Page 77 of Beautiful Dreamer

“What? Just because I called her dessert does not mean I’m not afan. I’ve never seen you smile the way you have lately.”

“Really?” she asked, quietly, knowing it was true.

KC nodded. “It’s the best.”

The door swung open and Devyn walked in, removing her sunglassesand allowing her eyes to adjust from the sunlight. Her gaze landed onElizabeth, and she moved toward her with purpose.

Right on cue, Elizabeth’s chest flooded with warmth and shegrinned. “This is a nice surprise. Are you here for a donut?”

Devyn glanced at the half-built pyramid and raised her eyebrows.“Oh. Um, no.” Her focus returned to Elizabeth. “You. You didn’t answer mytexts, so I drove around a bit until I saw your truck.”

“Has anyone ever called you resourceful?” She glanced at KC. “Thenagain, we do live in a small town.”

KC pointed at her in agreement. “It’s pretty hard to hide.”

Devyn didn’t look amused and seemed to ignore their exchangealtogether. “Do you have a minute?”

She was put-together Devyn again. The one Elizabeth had met whenshe’d first returned to town. Huh. Interesting.

“Of course,” She stood and pulled off the plastic baggies she’dbeen wearing as gloves. “Donut pyramids, man. You know how it is.” She smiled.“Hard to operate a phone.” The lighthearted comment fell flat. Devyn smiledbriefly, but it seemed like she didn’t have the emotional energy to sustain it,and that pulled Elizabeth’s focus. Her spidey sense fired, and her stomachmuscles flexed. “What’s going on?”

Devyn eased a hand into the back pocket of her slim-fitting blackpants. She was dressed nice. Too nice. Another clue. “I talked to my clientthis afternoon. Either I head back to Philly for good or he’s pulling thelisting on the entire building.”

“Oh.” She took a moment to process. “So you’d lose it all.”

“Everything. Which would be catastrophic in the scheme of mycareer. It’s not my call, but it is what it is.”

Elizabeth nodded while at the same time felt like the world wascrashing to the ground all around her. “Okay. So how much time do you have?”

Devyn shifted and hesitated.

Oh no. This wasn’t good. She felt the blood drain from her face.She clenched and unclenched her fists.

“I’m actually on my way to the airport now. I already said goodbyeto Jill.”

“As inrightnowright now?” Right then and there, everything in Elizabethdownshifted. Her thoughts didn’t formulate correctly. She couldn’t keep up withwhat was happening.

Devyn nodded. “I’ll be back at some point. Just need to get thisproject back on track somehow. Really buckle down and focus, the way I usedto.”

Elizabeth’s brain sputtered and stalled. She’d already picked outher outfit for dinner with Devyn that night, and this weekend they were goingto take a day trip to Hendersonville because it was known for some coolsecondhand furniture stores. Then they were going to stop at that cute wine barElizabeth had heard so much about. They wouldn’t get to do those things now,and that felt so very wrong. Not unjust, just inaccurate. Was that weird? Shewasn’t sure. What about Scout? Would Scout get that Devyn, her favorite person,her champion snuggler, was justgone?She ordered her brain to shut up and stay focused so she could think about thehere and now of the moment. “I don’t want you to go.” The words came easily,because there were none more true.

“I know, but I have to,” Devyn said, and smiled apologetically.Her guard was in place. Elizabeth could see that clear as day.

“Don’t. Just forget all about that building.” She made sure to adda playful tone to her delivery to muffle the desperation. Yet that was exactlyhow she felt: desperate, helpless, and as though she was about to losesomething too valuable to even articulate. What could she do to stop this?Everything in her cried out.

“You take care, KC,” Devyn said, and walked over and gave her ahug. She turned back to Elizabeth. “Walk me out?”

Oh, God. This really was it, wasn’t it? Pain arrived hot and fastright in the center of her chest, and her legs felt like lead as she followedDevyn to her rental. She smiled one last time at its ridiculous smallness.Devyn could have traded it in at any point in her trip but had admitted thatshe felt bonded to the little car after all they’d been through together.

Devyn fumbled with her sunglasses before raising her eyes toElizabeth’s. “Jill is okay because of you. I need you to know that. You have myeternal gratitude. You’re a good person, Elizabeth.”

“Not just me. No. Everyone was—”

“It was because ofyouwe found her. You and that wonderful dog of yours. I will never beable to repay you for that, but there’s so much more I have in here to say.”She touched her chest. “But maybe it’s for the best that I don’t.”

“Okay,” Elizabeth said, catching her wrist. “The next time we seeeach other, maybe.”

Devyn nodded and popped her sunglasses on, blocking Elizabeth’swindow into her emotional state. “I’ll call you soon.”

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