Page 28 of Beautiful Dreamer

“Shut up and hug me,” Devyn said. She pulled Cricket into aone-armed tight embrace and turned to Lisa, who she’d heard was a Mary Kayconsultant now. Made sense, as her makeup had always been perfection. “Good tosee ya, Lees. It’s been too long.”

“We wondered when you’d shuffle back to the little ol’ Bay.” Shefrowned. “Sorry the circumstances had to be what they are. We were all sad tohear.”

“Me, too. But Jill’s doing better each day. Slowly on the mend.”In fact, after some tips from her PT instructor, Jill felt confident enough tospend the evening on her own, freeing Devyn up to get together with her oldfriends. It was a big step for Jill, but Devyn would make sure to text herseveral times throughout the evening to be sure she was okay.

“We’re so glad to hear that,” Lisa said, in a hushed tone andemotional hand to her heart. “Bless her heart, she’s been through so much.”

Coco, the short and spunky one of the group who used to top theircheerleading pyramids, hopped off her barstool, offered a salute, and grabbedDevyn around the waist for a playful bear hug. “You haven’t lost yourstrength,” Devyn said with a laugh, hugging her old friend as she shuffled sideto side.

When she released her, Coco tossed her shoulder-length dark hairand flexed. “CrossFit four times a week, inspired by two kids and a messydivorce. Working on getting back in the dating saddle and thinking about thatone over there.” She nodded to a blond guy in an Armani shirt at the bar,nursing a beer. Most likely a tourist. Very few locals wore Armani in a beachtown.

Devyn winked. “I have faith in your comeback.”

Heather was the last to greet her. Always the most beautiful andjudgmental of the group, she gave Devyn a calm once-over. “You’re lookinggood,” she said cautiously, as they hugged, never one to dish out too manycompliments. In Heather’s eyes, doing so made her relinquish control. She’dconfessed as much growing up. Seemed things hadn’t changed.

“I appreciate that. So do you,” Devyn said. Heather’s dark blondhair fell a little longer than was customary for a woman over twenty-two, butHeather wore it well. She still looked great. Coco’s guy-at-the bar passedHeather a glance, and she smiled demurely and turned away. Same old Heather. Afriend to your face and stealing your boyfriend the very next minute. Cocohadn’t seemed to notice.

“Sit, sit,” Cricket said, kicking out a chair at their table.

“What can I get you?” the waiter asked. Devyn surveyed the fourpink Zinfandels already on the table, and felt the pressure to conform. Whatwas that about? She was back in town a few weeks and already losing heridentity. It felt eerily familiar and awful.

“Scotch, neat,” she told him, finding her footing. “The goodkind.” He nodded and scurried away, probably to find out if they even carriedscotch. Dreamer’s Bay, in its simplicity, was more of a beer and wine kind of aplace.

“Since when do you drink straight whiskey?” Cricket asked,seemingly shocked and impressed.

Devyn smiled, her polite muscle in place. “Just a thing I pickedup.”

“Very city girl of you,” Lisa said, and sipped from her wine. “Myhusband, Len, drinks scotch when his week’s been a rough one.”

“Elliot, too,” Cricket exclaimed. “Though he prefers bourbon. Whenhe gets home and pours the bourbon, I just know. Steer clear.”

Devyn resisted the urge to wince as the conversation shifted tothe three remaining husbands and their feelings about alcohol, sports, lawncare, and parenting. If they’d somehow slipped back to the 1960s, she wishedsomeone would have notified her. Ten minutes later, they were still at it.

“Elliot can’t stand it when people traipse across the lawn whenthere’s a perfectly good sidewalk right there. Drives him insane. He does thatthing where he huffs a lot about it.” She demonstrated the huffing.

“Talk about inconsiderate,” Coco said, nodding earnestly alongwith the demo.

“Len is the same way,” Lisa said. “What gets him going is when theice cream man comes ting-a-linging along well past eight in the evening. Whoneeds ice cream once the kiddies start going to sleep anyway?” She shook herhead in Len solidarity.

Devyn smiled blandly, feeling more and more numb to theconversation. Was this all these four really talked about? Had it always beenthis way? It had, she realized. They’d always been boy crazy, and though she’dplayed along, she’d secretly been dreaming of so much more than snagging a manand settling down. That’s what this town did to you, though. These women werethe perfect, sad examples. What about their own hopes and dreams?

“What about you, Dev? We’re going on and on and you’re pretty muchthe main attraction here.”

She swallowed her scotch and let it burn. She gave her head aslight shake as it made its way down. “Me? What about me?”

“You seeing anyone?” Heather asked, leaning her chin on her palmcasually.

“Yeah, what are the men like in Philadelphia?” Coco asked.

“The men are fine,” Devyn said, nonchalantly. “I just don’t datethem.” She glanced at the faces and realized they honestly knew very littleabout her. Well, it was time to fill them in. “I’m gay. You guys knew that,right?”

Coco blinked, and Lisa sputtered over her pink wine as discreetlyas possible, but Devyn didn’t move a muscle. This wasn’t a big deal. This wasjust her life, only now the details were a little different from what they’dpreviously known.

“I’d heard a rumor,” Cricket said. Aha. So, apparently Devyn justconfirmed what they’d already suspected. She watched Cricket rebound from herinitial, uninhibited reaction with a festive burst of energy. “Well, that’sjust fantastic. Really exciting. We needed a lesbian in our group, and now wehave one. Diversity rocks.” Devyn studied the faces of the others, who noddedenthusiastically along like overly made-up bobble heads. Did they? Had theybeen longing for a lesbian friend all along? She tried not to smilepatronizingly.

“Any special lady?” Cricket asked.

“Nope,” she said, setting her glass on the table. “Been living thesingle life for a while now. I go out. Nothing too serious. Not a lot of timefor romance with my job. Maybe someday, though.”

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