what she’d felt earlier in Dev’s arms had made her feel alive in every cell. She
was afraid to even think what that might mean.
• 129 •
RADCLY fFE
“I’m glad you understand,” was all Leslie could think to say.
“Good night.”
“Good night,” Dev whispered. She waited until she heard the soft slide of
Leslie’s cabin door opening and the quiet snick of it closing.
Then she sat back down on the steps and rested her face in her hands and wept
for the love they’d once shared.
• 130 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Leslie got up early the next morning after another night ? lled with fractured
dreams and an impending sense of danger, although when she opened her eyes,
the elusive feelings ? ed like bits of sand in the wind. She showered quickly,
threw on jeans and a white boat-neck tee, and hurried to the lodge. Even though
she knew it was foolish, she was inordinately relieved to see Dev’s truck in the
lot next to her parents’ new Jeep. She had half expected Dev to be gone. The
thought of Dev just disappearing left her feeling frighteningly hollow.
She pushed the disquieting sensation aside, reminded herself that the truck was
still there and so was Dev, and went inside to take care of the work that needed
to be done. She was in the midst of removing a second tray of biscuits from the
oven when a sound behind her startled her into nearly dropping the entire thing.
“Ahh!” Leslie yelped. She managed to get the tray onto the counter before
spinning around to discover Dev in the doorway. “Can you please stop sneaking
up on me like that?”
“Sorry,” Dev said without the slightest hint of contrition. Leslie looked great, and
even in casual clothes, she de? nitely did not look like a woman who should be
slaving in the kitchen at six in the morning.
“Need some help?”
“Of course I need help.” Leslie waved an arm at the general chaos of the
kitchen, where baking pans, mixing bowls, and the ingredients for breakfast lay
scattered over the counters. “I need a chef and a busboy and a gardener and a
mechanic and someone to tell me how in God’s name my parents run this place
by themselves.”
• 131 •
RADCLY fFE
Dev frowned. “Are things really getting away from you?”
Leslie blew a loose strand of hair away from the corner of her mouth. “Not
really. I can probably manage another day, and my mother’s coming home later
this afternoon. But even then, she’s going to need help down at the dock and
taking care of all the other things my father does.”
“What about ? nding new hires?”
“I’ve got several people coming by this evening for interviews.
At this point, anyone who hasn’t just escaped from Sing Sing will be perfect.”
Dev opened the refrigerator and started passing cardboard cartons of eggs to
Leslie. “Scrambled are easiest.” She checked the menu on the door. “Sausage.
Piece of cake.” She rummaged in the refrigerator’s meat drawer and found the
jumbo package of links, which she carried to the grill in the center of a cook
island.
“What are you doing?” Leslie asked.
“Making my part of breakfast.” Dev pointed a fork in the direction of the eggs.
“You should start too, or else we won’t be done at the same time.”
Leslie opened a container of eggs, then closed it and carefully set it down on the
counter. She watched the light blue denim shirt tighten across Dev’s shoulders
as Dev worked. Her hair curled over the collar, thick chestnut strands that were
wavier than Leslie remembered. Dev wore her shirt tucked into an almost-tight
pair of black jeans. It was an out? t Leslie had seen Dev wear many times when
they were younger, but Dev no longer looked like the rangy teenager she had
been. She looked like the strong, capable woman she was. They’d once been
so close. They could be friends now, couldn’t they?
After backing away from Dev last night and throwing up even more boundaries
between them, Leslie knew that she would need to be the one to reach across
the chasm. And since she’d been the one to walk away all those years before,
that seemed more than fair.
“I thought you might have left,” Leslie said softly.
Dev kept her back to Leslie and methodically arranged the sausages in two
precisely even, side-by-side rows on the grill. She’d come close to piling her
gear into the truck and driving away an hour earlier because she didn’t think she
could face Leslie and pretend she didn’t feel anything. Not when she could still
taste her. She might still
• 132 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
have to go, but she wasn’t ready yet. Leaving would be so ? nal. “I thought
about it.”
“I’m glad you stayed,” Leslie said, reaching for the eggs.
“Why?” Dev said quietly, her back still turned. She wasn’t playing games. She
really didn’t understand what difference it would make to Leslie.
“You’re handy in the kitchen.” Leslie held her breath, and as the silence
lengthened, she started to feel queasy.
Dev turned, a small smile curling the corners of her mouth. “You should see
what I can do with a set of tools.”
Leslie tried not to laugh, but the relief was so great she couldn’t help herself. If
she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought that Dev was ? irting. As it was,
just this little bit of foolish conversation made her feel better than she had in
days. “Well, you might be good with a wrench, but your sausage is burning.”
“Shit!” Dev spun back to the grill and frantically began turning the small links.
Leslie took another second to enjoy watching Dev move, graceful even as she
struggled to keep errant links from sliding off the grill onto the counter and ?
oor, and then started cracking eggs into a bowl.
Dev dumped the sausages that were done onto a platter. When she’d ? nally
gone to bed the night before, not expecting to sleep, she’d been ambushed by
emotional and physical exhaustion. She’d fallen into a heavy dreamless sleep
from which she’d awakened feeling fuzzyheaded and clumsy. When she thought
about what had happened with Leslie by the lake, she’d been nearly as stunned
as she had the ? rst time they’d kissed. Except that back then, she’d known for
a long time—although she hadn’t been willing to admit it—that she’d wanted to
kiss Leslie. Last night came out of nowhere.
