Page 36 of Devlin

"We both know it is."

"Well, it doesn't matter. And just in case you're thinking that I now have a soft spot for youand I won't want to beat you in the race, you need to know you're wrong. Because I am going for that trophy."

He grinned back at her. "I wouldn't expect anything less. But that trophy is coming home with me. I'll see you soon, Hannah."

"Good-bye, Devlin." She got out of the car and hurried into the house, wishing she didn't already miss him.

Devlin drove the few blocks between Frank's house and the Boatworks with emotions that were all over the map. He didn't regret telling Hannah about Amy. Although, he questioned why he'd felt the need to share with her a story he had never discussed with anyone outside of his family. But somehow, the words had just spilled out of him.

It had felt surprisinglygood. He felt freer, which was strange, because it had been ten years since Amy died, and he'd thought he'd put it all aside a long time ago. Apparently, he had not let go of it completely, maybe because he had never expressed the loneliness he'd felt while going through the experience on his own.

He didn't blame anyone in his family, though. He'd pushed them away. Carrying the burden alonehad somehow made him feel more noble, more in love with a girl he'd known less than a year.

Would they have lasted if she hadn't died?

He had no idea.

Had Amy been the great love story of his life? Or was their story only the most tragic?

He'd never been able to answer those questions.

Parking in the lot in front of the Boatworks, he forced thoughts of the pastout of his head. When he entered the building, instead of going upstairs to his apartment, he moved down the stairs leading into the basement. The large room spanned the entire building and was a crowded but organized storage center. He walked past filing cabinets holding business information and tax returns going back years, old furniture discarded when the upstairs offices had been redone, andboxes and boxes of boat parts, tools, and other miscellaneous supplies.

In the back of the room was exactly what he was looking for—a seven-foot fiberglass boat known as theOptimist, the most popular single-handed sailing dinghy for kids under the age of fifteen. He'd sailed this boat in his very first race nineteen years ago. He'd come in third, and he'd been mad as hell. He'd wantedto win so badly. He'd wanted to prove to his father that he was good as he was, because his father had won his first race at age ten.

"Devlin?"

He started at the sound of his father's voice, wondering if he'd somehow conjured him up with his thoughts.

"Devlin?" his father called out once more. "Where are you?"

"Basement," he yelled, moving around a filing cabinet ashis dad came down the stairs.

His father wore black pants and a dark-blue shirt open at the collar, his pepper-gray hair styled, an air of expensive cologne about him. He certainly looked better than he had earlier in the day.

"Dad, what are you doing here? I thought you went back to Boston."

"I changed my mind. What are you doing?"

"Checking to see if my old boat wasstill here." He waved his hand toward theOptimist. "And she is."

"Why do you care about that old boat?"

"There's a kid who needs a boat for the summer sailing program. It's Mason, Erica Rogers's son. I don't know if you remember her…"

"I know who Erica is. I was sorry to hear about her husband."

"It's a sad situation, and I'd like to make it better. Mason loves tosail. I was wondering if this old boat has some more races in her."

"I'm sure she does. Maybe even a win."

"It took me three years to get a win in this boat. I kept losing to Kyle Hartman. It made me crazy."

"I remember," his dad said with a faint smile. "Your mother told me I should stop putting so much pressure on you to win. But I wanted you to know what victory felt like.And eventually you did."

There was a familiar note of pride in his father's voice now. While he was happy he'd done something that his father was proud of, he couldn't help but think that Blackthorne pride also caused a hell of a lot of problems.

"Now you win every year," his dad added.

---