“No,” Dev said, forcing a smile though her face felt numb. “No trouble at all.”
• 36 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
CHAPTER FOUR
Ten minutes before the Amtrak Adirondack was expected to arrive in
Rensselaer, Dev pulled into a parking slot opposite the metal stairs leading down
from the train tracks. She sat watching the platform, ? ngers curled around the
steering wheel as if to ground herself ? rmly in the present, wondering if she
would recognize the girl who had ? lled her heart and dreams for so long, grown
into a woman now. Had she known it was Leslie arriving in need of a ride when
she’d talked with Eileen Harris, she wouldn’t have volunteered to pick her up.
She doubted it would be a comfortable ride back for either of them.
Even though her ? rst thought had been of Leslie when she’d received the
memo outlining the details and location of her new assignment, she hadn’t
seriously expected to run into her over the summer. The last time she’d been in
the area—on a one-night stopover six years before to wish her parents well in
their move to a retirement community in Florida—she’d made careful inquiries
about Leslie Harris with some of the locals. The story had always been the
same.
Leslie was one of the young, ambitious up-and-comers who had left the
provincial village never to return, and no one could recall seeing her in years.
Like Dev, she had moved on.
Leslie’s mother had said she was an attorney in Manhattan.
Dev remembered all the hours Leslie had spent explaining to her about
landscape architecture and how she wanted to create outdoor environments
where people could live in harmony with nature. She was going to come back to
the lake area and open a practice. Maybe work with the park services. It
sounded inspiring and meaningful, and Dev had fallen a little bit more in love with
her every time they talked
• 37 •
RADCLY fFE
about it. She had had no such grand designs for her own life, but Leslie hadn’t
seemed to think less of her for it. When Dev had mumbled that she didn’t have
any plans, Leslie had just smiled and said there was plenty of time to decide.
Leslie had apparently made different choices after she’d left Bolton Landing for
Yale. Dev doubted she would recognize the idealistic young girl now. At any
rate, she would soon know, because a series of whistle blows alerted Dev to the
train arriving. A sudden case of nerves set her stomach jittering as she watched
the passengers exit the station.
She’d been wrong about not recognizing her. Leslie had changed, just as Dev
had, but Dev knew her the instant she started down the stairs, an expensivelooking
leather briefcase swinging from a strap over one shoulder and a suitcase
in the other hand. She was far thinner than Dev ever remembered her being, her
face and body sculpted by maturity. An atmosphere of tension surrounded her.
Even at a distance her body seemed tightly coiled, wary and alert—predatory.
Up close, her blue eyes were cool and appraising. She was beautiful in a way
she hadn’t been as a teenager, the innocence having given way to razor-sharp
elegance. But for just a second Dev saw the air shimmering around her and
imagined she felt the tug of the invisible string that had once connected them.
As Dev stepped from the truck, she reminded herself that that tie had only been
in her mind and that it had been irrevocably severed long ago.
v
Leslie stopped at the curb and scanned the parking lot for her mother’s ancient
Jeep. Rensselaer was not a busy stop on the train route, and there were only a
handful of cars waiting. Her mother’s wasn’t among them.
“Damn,” she muttered, sliding her hand into her briefcase and unerringly closing
her ? ngers around her BlackBerry. She’d just pulled up the lodge number,
since her mother didn’t have a cell phone, when someone spoke her name.
Startled, Leslie looked up into hazel eyes that she knew better than her own and
tumbled back in time ? fteen years.
• 38 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
Leslie wasn’t all that surprised that the party was turning into a drag. Mike
was drinking too much as usual and generally being an asshole. Fortunately, he
was off playing pool and at least leaving her alone for the time being. She hated
it when he put on a big show of making out with her in public. As if she was
going to let him feel her up in front of all his buddies. Yeah right.
Restless, not knowing why, she left him to his game and drifted away from the
crowd. It was so hot and stuffy in the room and the beer was already too warm
and she knew she should be having a good time, but she wasn’t. She was sad.
She shouldn’t be sad, and that just made it worse. She’d just graduated from
high school at the top of her class and she was going to a great college.
Everything was turning out just the way she’d hoped. Well, Mike wasn’t going
to the same school.
His grades weren’t good enough. But he wouldn’t be that far away and she
didn’t really mind if she didn’t see him all that often anyhow.
Sometimes, she was glad that she’d be with new people who didn’t know her.
It felt almost as if she’d be starting her life all over again, and that part was
exciting.
So why was she so sad?
She unlatched the huge wooden-paned window, swung it out over the water,
and climbed up onto the broad sill. She leaned her head back as the breeze
washed over her and watched the moon ? it in and out between the clouds. It
was amazing how bright the night sky could be.
It wasn’t really black at all, more like a dark, dark blue. It was beautiful.
She’d miss the lake and the woods and the way the air smelled like it had never
been breathed before. And there was something more important that she would
miss. Something she knew she should understand, but she couldn’t ? nd the
words. Every time she tried, all she felt was frustration and, oddly, fear. That
was just crazy and, besides, she could always come back, so there was no
reason to feel sad about anything.
Leslie jumped at the sudden cold on her leg and heard the voice she been
waiting for all night but hadn’t expected to hear.
“Dev! I thought you said you weren’t coming.”
Even in the moonlight, the smile in Dev’s eyes was clear. As Leslie reached for
the beer, her ? ngers glanced over Dev’s, and although she gave it no more than
an instant’s thought, she felt her sadness wash away.
• 39 •
RADCLY fFE
