Page 17 of The Art Of Starting Over

“How’s it going?” he asked, even though engaging in a conversation in the school dismissal line didn’t seem like the right time. The car in front of him inched forward, which confused him since the bell hadn’t rung yet. He didn’t know what the etiquette was—did he move up as well, or wait?

“Things are well, just picking up the kiddos. You know,” Sapphire said in the same bubbly tone he remembered her having back in school. “You’re back for good?”

He nodded.

“That’s fantastic.” She placed her hand on the door, her fingers grazing his arm. “We’ll have to get together for a beer and catch up.”

They had nothing to catch up on, but he agreed anyway because he didn’t want to be rude. The bell rang, saving the day. He caught a glimpse of the others as they looked at him talking with Sapphire, then slumped their shoulders and turned toward the double doors and their cars. Something told him he’d experience this again tomorrow.

Sapphire made her way back to her car, pausing to turn and give him a wave. Someone honked and she scowled. Hayden watched the double doors he’d gone into and come out of when he was in elementary school. His mom would pick him and Allie up, and then they’d go sit in the back room of their father’s practice until their mom had wrapped up work for the day. Darcy McKenna never let her children stay home longer than an hour by themselves. Small town or not, things happened when adults weren’t around. By the time Hayden was in highschool and playing sports after school, Allie went with him, choosing to sit and watch, then being treated like she wasn’t responsible for his well-being.

Kids filed out in small groups. Girls talked animatedly, with their little arms and hands flying in every which direction, and boys laughed at something their friends had said. Hayden wanted this for his son. He wanted him to find a good, solid group of friends he could grow up with. Hayden had, until they all went away to college and lost touch over the years. Most of his friends wanted to get the hell out of Dodge and never return. Move to the city and live. Hayden had done the same thing until he’d met Sofia and followed her back to Wyoming. He’d intended to go to law school, but that never seemed to pan out. He ended up putting his criminal justice degree to work by becoming a deputy in the county sheriff’s department. He’d never truly found his way once he left Oyster Bay.

But Sofia had made him happy, and that was enough.

Hayden spotted Conor before his son saw the truck. He studied his son as he stood there under the awning with his backpack slung over his shoulder and his sweatshirt tied around his waist. Conor looked left and then right, spotted the truck, and gave his dad a little wave. The gesture brought a much-needed smile to Hayden’s face.

He saw Conor wave to a classmate. A girl, with a long brunette ponytail. She reminded him of someone else he knew, someone who had recently spent time in his truck. Hayden would ask Conor later, if only to appease his own curiosity.

Conor walked toward the truck with his head held high, which brought another smile to Hayden’s face—he assumed his son’s first day went well. Of course, he could’ve been happy that his day was over. Hayden often hated school as a kid. One Monday in particular always stood out in his mind—the Monday after some Saturday-night party in the eighth grade, where he and Devorah Crowley had made out in the closet for seven glorious minutes. He thought he’d done a pretty damn good job of expressing himself and confidently walked right up to MissDevorah Crowley and tried to ask her out—only for her to turn ten shades of red and run from him.

“Hey, Devorah.” Hayden said her name with such confidence—he felt like he was on top of the world. Laila looked at him first. He avoided all eye contact with her because he was pretty certain she had a crush on him. But Hayden was also confident Dev liked him more.

“Oh, hi, Hayden.”

The air left his sail. He’d hoped for a little more exuberance from her.

“Can I speak with you in the hall?” As soon as he’d asked, he regretted it. Their classmates lingered, staring, and some looked at them questioningly. He should’ve waited until they were doing homework later, when they’d be alone in the dining room of her house, and while Colt was on the phone with his current girlfriend.

The other girls around the table giggled. Hayden smiled, even though he wanted to run away. Devorah stood, and he motioned for her to walk ahead of him. Like his father often did with his mom.

When they got to the hall, Hayden pointed to the alcove where a lot of the high schoolers went to make out. Dev’s footsteps faltered a bit, but she continued.

Once they were safely behind the wall, Hayden mustered all the courage he could. “Would you like to go out with me?”

Her eyes widened, her cheeks turned a fiery red, and she covered her mouth. Before he could ask her if she was okay, she ran away, leaving him there in utter embarrassment.

Later, Colt said that some older dude had asked his sister out. “If I find out which one of my friends did this, I’m going to pummel him.”

Dev apologized weeks later, and while Hayden wasn’t afraid of Colt, he was afraid of Crow, and he didn’t want to do anything to damage his friendship with Colt. Devorah liked Hayden, though, and she flirted.

He flirted back.

Two months after they’d had seven minutes in heaven, he kissed her again, this time under the old oak tree, where no one could see.

Hayden sighed and cleared his thoughts as Conor approached the truck. Hayden leaned over and pulled the handle to help Conor open the door. His son tossed his backpack onto the floorboard and climbed in.

“Well, how was it?”

“It’s school,” Conor said pointedly and shrugged. “But Mr. Raze is nice. He’s very funny.”

“Did you make any new friends?”

Another shrug. “I met some kids. They invited me to play kickball with them.”

“That’s fun.” Hayden inched his way out and drove slowly around the crescent-shaped roadway, watching for any youngsters who might dart out in front of him, but also trying to see where the girl Conor had spoken to had gone. Hayden told himself he wanted to confirm the girl was Devy’s, but what he really wanted to do was see Devy again. She’d left him in the parking lot, and at first, he was okay with her leaving, until he remembered what she’d said about her husband and how he hadn’t chased after her. By then, it was too late. He’d looked around for her, but it was like she had vanished into thin air.

“Yeah, just the guys, though.”

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