Page 43 of The Art Of Starting Over

“Yep, Grandpa put my stuff in the truck already.”

“All right, let’s go try out for some baseball.”

Conor hugged his grandma goodbye and followed Hayden outside. He climbed into the back, without Hayden suggesting it.

“Are we still picking Maren up?”

“Yeah, we are.”

“She really kicked my butt at the games last night.”

“You didn’t let her win?” Hayden asked as he drove toward the sheriff’s house.

“What? No way. She’s a beast.”

Hayden glanced in the rearview and watched as Conor’s head bopped to the song coming from the radio. It pleased him how his son was so compassionate toward Maren, especially considering how Conor had lost his mom. Maybe it was good for the kids to be close.

It was definitely a great excuse for Hayden to spend time with Devy. He liked her. Probably more than he should at the moment.

Hayden pulled up to the front of the house and groaned when Sheriff Crowley came down the steps. Knowing he shouldn’t hide from Crow, Hayden put his truck into park and stepped out under the light drizzle to greet the man.

“Sheriff,” Hayden said as he came around the front of his truck. “Working on a Saturday?”

“Just gonna monitor the activity at the park,” he said as he adjusted his duty belt. “I hear your boy is the reason Maren wants to try out today.”

Hayden glanced at his truck and smiled. “Yes, sir. They’ve become fast friends.”

Crow nodded. “She needs all the friends she can get right now.”

“She” could’ve meant Dev or Maren. Hayden took it as both.

The front screen door squeaked as Maren and Devy came out. Maren rushed down the stairs and all but crashed into her grandfather.

“See you at tryouts, Grandpa.”

“Knock ’em dead, slugger,” he said as he gave Maren a hug. When Devorah reached her father, the reception was stilted. Crow started to put his arm around Dev and then stopped. He sighed heavily and then grunted out something that sounded like “Keep your head up.” But Hayden couldn’t be sure.

“I will.” The response from Devorah was clear as day. As soon as she looked at Hayden, she smiled softly and ducked her head.

Was she flirting with him?

He hoped so.

Hayden stepped to the side and motioned for Devorah to walk in front of him. He followed behind and opened the passenger door forher when they reached his truck. Once Devy was in, he checked on Maren and Conor in the back, both deep in conversation about the Pizza Palace, and then jogged around to the driver’s side.

He chanced a look at Crow, who stood there watching everything. Hayden gave him a quick wave and then hopped into the cab. “The rain will stop by the time we get to the field,” he said as he put his truck into drive and signaled he was about to reenter the roadway—he didn’t want to give the sheriff a reason to pull him over—and headed toward the park.

“I love the rain,” Maren said from the back. “It means everything will be all muddy.”

Devy shook her head. “It’s all she’s talked about since it started this morning.”

“Do you remember the time it rained for days, right before the football championship?”

“How could I forget? Colt complained nonstop. First about the weather and then about losing. Wasn’t the score something like three to five? It was an odd one.”

Hayden sighed. “We lost because of me by a score of zero to two.”

“Ooh, that’s right.” Devy’soohseemed to drag out forever. “Now I remember.”

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