Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
While Crow cooked, Devorah set the picnic table. Darcy took care of getting drinks for everyone. Maren brought her portable speaker outside for her and Conor to listen to. Hayden left, only to return right away with a plastic ball and bat.
“Do you want to play?” he asked Devy.
“I’m more of a spectator today,” she told him, still nursing a hangover. “I’ll be the media relations person and video all the bloopers.”
“Yes, because there will be many.”
Hayden, Maren, Conor, and Lee set up a baseball field in the backyard. Darcy joined Dev on the sidelines and rooted for only Conor and Maren. Each time Lee would come up to bat, Darcy would tease him relentlessly about being old and out of shape. He might have been older than everyone else, except Crow, but Lee McKenna was far from out of shape.
Every other play, Devorah would video the game and take photos. Other than looking at them, she had no idea what she’d do with them.
“Send those to me,” Darcy told her. “I’ll post them on social media.”
Devy grimaced.
“Social media isn’t evil, just some people who use it are.”
“I know. I actually miss watching all the dog videos.”
“So watch them. You know you can block her and block any hashtag she used.”
“How do you know this?”
“Tabitha. She may be in her sixties, but she’s a tech genius.”
“Tabitha . . .” Devorah sighed. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Of course. What’s up?” Darcy asked without taking her eyes off the game.
“She’s resharing all of those videos, and as long as she does, they’re never going to go away. I would like OB to be a safe place for Maren and me.”
Darcy looked at Devorah sharply with wide, almost angry eyes. “No!” she said, exaggerating the o. “Oh, hell no. This will not do. The CC Club protects our own, and you are one of us.” She took her phone out and typed rapidly on the keypad. “I told her she best knock it off, or else.”
Devorah wondered what the “or else” would be in this case. Would the Crafty Cathys kick her out of the club? Banish her from Oyster Bay?
If banishment was a thing, she wanted Chad gone forever. To never be allowed to cross the bridge into town. This wasn’t his home. It was hers.
Midway through the game, which didn’t have a score because no one wanted to keep one, Crow yelled that dinner was done. Devorah and Darcy brought the side dishes out and set them on the table, along with the corn dogs, which Dev had kept warm in the oven for the kids.
“You ladies were busy,” Lee said as he rubbed his belly. “Let’s see, we have potato salad, tossed salad. Is this dressing homemade?”
“Yes, Mr. Lee. I helped make it,” Maren said.
“None of that ‘Mr. Lee’ stuff,” he told her. “You can call me Lee or Grandpa. I answer to both.” He was close enough to touch the tip of her nose with his finger. She giggled.
Along with the salads, they had freshly baked rolls and green beans that had simmered on the stove all day in bacon and onions to go with the fish the guys had brought home.
“I’ve never been so hungry,” Crow said as he heaped food onto his plate.
“We never asked—who caught all the fish?”
“Mostly Grandpa and the sheriff,” Conor said as he bit into his corn dog. “I hooked one, but Dad had to help me reel it in.”
Devorah looked at Hayden. “Didn’t catch anything, huh?”
He shook his head slowly. “It’s a good thing my family likes to share. Otherwise, I’d go hungry.”
“I can’t even remember the last time I went fishing,” Devy said. “I must’ve been five or so.” Crow caught her gaze and frowned. She hadn’t meant to say anything to upset him, but that was the way he’d taken it. She couldn’t help the past, and neither could he. What was done was done.
“This is the best corn dog I have ever had,” Conor said as he reached for a second. “Where did you buy them?”
“My mom made them,” Maren said.
“Duh, but from what box?” Conor asked.
“No, sweetie. What Maren’s saying is, I made them. Except for the hot dog part. The rest I did by hand.”
“Wow, you can do that?”
Devorah nodded. Her heart warmed with Conor’s excitement. “I can show you someday.”
“That’d be cool. I don’t know how to cook.”
“My mom can teach you,” Maren told him. “We cook a lot of stuff. Don’t we, Mom?”
“We do.” Because there wasn’t anything else to really do, unless she had a meeting to go to. Sure, in Oyster Bay she had meetings to attend, but she also had a job. One that put money in her pocket that her former husband didn’t take from her.
After dinner, everyone helped clean up. Crow took over dish duty and sent the baseball team outside to finish their game. Once all the food had been divided up into containers, Darcy and Lee left. Devy put her lawn chair in the yard and watched her daughter.