her without being seen.
A woman partially illuminated in moonlight stood beside Leslie, an arm curved
loosely around Leslie’s waist. There was no doubt about their relationship. The
woman held Leslie with an easy familiarity and subtle possessiveness.
Dev blinked as sweat ran into her eyes, but she couldn’t look away. She’d
never seen Leslie with a woman. She’d seen her with Mike, hundreds of times.
At football games, at dances, on the beach.
Mike had touched Leslie as if she were his too, but Dev had never
• 197 •
RADCLY fFE
believed it. Leslie had always held herself apart, always saved what was so
essentially Leslie for the moments when she and Dev were alone together.
Tonight was different. Tonight, a woman stood by Leslie’s side and the truth
was apparent. Leslie was with who she should be with, and Dev was not the
one she had chosen. As Dev watched, the copper-haired woman inclined her
head and kissed Leslie. The tie that had bound Dev to Leslie all her life snapped
with the fragile grace of a simple kiss.
As if Leslie felt it too, she pulled her head away and half turned in Dev’s
direction. Dev knew Leslie couldn’t see her across the crowded ? oor, in near
darkness, but for just an instant, she felt their eyes meet.
She whispered, Goodbye, Leslie, and this time, she meant it.
Dev strode from the boathouse, veering off at the end of the concrete ramp
toward the shore. A faint breeze came off the lake and she tilted her head up to
cool the sweat on her face.
“Dev!”
Dev looked over her shoulder and saw Leslie hurrying along the sand toward
her.
“Go back inside, Les,” Dev said, walking away.
“I can’t.”
Leslie’s voice was barely a whisper carried on the wind, but the pain was so
clear that Dev felt it in her heart. She stopped to face her.
“You don’t belong out here with me, Les.”
Leslie’s anguished face was so vulnerable in the moonlight that Dev ached to
hold her, but her anger was greater than her grief. Leslie stepped close to Dev
and touched her ? ngertips ever so gently to Dev’s cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t
mean for you to see that.”
“Why not?” Dev caught Leslie’s hand and jerked it away, more roughly than she
intended. “She’s your lover. Go back inside.”
“I know things have been crazy this summer, but—”
“This summer?” Dev laughed harshly. “No, what’s been crazy is everything up
until this summer.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand.” Leslie didn’t understand anything.
She didn’t understand why, when she’d looked up to see Dev watching Rachel
kiss her, everything inside of her had grown cold. Why the entire room had
disappeared until all she could see was Dev’s face and the pain in her eyes.
Why she’d made a feeble excuse about needing to check on her father and had
run out into the night after Dev. But she couldn’t just let her walk away. Could
she?
• 198 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
“I’ve been in love with you all my life,” Dev said, “and it wasn’t until this summer
that I realized I was just holding on to a dream that had died a long time ago.”
Dev shook with bitterness and anger. “You walked away, Leslie. You made a
life, disappeared from mine, and I still couldn’t let you go. Now that’s crazy.”
“Dev,” Leslie said desperately. “It’s not that I didn’t care.”
“I loved you,” Dev said, her voice breaking. “Oh, God, I loved you with my
whole soul.” She turned her face away, refusing to let Leslie see the tears that
streaked her cheeks, but her body trembled as the next words tore their way
out from deep inside her. “And you left me.”
“Oh my God,” Leslie whispered, crying herself. “You don’t know how it killed
me to lose you.”
Dev’s head snapped around, her body rigid. “No. I don’t know.
Because you were gone.” Her hands tightened into ? sts at her side.
“And you’re still gone. Go back to your lover.”
“But I love y—”
“No! Don’t say that. Don’t!” Dev gripped Leslie’s shoulders and shook her
hard enough to make her gasp. “I’m done dreaming.”
Leslie cried out and Dev realized her ? ngers had to be bruising Leslie’s
shoulders. She pulled her hands away as if they burned and stumbled back a
step. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m all right.”
Dev shook her head. “I’m sorry for all of it.” Then she escaped into the dark,
leaving the dream to fade away on the hot summer air.
Leslie called her name, but Dev didn’t stop. Running, her legs cramping and her
breath little more than a sob by the time she reached her cabin, she still took the
stairs two at a time. Inside, she quickly scooped up her keys. Then she was
racing down the path to the parking lot. She wasn’t spending the night in the
cabin with Leslie and her lover next door. She didn’t trust herself to see them
together again. Right now she was numb, but she didn’t know how long it would
last. And her anger was even more frightening than the pain.
• 199 •
• 200 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
As Leslie threaded her way through the waning crowd toward Rachel, she gave
silent thanks for the dim lighting. She didn’t want Rachel to know she’d been
crying. How would she ever be able to explain what had just happened? She
never talked about her past with Rachel. Rachel didn’t know anything about
Dev, or Mike, or what had happened. Rachel would think she’d had some kind
of a breakdown if she told her she was crying over a teenage love affair that she
hadn’t even realized was happening at the time. Except her tears had been for
more than the loss of that innocent love. She was losing Dev, and she couldn’t
think about that right now. Not with Rachel here, and her shoulders still burning
where Dev had gripped her. She needed some space from both of them, to
think her way through what had happened.
Once she was home, back on familiar ground, she’d make sense of it all.
Taking a deep breath, Leslie edged up to Rachel. “I’m back. Did I miss
anything?”
“Nothing that looked quite as entertaining as what I have planned for you,”
