Page 101 of The House Beyond the Dunes

“Made it yesterday. It’s my defense against the January 1 hangover.” She slices two pieces from the cake and sets a plate in front of me with a fork.

I take a small bite. It’s too sweet for me. “Thank you. It’s delicious.”

She raises a fork with cake to her mouth but pauses. “I saw you out walking this morning. You were in the woods.”

Cake in my mouth forces me to chew faster and swallow before I can speak. “Really?”

She winks. “Not much happens in the woods without me seeing it.”

During my walk, I’d kept my head on a swivel and didn’t see houses, only thick green woods. “Where do you live exactly?”

“It’s a trailer. Tucked in the woods across from Kyle’s old house. It’s very hard to see from the road.”

“I didn’t notice it.”

“Few do.” She pops cake in her mouth and grins.

“I was trying to clear my head. I’ll be leaving tomorrow, so I wanted one last look around the area.”

Her body tenses a little. “That’s why you climbed the steps and peeked in the window?”

Ah, the real reason for the coffee cake. “I’m curious about Kyle. This is my chance to get to know him a little.”

She arches a brow. “And what did you learn?”

The chair and rope flash in my mind. “He was a self-made man. Well liked and loved. Accomplished. I respect that.”

“He was the whole package,” Devon says. “Smart, good looking, successful. I don’t know where I’d be now if it wasn’t for him.”

“I can see you were very fond of him,” I say. Under years of sun damage, drinking, and drugging, she’s still a striking woman. While Devon and Kyle were young, I imagine her skin was likely sun kissed and her blond hair was smooth and soft, not brittle as straw. Life has not been easy for Devon.

“Yeah, of course,” she rushes to say. “I loved him. It hit me this morning that he’s really gone. Even when I was cleaning up his blood on Friday night, I kept telling myself he was alive and being airlifted to the hospital in Norfolk. I kept saying the doctors were fixing him up.”

I can hear her sorrow. “I’m sorry.”

Tears well in her eyes and slide down her cheeks as she plucks a string off her flannel cuff. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now. I’m not sure I know how to live knowing he’s gone.” Her wordscarry a raw, naked truth that she quickly covers up with a smile. “That sounds very dark. I didn’t mean that.”

Devon meant exactly what she’s said. She’s terrified of a life without him. I’ve seen the fear in the girls in my circle when they break up with an abusive boyfriend. I’ve seen it in my own eyes when I’m telling myself I’m doing okay.

“I’m sure he was grateful for your love and devotion,” I say.

“Sometimes he was. Sometimes he wasn’t.”

I let silence coax her into speaking more.

“I was jealous when he told me he was bringing you up here. He’s not had a woman up here since the summer.” She stabs another piece of cake. “We had such a fun fall, and I was beginning to think he had figured out I loved him.”

My mind races to last summer, Stevie and Nikki. “He couldn’t have been serious about whoever he brought here last summer. I mean, she’s not in the picture now.”

“I think he liked her,” Devon said. “He was definitely obsessed with her.”

I struggle to keep my voice light. “Did they break up?”

“I guess. The next time he came, she didn’t.” Her voice is full of triumph.

Without her saying, I sense Kyle and Devon have been lovers on and off since they were teens. Kyle might’ve seen Devon as a convenience, but she saw him as her everything. “I’m glad you two had a nice time.”

She takes a big bite of cake and chews it slowly. “Jealous? I mean, does it bother you knowing I loved Kyle?”

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