disturbing disorientation that came over her every time she looked at Dev.
Forty-eight hours ago she had been immersed in another world, a world she had
chosen and in which she knew exactly who she was. She’d been in charge, in
control, sure of herself. She’d been…satis? ed. She’d also been certain that
was as close to happy as she could be.
“Les?” Dev stared at Leslie’s left hand, then gently cradled it in her palm. There
was no engagement ring, no wedding band, but that wasn’t what held her
attention now. She looked from the bruise surrounding the healing puncture site
to Leslie’s face. “What’s wrong, Les?”
“Nothing.” Leslie drew her hand back, closing her ? ngers into a ? st and
turning her hand away so that the IV site was no longer visible.
She’d forgotten that was there. There was another one on her right forearm, but
her jacket covered it.
Dev didn’t repeat the question, but Leslie could see it still swirling in her eyes.
When she’d ? rst seen Dev at the train station, she hadn’t thought she would
recognize her if they’d passed on the street, but she realized now that she’d
been wrong. It was true that Dev had grown into a woman even more attractive
than she’d been as a teenager, but if Leslie had ever seen her eyes, she would
have known her anywhere.
Her eyes were the same, and Leslie hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said they
always gave Dev away. When she was angry those tiny gold ? ecks that Leslie
had always coveted disappeared and her irises darkened from hazel to gray.
When she was happy, they sparkled with
• 49 •
RADCLY fFE
a hint of green as pure as new spring grass. When she was worried, like now,
the colors swirled like shadowy eddies in the lake during a hard rain.
“Really. I’m just getting over a bug of some kind.” Without thinking, Leslie
rested a hand on Dev’s shoulder, surprised at the hard muscles beneath the
cotton shirt. They felt so different from Rachel’s ? rmness or her own gymtoned
body. She considered herself strong, but what she sensed in Dev’s body
was power.
“There’s probably time for a nap before dinner,” Dev said, not completely sure
she believed Leslie’s story. But she had no right to question her either. She
eased back on her heels and breathed a little easier when Leslie removed her
hand. The physical contact made her uncomfortable. “Your mother said to tell
you she freed up cabin nine inde? nitely. I’ll take your luggage down.”
Leslie set her glass aside and stood. “I’ll get it. You’ve done enough this
afternoon. You don’t have to play bellboy as well.”
Dev grinned. “I did that for a while in college. It paid pretty well.”
“Where did you go?”
“Syracuse.”
Leslie smiled wanly. She had always planned to go to the College of Forestry at
Syracuse. She and Dev often talked about it when they sat together by the lake
after school. But when she’d been accepted at Yale, where she’d only applied
because her guidance counselors had insisted, she hadn’t been able to resist the
lure of attending an Ivy League school. And she admitted now, she’d been
eager to experience something bigger than her small-town life. There’d been
fewer than a hundred seniors in her graduating high school class. She’d known
them all since kindergarten. Everyone she knew in school looked the same,
thought the same, shared the same plans for the future. Except for Dev. Dev
was the only one who was exciting and different, and their friendship…well, that
was something that had always seemed apart from the rest of her life.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve got better things to do now than carry luggage.”
Dev shrugged and picked up the suitcase. There was no way she was going to
let Leslie carry it a quarter of a mile to the cabin. “You’re wearing heels, Les.”
• 50 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
Leslie made a face. “I’m used to dressing this way, Dev, and if I can handle a
sprint through JFK airport with a loaded briefcase and two suitcases, I can
handle a stroll through the woods.”
“Fine.” Dev handed her the briefcase but kept the suitcase herself.
“Here you go.”
“I don’t remember you being this stubborn,” Leslie complained, half annoyed
and half amused.
“I guess I’ve changed,” Dev said quietly.
Leslie sighed and slung the briefcase over her shoulder. “We both have.”
Dev smiled softly. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
• 51 •
• 52 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
CHAPTER SIX
Come on, let me walk you home. Standing outside the high school on a late
spring evening, Leslie regarded the ? at tire on her mountain bike with disgust.
She looked over her shoulder at Dev, who slouched against the base of a tall
maple with both their backpacks looped over one arm. She wore ripped jeans,
her motorcycle boots, of course, and the barest hint of a smile.
“You’d just better not laugh.” Leslie almost pouted but caught herself. Dev
would laugh then. “I can’t believe I don’t have a patch kit.”
“You don’t have a pump, either,” Dev pointed out. “So it wouldn’t do any good
to ? x the leak.” She raised her eyebrows as she scanned Leslie’s pale green
slacks and low-heeled shoes. “And you’re not exactly dressed for doing bicycle
repairs.”
“Ha ha.” Leslie tugged on the sleeve of Dev’s faded blue T-shirt.
“You are. Don’t you have something in your motorcycle bag you can ? x this
with?”
Dev laughed. “They’re not exactly the same kind of tires, Les.”
“I know that, Devon, ” Leslie said with a huff, but she was smiling.
She knew Dev would change the tire for her if she had the equipment, and
Leslie would probably let her, even though she could do it perfectly well herself.
Dev liked doing things for her. Carrying her backpack and schoolbooks when
they walked down to the lake. Fixing the lock on her locker when it kept
jamming and the maintenance man kept forgetting to replace it. Dev had even
shoveled the snow away from around the Jeep in the school parking lot one day
last winter when Leslie had driven her parents’ car to school and got snowed
under. Leslie could’ve
• 53 •
RADCLY fFE
done all those things, but she could tell that Dev wanted to do it. And she liked
