Hadley was right about the restaurant. It wasn’t anything fancy, but the place was slammed. It was on the smaller side, and all the tables and booths were full of young professionals still in their suits after leaving work. Although some had stripped down to their button-up shirts, Devon felt woefully underdressed even if the atmosphere was welcoming.
As Hadley veered through the crowd, people on all sides called out hellos to her. She elbowed a couple out of 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 popular though. She radiated energy, and people seemed to gravitate toward her spontaneous personality. Hadley always seemed to be going, going, going and waiting for life to catch up with her. Devon had missed Hadley’s fast-paced mindset.
Hadley just shrugged with a confident smile on her face. “Ay! Walker!” she called, leaning over the edge of the bar. When he didn’t immediately respond she called out again, “Brennan!”
The bartender turned in their direction and shot Hadley an exasperated expression. He was good-looking in the she-shouldn’t-go-anywhere-near-that kind of way. He had devious eyes and a knowing smile that made Devon wonder what secrets he had tucked up his sleeves. He wore a barback uniform of black slacks and a white button-up rolled up to his elbows with a towel slung over his shoulder. His brown hair was styled in a way that made it appear he hadn’t spent any time on it.
“Gimme me a minute, Hadley. I’m with a customer,” Brennan called.
“What do I look like?” she asked with a sassy smile.
“An annoyance,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.
While the other customers snickered like this interaction was commonplace, Devon was having a hard time peeling her eyes off of the bartender.
He definitely has bad news written all over his pretty face, she thought
Hadley huffed but slumped back into her seat with a roll of her eyes. “He’s always like this. You can’t get his attention even when it’s not this busy.”
Devon nodded, feeling completely out of her depth in the big city.
A couple minutes later, Brennan walked over to them and rested his forearms on the front of the bar. He cocked a smile like he owned the place. “The usual?”
“Yeah.” As Brennan began pouring her drink, Hadley continued, “This is my friend Devon. She’s here visiting on her summer break.”
“Hey,” he said, tipping his head at her while he mixed the drinks. “I’m Brennan.”
“Hey,” Devon murmured back, meeting his gaze.
“Where ya from?” He slid Hadley’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 drink across the bar to her. Devon cautiously picked it up.
“You don’t seem much like a Southern belle to me,” he observed.
“You’d be surprised,” Hadley butted in. “Her parents work in the country music industry. She’s a Southern belle through and through.”
“Huh,” he said as if contemplating this information.
Then, he just shrugged his shoulders like he had come to a conclusion. Devon wondered what it was.
“Well, you two having dinner?”
“Yeah,” Hadley told him. “I’ll have the chicken, and she’s going to want the shrimp.”
Devon glanced over at her in frustration. They hadn’t even looked at a menu.
“I promise you’ll like it, Dev. Don’t worry!”
Brennan nodded and then left to go put in their orders. Devon noticed he wasn’t bad to look at from the backside either.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Hadley cried, throwing her arms around Devon. “I have so much to show you. How long can I keep you?”
“Oh,” Devon began, not yet figuring out how to have this conversation, “only for a week or so probably.”
“Well, when is your return ticket?” Hadley asked.
“I didn’t get one,” Devon said.
It was totally something Devon would have never done. She always came with a plan, but this hadn’t been planned. She had decided she was leaving, and then she had left. She had needed 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 any of that. Devon was so happy to see her friend, and maybe all she needed was a week or so for things to get better. She couldn’t run away from her life forever even if she wanted to.
“Whoa!” Hadley cried, putting her hand on Devon’s forehead. “You’re turning into me. How is Reid taking all of this?”
“Oh, Reid’s fine,” Devon told her. “He’s, you know, perfect.”
Hadley gagged. “If that boy could get any more perfect, I’d fall dead.”
Devon offered a stilted laugh. “Yeah, me too.”
“I’m just surprised he didn’t bring his ass with you. You two were connected at the hip last year.”
“Well, he’s spending a lot of time at home in Kansas City. Plus, he has to start applying to med schools this year. I know he wants to go to Wash U since his dad is a legacy. It’s one of the best in the country, but he’s also applying elsewhere,” Devon informed her, feeling like she’d had this conversation too many times already.
“That just means I get you all to myself,” Hadley said, grabbing Devon’s arm and pulling her close. “Lucky me.”
“Yep. Lucky you,” Devon responded, wincing.
Chapter Two - Home Sweet Home
DEVON STARED AT the impossibly tall, circular buildings where Hadley lived. She said the complex was called Marina City. All Devon knew was that it was way nicer than any place she expected to live in after graduation. The two buildings boasted the House of Blues, a full-scale hotel, and a working marina where people could dock their boats. It was all a bit overwhelming.
“Come on,” Hadley laughed at Devon while dragging her through the residential entranceway toward the elevator.
They took the elevator up to the forty-third floor where it deposited them on a rounded track leading to Hadley’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 her apartment in St. Louis, and based on the location, Devon was pretty sure it cost triple what she was paying. The layout resembled a slice of a pie, with hallways on each side of the entrance leading into bedrooms, a small kitchen off 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 wall that led out onto the balcony, overlooking Michigan Avenue, Grant Park, the Chicago 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 was cold enough in St. Louis without being forty-three floors high.
“Make yourself at home. Garrett won’t be back for another hour or so. I hate how late he works, but at least it’s not the night shift. I hate when he has to work the night shift.” Hadley tossed her bag onto the couch and turned to face Devon. “We have an extra bedroom if you go through the door on the left. You can put your things in there.”
“Thanks,” Devon said, walking into the guest bedroom. She placed her bag at the foot of the queen-size bed and stared around the room.
Devon could tell that Hadley had decorated this room. It didn’t look like anything a guy would have put together. Long white panel curtains hung from the glass wall, which opened to its own balcony. The bed had a pretty patterned quilt on it with a couple of matching pillows. A dark wooden five-drawer dresser sat against another wall, and large paintings of flowered landscapes were displayed around the room.
Walking toward the balcony, she flipped the lock, slid back the door, and walked out onto the platform. It was really a very pretty view. So much to see and so little time, Devon thought.
She pulled out her phone from her pocket to check her email. She immediately deleted a newsletter from Wash U along with a series of spam emails. As her finger lingered over the next one, she bit her bottom lip, indecision creasing her forehead. She really wanted to read it, but she couldn’t do it.
Not having the courage to just delete the email, she moved it to a separate folder. Out of sight, out of mind.
Just as she was scrolling to the next email, her phone lit up. She stared down at the screen, letting it ring a few more times, before steeling herself and answering.
“Hey, Mama,” Devon said.
“Hey, Dixie!” her mom cheerfully called into the phone.
“Mom,” Devon complained, “it’s just Devon now.”
“You’ll always be my Dixie girl,” her mother drawled.
Devon was pretty sure she would never convince her mother otherwise. “I know, but can’t you just give it a try? You named me after all.”
“Why do you have to be so difficult? Dustin and Dani don’t seem to have your propensities.”
“You must have screwed me up real good,” Devon joked.
“Always have to blame me,” her mother said.
“It’s not like it’s Dad’s fault.”
“Oh, shush! You know I just miss you,” her mom said, tears spilling into her voice.
“Miss you, too, Mom,” Devon said softly.
“When are you coming home? Reid can’t steal you for the entire summer. Your father and I have a big event in July, and we’d really like you to come. I know you’ll want to bring him. It’s so close to your birthday, and we’d like to celebrate with you, honey.”
“I don’t know, Mom,” Devon answered uncertainly.
She had already told her mom that she was going to stay in St. Louis for the summer. This was already the second or third attempt to get her to come home. Devon hadn’t been able to tell her mom that she had left. Her mom wouldn’t understand her reasoning.
“Oh, come on, Dixie…Devon,” her mother quickly corrected. “I’m only asking for a bit of time. You’ve been away for so long, and I haven’t heard from you as much lately.”
“I know. I’ve just been so busy.”
“I know you are, honey, and I’m so proud of you. I just feel like we haven’t talked as much this year. Are you sure everything is okay?” her mother pleaded.
“Yeah, Mama. Everything is fine,” Devon lied, taking in a deep breath.
She didn’t want her mother to pry. She was hitting too close to home, and Devon couldn’t talk about it.
“Alright,” her mom said. “Well, think about July. We’re going to New York, and I know how much you love the big city. I’ll take you to see shows on Broadway, and we can go shopping, have cocktails at fancy parties—”
“That all sounds great, Mom,” Devon told her wistfully. “I just don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”