As Hadley veered through thecrowd, people on all sides called out hellos to her. She elbowed a couple outof the way and took the last two remaining seats in front of the bar.
“You’re popular,” Devon muttered,plopping down in the seat next to her.
Hadley had always been popularthough. She radiated energy, and people seemed to gravitate toward herspontaneous personality. Hadley always seemed to be going, going, going andwaiting for life to catch up with her. Devon had missed Hadley’s fast-pacedmindset.
Hadley just shrugged with aconfident smile on her face. “Ay! Walker!” she called, leaning over the edgeof the bar. When he didn’t immediately respond she called out again,“Brennan!”
The bartender turned in theirdirection and shot Hadley an exasperated expression. He was good-looking inthe she-shouldn’t-go-anywhere-near-that kind of way. He had devious eyes and aknowing smile that made Devon wonder what secrets he had tucked up hissleeves. He wore a barback uniform of black slacks and a white button-uprolled up to his elbows with a towel slung over his shoulder. His brown hairwas styled in a way that made it appear he hadn’t spent any time on it.
“Gimme me a minute, Hadley. I’mwith a customer,” Brennan called.
“What do I look like?” she askedwith a sassy smile.
“An annoyance,” he said loudenough for everyone to hear.
While the other customerssnickered like this interaction was commonplace, Devon was having a hard timepeeling her eyes off of the bartender.
He definitely has bad newswritten all over his pretty face, she thought
Hadley huffed but slumped backinto her seat with a roll of her eyes. “He’s always like this. You can’t gethis attention even when it’s not this busy.”
Devon nodded, feeling completelyout of her depth in the big city.
A couple minutes later, Brennanwalked over to them and rested his forearms on the front of the bar. He cockeda smile like he owned the place. “The usual?”
“Yeah.” As Brennan began pouringher drink, Hadley continued, “This is my friend Devon. She’s here visiting onher summer break.”
“Hey,” he said, tipping his headat her while he mixed the drinks. “I’m Brennan.”
“Hey,” Devon murmured back,meeting his gaze.
“Where ya from?” He slidHadley’s drink toward her and began making another.
“Well, I go to Wash U in St.Louis, but my parents live in Nashville,” she told him.
He slid a mostly clear drinkacross the bar to her. Devon cautiously picked it up.
“You don’t seem much like aSouthern belle to me,” he observed.
“You’d be surprised,” Hadley buttedin. “Her parents work in the country music industry. She’s a Southern bellethrough and through.”
“Huh,” he said as ifcontemplating this information.
Then, he just shrugged hisshoulders like he had come to a conclusion. Devon wondered what it was.
“Well, you two having dinner?”
“Yeah,” Hadley told him. “I’llhave the chicken, and she’s going to want the shrimp.”
Devon glanced over at her infrustration. They hadn’t even looked at a menu.
“I promise you’ll like it, Dev. Don’t worry!”
Brennan nodded and then left togo put in their orders. Devon noticed he wasn’t bad to look at from thebackside either.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Hadleycried, throwing her arms around Devon. “I have so much to show you. How longcan I keep you?”
“Oh,” Devon began, not yetfiguring out how to have this conversation, “only for a week or so probably.”
“Well, when is your returnticket?” Hadley asked.
“I didn’t get one,” Devon said.
It was totally something Devonwould have never done. She always came with a plan, but this hadn’t beenplanned. She had decided she was leaving, and then she had left. She hadneeded to get away and leave the life that was haunting her, destroying her. It hadn’t been an easy decision.
But she couldn’t tell Hadley anyof that. Devon was so happy to see her friend, and maybe all she needed was aweek or so for things to get better. She couldn’t run away from her lifeforever even if she wanted to.
“Whoa!” Hadley cried, putting herhand on Devon’s forehead. “You’re turning into me. How is Reid taking all ofthis?”
“Oh, Reid’s fine,” Devon toldher. “He’s, you know, perfect.”
Hadley gagged. “If that boycould get any more perfect, I’d fall dead.”
Devon offered a stilted laugh. “Yeah, me too.”
“I’m just surprised he didn’tbring his ass with you. You two were connected at the hip last year.”
“Well, he’s spending a lot oftime at home in Kansas City. Plus, he has to start applying to med schoolsthis year. I know he wants to go to Wash U since his dad is a legacy. It’sone of the best in the country, but he’s also applying elsewhere,” Devoninformed her, feeling like she’d had this conversation too many times already.
“That just means I get you all tomyself,” Hadley said, grabbing Devon’s arm and pulling her close. “Lucky me.”
“Yep. Lucky you,” Devonresponded, wincing.
DEVON STARED AT the impossibly tall,circular buildings where Hadley lived. She said the complex was called MarinaCity. All Devon knew was that it was way nicer than any place she expected tolive in after graduation. The two buildings boasted the House of Blues, afull-scale hotel, and a working marina where people could dock their boats. Itwas all a bit overwhelming.
“Come on,” Hadley laughed atDevon while dragging her through the residential entranceway toward theelevator.
They took the elevator up to theforty-third floor where it deposited them on a rounded track leading toHadley’s apartment. She jiggled the key into place and stepped inside. Following close behind, Devon took in the small apartment.
It wasn’t much bigger than herapartment in St. Louis, and based on the location, Devon was pretty sure itcost triple what she was paying. The layout resembled a slice of a pie, withhallways on each side of the entrance leading into bedrooms, a small kitchenoff to the right, and an L-shaped living room with a conjoined dining room. The best part was obviously the view through the floor-to-ceiling glass wallthat led out onto the balcony, overlooking Michigan Avenue, Grant Park, theChicago River, and beyond to Lake Michigan.
Being the Windy City and all,Devon briefly wondered how cold it got up here in the winter. She
