Page 85 of The Art Of Starting Over

“Because then you’d have less time to cancel on me.”

Hayden gave the hostess his name, and they were led to a high-top table for two, facing the harbor. He held the chair for Devorah and offered his arm for support.

“I’m in awe,” she said as she looked around. “This is such a neat idea, and the ambiance is very romantic.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He picked up the menu.

“Do you like sangria?” she asked him.

“I’ve never really had it, but I like a good red every now and again. Shall we order some? Says here we can get a pitcher.”

“I’d love some. It would pair well with everything on the menu.”

Hayden took her for her word. He’d only had red wine one other time, but he wasn’t going to tell Devorah that, because he wanted her to be happy. If that meant he had to drink something he’d never had before and had no idea what it was, so be it.

They put their napkins on their laps, and both smiled when the waiter came to their table. Hayden ordered the pitcher of red sangria, along with their dinner order. Hayden went with a capicola and spicy honey pizza with mozzarella and pomodoro sauce, while Devorah choseroasted vegetable tacos with guajillo salsa, pickled jalapeños, and cotija cheese.

“Can we also order the chips and salsa, as well as two orders of the street corn?” she asked as she handed the menu to the waiter.

Hayden leaned closer to Devorah. “We just ordered a ton of food.”

“I know. We can always take some home,” she said. “Leftovers for breakfast.”

He scrunched his nose. He loved pizza the next morning but wasn’t sure about the one he’d ordered. Not to mention, he’d looked online for photos of the food but could not find any. He hoped the portions weren’t tiny, and they’d end up starving later.

Their pitcher of sangria came. Hayden poured a glass for Devy and then one for himself. He held his glass up and said, “To a beautiful evening with an even more beautiful person. Cheers.”

Devorah’s cheeks flushed. “Cheers.”

Hayden took a sip and then another one. He had to admit: the sangria was tasty. “I’m a fan,” he said.

“I’m going to have to look up how to make it,” she told him. “Colt needs better drinks at the bar.”

“What does he have?”

“Beer and liquor. None of those low-calorie drinks, or hard seltzers. I told him I need to start ordering for the bar.”

“How’d he take the suggestion?”

Devy shrugged slightly. “Doesn’t seem to bother him. He joked that I’m slowly turning into the manager anyway, which was never my intention.”

“I’m sure he appreciates having you there, knowing he has someone he can trust to help run things.”

“I like it there. I never thought I would, but it’s fun, and I’ve been able to reconnect with a lot of people.”

Hayden took another sip, enjoying the fruitiness. “How’s parade planning coming?”

“Really well, actually. I’m very thankful to Laila for asking me to join. It gives me a purpose, and I really do love planning. One of the big things is finding people to help every year. No one volunteers, and when the festival is on the verge of being canceled, a few people step up.”

“People are the first to complain when their favorite event is canceled and the last to volunteer.”

“You know, now that I’m here, I want Maren to experience Pearl of the Ocean and how it feels being on that float, with her friends and family waving to her from the sidewalk,” she said. “I remember being up there, with the other Pearls on the float. We’d wave and people would yell out our names. We were front-page news. For the entire month, we’d do community service around town. That doesn’t happen now. I find it sad that the Oyster Festival has lost some of the prestige it used to have.

“People from all over used to flock to our town for the week, booking every mom-and-pop motel and B and B within miles. I want to help change the mindset and bring back the way things used to be. Crowded streets, vendors selling their goods by the docks. The fire department giving demonstrations to groups of kids all throughout the day. We have a lot to offer people outside of OB.”

“You can count on me, Mayor Crowley.”

Devorah smirked and rolled her eyes. “It starts with volunteers. Without people helping, you can only do so much.”

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