Page 119 of The Havenport Collection

Violet

T he Patriot’s Homecoming Festival was my favorite holiday of the year.

It wasn’t an actual holiday, of course, since Patriot’s Day is in April, but in Havenport it was the highlight of the end of the summer.

As I strolled down Water Street with my mom and the boys, I took in all the sights and sounds of the festival, filled with love for my spectacular hometown.

We were headed to the art fair on the boardwalk and then up to the kids’ area on the town common.

The weather was sunny with a light breeze, the perfect day for soaking up the sights and sounds of Havenport.

The streets had been closed down to traffic, and there were people everywhere, enjoying the weather, the vendors, and the music.

It was Saturday, the final day of the weeklong festival, and I was so excited. I leaned down and put my arms around the boys’ shoulders. “Guys, this was my favorite thing ever growing up.”

Sam shoved my arm off his shoulder, clearly embarrassed by me. I thought I’d have a few more years until they didn’t want their mom touching them in public. As clichéd as it sounded, they really were growing up too fast.

“Mom, why does this town have so many festivals?” Henry asked, looking around as if trying to memorize every detail. He was all questions, that one. He wanted to know everything and understand everything.

“Because we like to have a good time,” my mother trilled, waving to some of her friends across the street.

“This festival,” I said, gesturing to the red, white, and blue bunting everywhere, “began as a way to celebrate soldiers coming home to Havenport from the Revolutionary War.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Mom, that was, like, a million years ago.”

I patted his head. “Sort of. But it’s an important part of our nation and our region’s history. Massachusetts was the birthplace of America, guys. We are super lucky to live here, surrounded by all this history.”

The boys just kept walking, more interested in the food vendors than my impromptu history lesson. Just as well—the magic of Havenport would wear them down eventually.

I didn’t realize until I moved away just how awesome this place was.

The ocean and the historic downtown were great and all.

But more importantly, Havenport lived up to the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality.

I had traveled all over the globe and lived on both coasts of the United States, and I could honestly say Havenport was one of the most accepting, open-minded places I had ever experienced.

Everyone was welcome here, and you could feel it just walking down the street.

We strolled through the displays, admiring the live music and artwork. Just being here was making me feel inspired. There was so much talent, creativity, and grit in this town. It only made me want to work harder to make the farm a success.

The boys were admiring a sand artist who was creating a model of the Death Star when I spotted him.

Callum. He was standing across the street at the Binnacle Brewery tent, talking to his brother.

He had the audacity to look like he just stepped off a yacht, wearing blue plaid shorts and a crisp white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

It was classic Callum—tall and imposing, but approachable.

I stood watching him while he chatted with folks and sipped his beer.

He looked totally at ease, completely charming and carefree.

He turned his head and caught me staring at him.

For just a moment, we locked eyes and all the hustle and bustle faded away.

His eyes lit up as he smiled broadly, and I felt my heart soar.

“Mom, can I get cotton candy?”

“Mom, I want kettle corn.”

“Mom.”

“Mom.” I felt little hands tugging on my dress, bringing me back down to earth.

“Sure, guys. One snack each, okay?”

My mom smirked, nudging me toward the Binnacle tent. “I’ll get them some lunch and a treat. Go socialize.”

I walked slowly across the street, waving to my sister who was getting fried dough with her daughters. I tried not to look too eager as I made my way through the throng of people toward Callum.

I felt his large, warm hand on my arm before I heard his voice. “Violet.”

“Hi, Callum.” I looked up at him.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

Wow, that knocked me on my heels. I liked how straightforward he was. I smiled at him, trying to find the power to form words.

“Can I get you a beer, Violet?” a voice asked.

I turned and saw Liam standing behind some taps, smiling. Cece was next to him, serving customers.

“Hi, Liam. It’s great to see you again.” I gave an awkward wave to distract from the fact that I had just been mentally undressing his brother in public. “I’d love one.”

“Try this,” Cece said, handing me a biodegradable cup. “It’s my favorite, the raspberry sour.”

I took a sip. “It’s my favorite too. Callum brought me some last week.”

She smirked and bumped Liam with her hip. They were so cute together. “Are we still on for Monday?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I’m looking forward to it.

” That was a lie. I was terrified for Cece and Astrid to come out to the farm.

Callum had insisted I take a meeting with them to get some advice about farm business.

I knew they were experts who could help me grow, but I couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about my lack of business acumen.

Callum steered me away as Liam and Cece busied themselves with the line at their tent. “Are you enjoying the festival?” he asked.

“Yes. I love it. So much fun,” I babbled. I wanted to shout at him about how he kissed me twenty years ago during this festival, thus laying the foundation for every romantic relationship I’d ever had, but I bit my tongue.

“Where are the boys?” he asked, looking around.

“With my mom. She’s getting them some food. We spent some time looking at the art displays and are going to head up to the common for the kids’ games in a bit.”

“Sounds fun. Can I join you?”

I didn’t expect that. He wanted to hang with my mom and my kids? “Sure,” I replied, smiling into my beer. I needed to get this crush under control, and his kind eyes and cute butt were not helping matters.

After hot dogs, lemonade, and some kettle corn, we made our way up to the common.

The festival had expanded even more since I was a kid.

There were booths with contests and a life-size checkers game on the grass.

The dunk tank was set up near the middle of the common.

That always drew a huge crowd. The Havenport Teachers Association sponsored it to raise money for school programs, and all of Havenport’s kids happily handed over their allowance for a chance to dunk their teachers.

I laughed, thinking of how desperately uncoordinated I was as a kid.

I never once hit the target. Rose, of course, always hit the bullseye, soaking her least favorite educator every single year.

“Hey, Mom, they have races,” Sam squealed. He was my competitive kid, always wanting in on the action. “It looks like there is a sign-up over there.”

We walked over to the sign-up table for the three-legged race and learned that the five-to-six-year-old race was starting soon.

“Do you want to sign up?” I asked.

“No,” Sam said, looking around at the other families on the green. I didn’t understand what had changed in the last two minutes.

I knelt down and forced him to meet my eye. “Come on, I’ll do it with you if you want.”

“No,” he huffed.

Henry touched my elbow gently, always ready to translate for his brother. “Mom, look. Most kids are doing it with their dads.”

I looked up and saw families milling around.

I saw Emily and Derek Stewart with their kids, and some of the other preschool dads pretending to stretch and goofing around.

My heart sank. I hated this. I hated that they didn’t have what these other kids had.

Being a single mom was shitty enough without the hole in their lives where a dad should be.

Callum could probably see the disappointment on my face. I never was any good at hiding my feelings. I wanted to be enough for my boys, and in many ways I knew I could be, but there would always be days like this when they knew they were lacking something.

He crouched down. “How about I do it with you, big guy?”

Sam looked up slowly into Callum’s eyes. “Thanks. But I don’t want to do it if Henry can’t.” I smiled, putting an arm around Sam. The twin bond was strong between them.

Callum stood. “Hm… Okay, give me a few minutes.”

He whipped out his phone and started typing.

“My brother Declan will be here in five minutes. I love racing him. So you are doing me a favor, guys. We are all going to race together.”

The boys looked at each other and then broke into huge smiles. Callum held his hands up, and the boys enthusiastically high-fived him.

Henry and Sam started excitedly talking, waving to friends from school and trash-talking about who was going to win the race.

I touched Callum’s arm. “Thank you.” I was grateful to be wearing sunglasses because I was tearing up a bit. My poor boys had suffered so much because of their bastard father. It was just a silly race, but it meant so much to me that he wanted to help.

He smiled at me and squeezed my hand. Fuck. This crush was definitely not going anywhere.

“Here he is.”

I looked up and saw Declan and Astrid walking toward us briskly, looking like the superhuman attractive people they were.

Declan and Callum were the opposites sides of a very handsome coin. Declan was broad and muscular, with long hair, a thick beard, and tattooed arms. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a scowl. He just screamed bad boy, and every uterus within a five-mile radius noticed.

Callum had the same dark hair and blue eyes but had a completely different energy. He was leaner and taller, with sharp cheekbones and a friendly, open face. I had never gone for the clean-cut, preppy type, but I found him irresistible.

Declan looked at the boys and smiled. “Hey, guys, I’m Declan. My brother Cal says you guys want to race?”

Sam walked right up to him, not intimidated at all. “Dude. I like your hair,” he said, gesturing to Declan’s man bun.

Declan offered his hand to Sam, who shook it gladly. “I like your hair too, kid.”

Astrid let out a high-pitched sigh. I was pretty sure she had just spontaneously ovulated.

Sam beamed. He was already so obsessed with his hair. Was a boy bun in my future?

“I want you on my team!” Sam yelled, staring in awe at Declan.

“Hey,” Callum said, clutching his heart and pretending to be hurt.

Sam shrugged and started strategizing with Declan.

“Will you be on my team, Callum?” Henry asked politely.

“Of course, Henry. But I need your help. My little brother Declan always thinks he can beat me. We need to make sure to leave him in our dust. Okay?”

Henry jumped up and down. “Yes! I wanna win.” He threw his arms around Cal's neck, enveloping him in a hug, and I think I joined Astrid on the ovulation train.

After the three-legged race, Declan and Callum took the boys to play more games with Derek and his kids, leaving me sitting on the grass with Astrid and Emily, sipping beer.

I didn’t know Emily well—she was a few years behind me in school—but we were having a blast trading crazy stories about our kids.

She had a zany energy that contrasted so well against Astrid’s serious demeanor.

I was shocked to learn they were cousins.

This day had turned out so much better than I ever could have imagined.

Seeing my kids having so much fun, trying new things, and meeting new people made my heart swell with pride.

They had been through so much, from being born premature to the horrible mess with Sebastian.

Enjoying a Havenport festival with them just felt so damn good.

Seeing Callum with them also felt good, but I was choosing to ignore those feelings. It was too confusing to unpack my attraction to him at the moment.

“So, you’re into Callum, huh?” Astrid asked when Emily left to grab us another round.

“No,” I blurted out, studying the grass.

“Don’t lie. I know what I saw.”

I liked Astrid—she reminded me of my sister-in-law, blunt and painfully honest. I turned the tables on her. “I saw you lose your mind when Declan was playing with Sam.”

She laughed and slapped me on the arm. “I didn’t just lose my mind, girl. I lost my panties. I swear they just evaporated off my body. Poof!”

I giggled.

“But it’s no secret that I am obsessed with Declan. Let’s circle back to what’s up with you and Cal.”

I looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping—there were ears everywhere in this town.

“I have a small crush. Okay? How could I not when he is so good with my kids and,”—I paused, feeling bashful—“when he walks around looking, you know, like that.” I gestured awkwardly with my hands, wishing I had never admitted to my crush.

I could feel my face heating and my heart racing.

I was supposed to be ignoring my instincts and sticking to the plan.

My crush on Callum wasn’t going anywhere if I started acknowledging it out loud.

She patted my arm. “I get it, sister. I have been in your shoes. Those Quinn boys…damn.”

“I’m working on it,” I muttered, trying to convince myself. “It will go away. I can’t get involved with anyone right now. I’m just going to ignore it.”

Astrid laughed. “I said the same thing six months ago. Good luck with that.”