“There’s no going back. Besides, everyone knows that ? rst love is too sweet
to ever last.”
“Not everyone agrees,” her mother pointed out gently.
Leslie shrugged. She wasn’t in the mood to argue, not when they’d had their ?
rst real conversation in over a decade. “I can drive you to the hospital to pick up
Daddy, if you want.” She scanned the sky, where a few ? uffy clouds ? oated
by. Far to the north a darker cloud bank was just visible beyond the mountains.
“We might get some of that rain after all.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to spend some time at your of? ce today?”
“Dev left me her keys so I could use her truck. I can go in this afternoon.”
“Go ahead. I can handle things at the hospital.”
“It will be good to have him home.” Leslie slid off the banister and walked with
her mother toward the front door.
“It certainly will.”
“Are we still going to have the Fourth of July party Saturday night?”
“Of course. The guests always enjoy it, and so do the locals. I am going to have
some of the food catered this year, though, so all we have to do is make sure
the boathouse is in good shape.”
• 143 •
RADCLY fFE
“I’ll take care of overseeing that.”
Eileen squeezed Leslie’s hand. “I’m glad you came home. I’m sorry there’s
been so much for you to do here, but it still feels wonderful.”
“Every now and then, I actually forget I have another life.” Leslie laughed. “A
completely different life.”
“You seem very much yourself to me,” Eileen remarked, opening the door.
I never thought I’d say this, but I feel like myself here. Leslie looked over
her shoulder down the grassy slope to the boathouse and the lake beyond. A
few boats were out on the lake already. A few of the guests were walking along
the shore, some holding hands. The sun was impossibly bright, the sky incredibly
blue, the silvery surface of the lake hopelessly beautiful. In the back of her mind,
she heard Dev’s laughter. “Well, it is home, after all.”
v
Leslie sipped her coffee and opened another ? le. It was amazing how quickly
she’d slipped into work mode as soon as she’d reached the of? ce. This was
comfortable too—reviewing, analyzing, teasing out the critical facts from a
miasma of information. She felt as if she were hunting, pitting her skills against a
wily prey. To the strongest, or perhaps the smartest, went the victory, and she
liked being the victor.
She made some notes, scratched a memo to have her paralegal check several
rulings, and rose to get another cup of coffee.
“Excuse me, Ms. Harris,” the of? ce receptionist said, “but Mr.
Carpenter said we’re going to close early today because of the storm.
He wants to go secure his boat.” The pretty blonde laughed. “He’s totally weird
about that new boat.” Then as if just realizing that Leslie, although a visiting
attorney, was technically her boss, she blushed. “I mean, he’s—”
Leslie frowned. “Storm? What are you talking about?”
The blonde pointed to the window behind Leslie. “There’s some kind of freak
storm blowing in from the north. Like a summer Alberta Clipper, without the
snow. They’re predicting really high winds and—”
“Since when?” Leslie snapped, quickly pushing the ? les she’d been working on
into her briefcase.
“Oh, you know these weathermen. In the winter, they forecast
• 144 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
snow for a week and then we don’t get anything. Then, when something
important happens, like this, it’s a big surprise. Anyhow, it’s supposed to be a
big one and—”
Leslie didn’t hear the rest as she hurried from the room. She glanced at her
watch on her way out of the building. It was almost four in the afternoon. Her
mother and father would be home by now. She hoped. Outside, she faltered,
staring at the sky with a rising sense of dread. Overhead, the crystal blue of the
morning had given way to an ominous purple, and to the north, the sky was
nearly black with roiling storm clouds. It felt as if the temperature had dropped
twenty degrees since earlier in the day, and the air was oppressively heavy. Her
skin clammy, Leslie shivered and sprinted toward Dev’s truck. Flinging her
briefcase into the backseat, she slid behind the wheel and speed-dialed the
lodge at the same time. She was forty minutes from home if she pushed all the
way.
“Mom? What’s it like up there?”
“The wind is up and the lake looks nasty. It’s going to be a good blow. Where
are you?”
“On my way home.”
“They’re talking about trees down and power out. We aren’t expected to get hit
for another couple of hours yet, so you should be ? ne. Drive carefully.”
“What about Dev? Have you talked to her?” Leslie asked urgently.
Because she was out of radio range at the of? ce, she’d left the two-way in the
lodge for her mother to monitor.
“I was just about to call her.”
“Tell her I’ll be out to get her as soon as I get home.”
“Leslie, you can’t go out on the lake. The waves are two feet high already and
there’s a small craft warning.”
“She can’t stay out there in this!”
“I’ll call the forest rangers, then. You’re not going after her.”
“Fine. Call Natalie Evans in the Bolton Landing of? ce. Tell her she needs to go
get Devon. Call her right now.”
Leslie switched on the windshield wipers, although the rain, which had just
started, was still light. “Mom?”
“You just worry about driving. I’ll take care of things here.”
“Call me back as soon as you know what’s happening.” Leslie tossed the
BlackBerry onto the seat beside her. Thankfully, the Northway was relatively
clear of traf? c as everyone was trying to reach shelter,
• 145 •
RADCLY fFE
and she pushed Dev’s truck to eighty. Then she switched on the radio, watching
the road as she punched buttons in search of a local station.
Finally, she found the all-news station.
“…winds to ? fty miles an hour, small craft warnings on all regional waterways,
and heavy ? ooding expected on many of the secondary roadways. The
