerk updates the listings next week.”

“That’s not soon enough, Dad. The hearing is today.”

He sighs, the creak of his desk chair sounding through the phone. He types something out on his keyboard and a few clicks later offers a satisfied grunt. “Randy’s got an online notary. I’ll send you a certified PDF to print. Give me an hour.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I breathe a huge sigh of relief.

“Don’t mention it,” he says gruffly. But he lingers on the line, a question clearly on the tip of his tongue. “Devyn? Will you tell him something for me?” He groans again. “Your husband.”

A smile spreads across my face, my cheeks giant shining bulbs at how happy I feel to finally have my father’s approval, after all these years. I look at Dustin, who is also unable to keep his teeth hidden for this moment, and he nods at me, too. So does Mom.

“Please tell him I’m proud of him. Of both of you. I thought, you know, as your father…you never want to see your baby girl the way I saw you suffering. I was supposed to guard you from these things, the dark parts of your life, but they found you anyway. On your own time. And for that, my child, I was wrong.”

“Dad, stop. You don’t have to—”

“No.” He cuts me off. “I do. You will be the best mother, Devyn Lynn, because you have the biggest heart. You shine, not despite the darkness, but all the way through it. Go, win this. And fight for that little girl.”

Chapter 40

Devyn

And just like that, Devyn Campbell became Devyn Isaac. With a swift flick of a painted finger on a mouse hovered over the word Print.

The paper’s still warm, and the pep in my step is probably evident to everyone within a mile, as I practically leap over the stoop and sashay to my Jeep, throwing kisses behind me in the wind to my brother and, weirdly enough, my mother.

I have won twenty-seven titles since I was in middle school. All of them came with sparkling tiaras and glorified titles like Princess or Queen. I was given the trendiest diets to follow and the prettiest ballgowns to model. I was even provided with the finest education in the city and a built-in fan base to follow.

But happiness isn’t in career success, reputation, or crowns.

The most beautiful smile is still held up by the same set of jaws. And mine were clenched. Maybe even wired shut.

It doesn’t matter if it was by me or anyone else. The fact is you can’t lie to yourself. You have to be you.

The fact is, with Hunter and Ellie…

My mouth opens, and it sings.

I rev the engine, the rumble beneath my bones filling me with a sense of urgency. I throw on my playlist, Can’t Stop Me Now, and I know in my heart everything up to this point has been for a reason.

In my heart and in my gut, I feel it all shift. Today is a new beginning for all of us.

My tires glide across the road, hugging the parts that matter and adjusting to the twists that require give. I smile because Hunter had these aligned and rotated for me when he took it to his friend’s shop. He paid for all the extras of course, causing me to become infuriatingly more attracted to him. But I didn’t want it going to his head.

I searched everywhere for the bill. Even called up the shop to ask what he’d paid so I could sneak it back into his wallet, but they wouldn’t tell me. My grin widens.

Hunter and I go back so far that the whole town has been rooting for us from the get-go, and I hadn’t even noticed. Lemon with the not-so-fake marriage, Katie for allowing it to go on despite her pretty serious conflict of interest with being Ellie’s social worker, and don’t even get me started on Shana for being complacent as all get-out for the goody-goody she usually is.

But sometimes you don’t know what you need like your friends do. And that just warms my heart further. The fact that I have such amazing people around me. Ones who love me for me, the bitchy parts and all. And ones who want to see me succeed, who see the best parts of me, despite the worst ones.

They tried to point me in the right direction even when I wasn’t ready to see the way. That’s friendship.

My heart soars almost as fast as the numbers on my dash, and I glance down, relieved to see that even though I’m pumping it hard and fast to some dub-step instrumentals I have no idea the name of, I’m not speeding.

Just three more miles until I reach the courthouse.

Katie is there today, preparing, and I want this done and filed before Ellie’s bio mom even wakes up tomorrow morning.

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