Devon rolled her eyes as thetraffic light changed. They walked across the street and down a set of stairsto the lake. The water was choppy from the wind and the boats out in theharbor. Off in the distance, the Navy Pier looked crowded, and the Ferriswheel turned slowly, stopping every few feet to let passengers on and off. Runners crisscrossed the path, and a couple was rollerblading hand-in-hand. Itwas a rather picturesque day.
“Stay here a minute,” Garrettsaid before rushing away.
Devon sighed and pulled out hernotebook again. Now that he was gone, she reread what she had written by TheBean. She studied the words and the tone that they had taken. Everythingseemed to drift back to the moment that had pushed her over the edge.
Thumbing back to the day after ithad happened, she saw the faint bumps in the paper that signified where herteardrops had fallen onto the page. They marred half the page, and as sheskimmed the words, she felt a lump form in her throat. The memories andemotions were as all too much. Why was she actively reliving it? Shecouldn’t seem to get away, and half the time, she didn’t think she wanted to.
She took a few minutes to composeherself before Garrett returned.
Carrying two Popsicles, he smiledbrightly at her. “Hope you like strawberry because I’m taking theblueberry-lime,” he said, offering her the red Popsicle.
“My favorite,” Devon told himwith a big smile. He got us popsicles? Cute. “What’s this for?”
“I thought it would be easy onyour stomach,” he said, shrugging. “One of my favorite pastimes. I used tocome here a lot when I was younger with my parents. We’d eat Popsicles and siton the edge of the water. So…sit.”
Devon smiled even bigger. Shewas glad that Garrett was talking about himself and not her for a change. Shesat next to him on the ledge and dangled her feet toward the water, enjoyingthe beginning of summer.
The beginning of a new life.
GARRETT DROPPED DEVON at Jenn’sRestaurant to wait for Hadley to get off work. He was working the night shiftand needed to get ready, but he felt bad about leaving Devon alone in theapartment on such a nice day. He had given her his spare key in case shedecided to go to the apartment. She didn’t intend to though. Devon figuredshe would wait until Hadley got off work, and then they could head backtogether. She didn’t feel comfortable being at their apartment all byherself. She was just a guest.
Her stomach grumbled, remindingher that she had only eaten a piece of toast and a Popsicle all day. She andGarrett had walked for hours. He was a great tour guide, giving her moreinformation about buildings and events than she likely ever needed to know. Garrett had lived in Chicago nearly his whole life, and he had only left forthe four years of college. Devon hadn’t been surprised to find out he had goneto George Washington in D.C. Although he had money written all over him,surprisingly, he seemed down-to-earth. She wished that combination happenedmore often.
Jenn’s wasn’t as busy as it hadbeen the last time Devon had walked inside. Everyone must have still beenworking at this early hour. She suspected it would start to get crowded closerto five o’clock.
Hadley had a pretty sweet set-upat her job. She always got off work early on Fridays. Plus, she didn’t haveto go in at all on the weekends. Hadley had said she would be happy to showDevon around the parts of the city that Garrett had missed during the morningshift. Devon hadn’t decided what she wanted to do, but she knew she wouldthink of something in the meantime.
Sitting down in the same stool asshe had the day before, Devon leaned her elbows heavily on the countertop andwaited for someone to materialize. She noticed a waitress helping a customerin a booth against the wall. The woman looked like she had been working theresince the place had opened forty years earlier. Yet, she still wore the sameuniform as the younger waitresses—a short black skirt, a white top unbuttonedto reveal cleavage, white tube socks, and tennis shoes. She couldn’t be theonly one working, right?
The woman scooped up the menusfrom the other customers and then walked toward the back door. Looking over atDevon, she smiled with a sincerity she likely didn’t feel. “Someone will beright with you, hon.”
She walked through the swingingdoor into the kitchen. Devon wondered if she was now yelling at someone to dohis job. It was what she probably would have done when she had worked at arestaurant. At least, she would have grumbled to herself about how she was theonly one working.
During the previous summers,Devon had worked part-time as a waitress to earn a little extra cash. Shealways had something she wanted to spend her money on, and she felt bad askingher parents for anything more than they had given her. They were alreadypaying for her education and room and board, so she didn’t feel like she couldask for more.
A minute later, a disgruntled manwalked out of the back room, yelling something at the waitress behind him. Devon had been right. When he turned around, Devon smiled, realizing it wasBrennan. She was happy to see a familiar face in a sea of the unfamiliar. Chicago was a huge step for her, and she had a lot of adjusting to do.
“You been helped?” Brennan movedbottles around, barely glancing up at her.
“No, I haven’t,” Devon told him,waiting for him to recognize her.
“What’ll you have?” He ran atowel under the faucet and then mopped under the drip mat.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen amenu.” She pulled out her pen from her back pocket and absentmindedly flippedit between her fingers.
He grabbed a menu for her andslapped it down on the counter. He walked away without even asking her forher drink order. Hadley had been right; getting Brennan’s attention was hardeven when the restaurant was empty.
She watched him for a second,knowing that he wasn’t paying any attention to her. He was bobbing his head,his dark hair moving effortlessly.
