Page 77 of The Art Of Starting Over

The next morning, Hayden and Conor showed up at the ballpark with a giant thermos of coffee, just for Devy. Hayden figured she would need it once the noise level increased. When he came to where she sat, she looked up at him, with dark sunglasses on. He set his chair next to her and sat with a sigh. Cordelia, not to be forgotten, stood and rested her head on Hayden’s leg until he’d given her enough attention.

“I’m sorry,” she said right off. “Chalk it up to another embarrassing moment in Devorah Campbell’s life.”

“Crowley,” he said.

“What?”

Hayden shrugged. “I don’t know. I think you should use Crowley. It sounds better.”

A small smile appeared, but not for long. “Theo asked me if I wanted to change my name back, and I said I didn’t know. Mostly because of Maren. I guess it doesn’t matter, if we go back to Chicago.”

His heart twisted again.

He could tell her how he felt. How he wanted to date her and really get to know her. That he loved spending time with her and Maren. Conor did as well. Or he could sit back and let her make what he felt would be the worst decision of her life.

Nope.

He reached for her hand. Not giving a shit what others thought. If Devorah didn’t want to hold his hand, she’d let him know.

She squeezed his hand and smiled.

“Giving in to what Chad wants isn’t how you should live your life, Dev. You have a good thing going here. You and Laila are friends again. Your dad is cooking dinners. All you’ve ever wanted from him is an effort, and he’s giving you that. Do you want to leave him?”

“Not really.”

“So tell Chad no. You don’t need to move to make things easier for him. It should be the other way around.”

“I don’t want him to move here.”

Hayden laughed. “No one does. Although I’d love to see what the Crafty Cathys do to him.”

“Me too.”

And Crow. If he had his way, Chad would end up in the slammer for the night.

“Maren wants to move back.”

Hayden nodded. “I’m sure Conor wants to move back to Wyoming, because that’s what he knows. Kids like things to be easy. People move all the time. Kids adjust. She hasn’t been here very long, and her father is yapping in her ear about how much he misses her. If I had to bet, I’d put money on Chad telling her she wants to move back.” He shook his head and looked out to the field, where Maren and a couple of boys were tossing the ball back and forth.

“Has Maren told you she wants to leave?”

Devorah shrugged. “After I got off the phone with him, I asked her. She misses her friends, which I get.”

“And she’d spoken to him beforehand?”

Devy sighed. “Yeah, I think so. Although I don’t know when he’s calling.”

“As much as I hate the guy, at least he’s calling her.”

“There’s that.”

“Look at her, Devy. Does she look like a kid who hates it here?”

Maren stood among her teammates, laughing. Conor stood next to her, doing the same. To anyone watching them, they looked like happy, well-adjusted children.

“No, she doesn’t.”

“At least take that into consideration before you make a decision. And if you decide to go back to Chicago, let me or Colt help you. I don’t want you making that trip alone.”

---