Page 19 of Devlin

But he looked brighter and more energetic this morning. He'd also shaved off the scraggly beard he'd been wearing the past two days.

"Perfect timing," she told him. "I have breakfast ready."

"You'respoiling me. And that looks better than the breakfasts you used to make me."

"You mean my special mix of chocolate puffs and wheat crisps didn't do it for you?" she asked with a laugh.

He smiled back at her. "Not quite. I was never as big a fan of cereal as you were."

"Well, sit down and we'll eat." She took their plates to the table and sat down across from him.

"Thisis excellent," he said, digging into his eggs. "Healthy, too. I can see your mom has rubbed off on you."

"Yes. I haven't been able to adopt her vegan lifestyle, but I do eat a lot more vegetables than I ever thought I would."

"Good for you."

"Have you thought any more about the race? About Howard Palmer's boat?"

"I have thought about it, and if you want, we can takea look at the boat after breakfast."

Her heart leapt with excitement. "Really?"

"I'm still not committing to race," he warned her. "I need to see theDaisy Maeagain before I make a final decision."

"Understood." She hesitated. "I know I shouldn't have, but I did mention to Devlin that we might race against him."

"Hannah! You shouldn't have said anything yet."

"It just came out. I'm sorry. But in case you were wondering, he looked a little worried."

Her father's lips tightened. "What else did you talk about?"

"Not much really." She wasn't about to tell her dad that Devlin had hit on her. "He was pretty shaken about his mom leaving. Apparently, when she left the house, she also said something about keeping Graham's secrets, and no one knowswhat she meant. Do you know?" she asked curiously.

"No idea. But that's between Graham and Claire."

"Do you think you should talk to Graham again?" she asked tentatively. "Maybe you could work out the problems between you. After what happened with Claire, he might now realize that you were just trying to warn him."

"I doubt it," her dad said shortly, making her wonder if morehad gone down between him and Graham than just some pointed advice.

"Does that mean you don't want your job back?"

"Not at all. But I'm not going to beg for it. The Blackthornes don't have the market on pride. I have nothing to apologize for. They need to come to me with not only my job but a better offer before I'd consider going back."

"And if they don't, then what?"

"Then I'll figure something else out. It's not your problem, Hannah. I appreciate your concern. But I've been taking care of myself a long time."

"I just want to help."

"You've always wanted to help fix things that are broken, but some things are not yours to fix."

"You said that to me a long time ago, when you and Mom split up."

He nodded, his gaze somber. "I neededyou to let go of a dream that wasn't going to come true."

It had taken her years to let go of that dream. She did tend to hang on too long, trying to fix problems that weren't always hers to fix. Maybe she was doing the same thing now. She just had a hard time standing by and doing nothing when people she loved were hurting.

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