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)
Devorah Campbell’s life falls apart under the pressure of one truth: her husband is having an affair with her best friend. So Devorah packs up her daughter and their shared heartbreak for small-town Oyster Bay, where she grew up. Her relationship with her father is still on the rocks, but Devorah has her brother there—and, unexpectedly, her brother’s best friend.
Hayden McKenna lost his wife a year ago and has struggled with single fatherhood ever since. Moving back home with his son is a last but best resort, a chance to start fresh, surrounded by family and old friends. But when Hayden runs into Devorah, his childhood crush, sparks fly as bright as ever. If only he could make her see them too…
Amid a swirl of hurt and healing, Devorah and Hayden grow closer, rekindling what they had all those years ago to discover that, sometimes, a new start means going back to the beginning.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
One
Devorah
There’s a moment in everyone’s life when their world crumbles around them. For Devorah Campbell, her moment came while she sat in a nail salon, getting a pedicure and scrolling through her phone on one of those popular vlogging apps.
She thought of her nine-year-old daughter, Maren, who was addicted to the videos, always laughing, dancing, and begging her parents to let her have an account. Devorah and her husband of fifteen years, Chad, had banned social media from their home. They felt that, while social media had some advantages, they didn’t outweigh the negatives for an impressionable young woman like Maren. To appease her daughter, Devy had signed up with one of those user1227985812426 numbers, left the profile and bio blank, and allowed Maren to watch on her phone. Together, they followed their favorite actors, actresses, musicians, and vloggers. A few fun accounts were mixed in from some of Maren’s classmates and Dev’s best friend, Ester.
While her favorite nail tech, Kristin, painted her toes hot pink, Devy moved her thumb up the screen to switch the video. She smiled when Ester’s newest video came on the screen, and she popped her earbud in so she could listen to what she had to say. She was always talking about their homeowners’ association drama, which they had quite a bit of—the “Don’t let your springtime lawn get over an inch and a half, or Nicole, the overzealous HOA president, will come knocking on your door” sort of thing.
“Am I the asshole? Ugh, I am. I truly am. I did the unthinkable, and I don’t know what I should do.” Ester sighed and shook her head. “I’ve been having an affair with my best friend’s husband, and I’m in love with him, and he loves me. I don’t know what I’m going to do when my best friend comes to me after her husband leaves her. What am I going to say?”
Devy’s heart hit her stomach and didn’t bounce back into place. Tears filled her eyes. She was Ester’s best friend. They had been since college and now lived one block away from each other, living the suburban mom life with PTA meetings, school plays, and whatever sport their kids were involved with. She’d held her hand when Ester’s husband filed for divorce. Ester’s daughter, Rita, was Maren’s best friend. They often spent the night at each other’s houses, sat next to each other on the bus and in class, and were generally inseparable.
Was Devorah the best friend?
Was Chad the other man?
She didn’t know what to do or what to think. The video started again, and Devy found herself listening to the words on repeat. Each time stung more than the next. There was no way Chad would ever cheat on her. They were happy and in love, high school sweethearts who went away to college together and never looked back on their small ocean-side hometown. Most of their classmates stayed, working in various family businesses or joining fishing or boating charters. Jobs neither she nor Chad wanted. Nor did they want the small-town life for Maren. They wanted her to experience life and go to school with more than ten kids. They wanted her to have more than they’d had.
After they graduated from Northwestern, Chad took a job in finance, while Devy went to work as an estate curator. She loved going into homes, especially older ones, and helping families liquidate their possessions. Her job was fun and never stressful, even when she had to work on weekends. The job, and her career, brought her a lot of satisfaction, and it allowed her time to always be present for Maren and whatever activity she had going on.
Ester’s voice brought Devy back from her reverie. She shook her head and looked at her friend’s face, frozen on her screen. She didn’t look sad, upset, or distraught. Shouldn’t she be, if she was having an affair with her best friend’s husband?
Chad would never do this to her. Nor could she fathom Ester being so classless as to make a video about their affair and put it online. Were people inherently evil? Devy had seen some truly nasty things on the internet, but this one took the cake, and she couldn’t stomach thinking this was about her.
“Devorah, please don’t move,” her nail tech said.
“Kristin, I need to go.”
“You’re almost done,” she said. “Five more minutes.”
Five minutes seemed like a lifetime. She sat there, with her phone clutched in her hand, while Kristin put the last coat of polish on her toes. One more drying cycle and she’d be free to go.
To where, Devy had no idea. She couldn’t do anything irrational, like burst into her husband’s office and ask if he was having an affair, or do the same at Ester’s office, demanding to know why she would post such a horrible video for someone to find. And if it wasn’t Chad, then why would Ester say “best friend” in her video?