Beautiful Dreamer

by Melissa Brayden

  Devyn blinked at Elizabeth’s question. She had no idea if the thing was cool or not, she’d been distracted, admittedly. “Sorry. Which thing?”

  Elizabeth turned the radio down. “Did you hear anything I said just now?”

  Devyn shook her head, feeling less in control of herself than she had in years. What was it about this town that stripped her of her hard-earned ability to walk into any situation and own it? Why wasn’t she owning it anymore? And where was her assistant when she needed her? Karen always kept her on track and focused. She deserved a raise, now that she considered it. Karen wouldn’t let her daydream about women. That’s why she had a Karen.

  “I was telling you about Saturday nights at the strip mall.”

  And I was objectifying you in a delicious daydream. Devyn hated herself sometimes. “Sorry. Tell me again. I’m at full attention.”

  Elizabeth tossed her a glance and flipped on her right turn signal, moving them onto Corner Street. “At the end of the week, the owners of those businesses meet in the parking lot, play cornhole, and crack open a beer or two to celebrate the weekend. Cops look the other way. Anyone can play. Anyone is us.”

  “We’re going to play cornhole in a parking lot with Mr. Pitts and the Laurel Floral woman?”

  “Among others. Yes, we are.” Elizabeth eased the truck into a parking space and turned off the ignition. “Beer’s in the back seat. I really hope you’re good.” She grinned proudly. “I have a reputation to protect.” And with that, she hopped down out of the truck and slammed the door.

  “Of course she does,” Devyn said to the empty cab.

  Fifteen minutes later, with a local IPA in her hand, Devyn found herself smack in the middle of a cornhole tournament as the sun cast the sky with brilliant pinks, oranges, and reds on its descent behind the row of businesses. There were five other teams of two, and a handful of spectators who just stopped by to watch and shoot the breeze on a Saturday night. She knew most of them from her growing-up years and accepted the waves and hugs and pats on the back. Charlie Kielbasa, who owned the liquor store, stood next to her as they did battle with beanbags and holes.

  “How’s your sister getting on?” Charlie asked. He had a toothpick in his mouth and his hair was spiky, but he was otherwise a decent enough looking guy. He had been a couple grades ahead of Devyn in high school. A former football player. Maybe the kicker. Punter? What were they called? It was hard to say.

  It was her turn. She tossed her beanbag and watched it fall short of the game board entirely. Damn. Across from her, Elizabeth winced and stared at the ground. “Jill’s much improved. Starting to move with more freedom.”

  “I need to check in on her more, but she’s so dang stubborn.”

  “More? You need to check in on her more?” Devyn asked. She didn’t realize that Charlie the liquor store guy checked in on her sister at all.

  He looked caught, stared at the sky, and then crumbled. “Ah, hell. Okay. We’re smitten with each other. Well, I think she’s smitten with me, but she never says. Bosses me around like she is, though.”

  Devyn nearly choked on her beer. A beanbag landed on the board in front of her. She shot Elizabeth a thumbs-up for the toss that would earn them a point. “Did you say smitten? You’re gonna have to back up.”

  “Yep.” He nodded. Now that the cat was out of the bag, he acted as if it were the most casual thing in the world. “We hook up.” Another beanbag landed with a thud on the board in front of them and slid into the hole. Elizabeth raised a fist in victory at the additional three points. Devyn swallowed back the shock at what Charlie had just spilled.

  “We’re up by three now,” Elizabeth called to Devyn, who understood that meant she’d better not blow their lead. She took a moment to watch Elizabeth celebrate with a twirl. She was getting sexier by the second. Why had she not noticed what a killer ass she had until now? She was torn between Charlie’s revelation and staring at Elizabeth Draper. Finally, she pulled her gaze away and turned.

  “You’re hooking up with my sister? Jill. As in Jill Winters? We’re talking about the same woman? About this tall? Dark hair? Kind heart?”

  “Ah, yep,” he said. “Thursday is our day, generally speaking.”

  “Thursday.” She scrubbed her forehead. “You and my sister get together on Thursdays for…alone time. And you’re smitten. But she refuses to say that she is.” She did her best to assemble the facts. “Do I have it?”

  “That’s about the long and short of it.”

  Devyn stared at the painted lines of the parking lot, trying to wrap her brain around saucy Jill’s secret Thursday life. She’d been married for a couple of years to a man who’d stormed around the house a lot, worked very little, and spent money like a prince—until she’d eventually had enough and divorced him. Jill had shown zero interest in dating again as far as Devyn had seen, but apparently, Devyn wasn’t supposed to see at all.

  “Oh, golly,” a sweet female voice said. “If it isn’t little Devyn Winters. From what I’ve heard, your real estate career sounds incredibly exciting.” She turned to see Mary Beth Eckhart standing nearby grinning. She was an old friend of their mom’s who would stop by for coffee and a game of cards when the girls were young. Just seeing her made Devyn light up from the inside and remember those lighter days.

  She placed a hand over her heart. “Ms. Eckhart, it’s so good to see you.” Before she could stop herself, her arms were around the woman who took her right back to the comforting thoughts of her mom, which was just the best medicine for missing her.

  “Good to see you, too, sweet girl. Now that you’re in town for a bit, why don’t we get together for some coffee and lemon cake over at my house?”

  She remembered her one-story at the end of Tisdale Street well. Ms. Eckhart always had a jar of mints in the entryway. “I’d love that. You always made the best lemon cake in South Carolina.”

  “Still do.” Her eyes crinkled when she smiled, reminding Devyn that time had passed and she’d missed a lot. “It’s a date.”

  “Devyn Winters. Are you gonna toss that beanbag or yammer all day?”

  Devyn looked across the parking lot to see Elizabeth’s eyebrows drawn in and her game face on. “Wow. You take this really seriously, don’t you?” Devyn called back. “And you just said ‘yammer.’”

  But Elizabeth was too hyperfocused on the board to bother responding. Obediently, Devyn tossed a beanbag and watched it sail slowly across the parking lot and into the hole, to her total and utter amazement. Elizabeth leapt into the air and Devyn couldn’t help but do the same, reveling in the victory of her throw. Suddenly, the game had purpose. Their opponents, Chip and Luke from the car wash, were fairly consistent and would not be an easy takedown. However, the game now had possibility. She tossed, Luke tossed, Elizabeth, and then Chip. Over and over. As the number on the scoreboard climbed, so did Devyn’s stake in the game. The onlookers cheered and made predictions, calling out their support for one team or the other.

  “Take ’em down, Devyn,” a pregnant woman yelled from under the awning of Mr. Pitts. She didn’t know her, just a friendly spectator, but it made her feel included. All of them did. She smiled and raised her beer, feeling lighter than she had in a very long time. She and Elizabeth took the game in a nail biter of a last round, with Devyn finding her technique more and more as they progressed. They went on to play Mr. Pitts himself, paired up with his wife, Terri, who quite honestly was the better player with a perfect arc to her toss. Wow. Yet she and Elizabeth beat them, too.

  “Now listen, this next team is no joke,” Elizabeth told her quietly as they waited for another match to finish. “They’ll start slow, but once we get comfortable? They’ll start to ease in and steal the points.” Devyn nodded along, liking the way Elizabeth’s breath tickled her ear subtly. Yeah, that definitely did things to her.

  “Steal the points, huh?” she asked.

  “We can’t let them.”

  She’d never seen Elizabeth so serious ab
out anything other than tragedy, ever. Her blue eyes held fire, and Devyn was not about to let her down. She touched her longneck bottle of beer to Elizabeth’s. “Let’s do it.”

  The nine or ten people who remained for what would be the final round clapped as Devyn and Elizabeth took their places on separate sides of the boards. They made eye contact and nodded at each other in solid teammate solidarity. They were up against Lulu and Peggy from the Amazin’ Glazin’ Donut Shop, and word on the sidewalk was that they had regular practice sessions between frosting batches. Peggy wore a glove on her right throwing hand, and Lulu tied a lucky bandana around her forehead before lining up her shot. Devyn swallowed and rolled her shoulders, flabbergasted at how much this mattered to her.

  It was over in a matter of minutes. Peggy and Lulu did just as Elizabeth said they would, allowing them to put a few points on the board before turning the tables and clobbering them completely. Lulu sank nearly every toss into the hole, prompting both women to touch their thumbs to their behinds and making a sizzling sound both amusing and annoying. Peggy’s particular skill was knocking Devyn’s beanbags entirely off the board with her own. The defeat was solid and devastating. She and Elizabeth accepted the pats on the back from the friends and neighbors who’d gathered, which helped soothe the burn.

  “You tell Jill hello for me,” Charlie, the smitten liquor store owner, said. “I’m glad she’s doing better. Tell her I’ll give her a shout soon.”

  “For a date?” Devyn practically squeaked. She was still trying to reconcile Jill carrying on a torrid affair. It was so…not Jill, everyone’s favorite fourth grade teacher, watcher of Hallmark Christmas movies. Meanwhile she’s getting down with Liquor Store Charlie on Thursday?

  “For some one-on-one time,” he said, with a sheepish smile.

  “I’ll deliver the message.” Devyn tried not to appear as traumatized as she felt.

  “Bye, Charlie,” Elizabeth said, knowingly, and pulled Devyn away.

  Still on a high from the fun they’d had, Devyn walked back to the truck with a smile on her face, chucking her second beer into the trash as they walked. “That was a surprisingly good time for a parking lot.”

  “I told you. You don’t give the Bay enough credit.”

  Devyn kicked at the rocks on the ground next to the truck and squinted. “Well, technically, you could find a game of cornhole a lot of places.”

  Elizabeth scoffed. “Not in the parking lot in front of Mr. Pitts with your friends and neighbors cheering you on while you have a couple of brewskis.”

  “You don’t seem the type to use the word ‘brewskis.’” Or drive a pickup or have a ridiculous competitive streak, she filled in. But Elizabeth was all of those things in one.

  “Well, I do. It’s a fun word if you think about it. I like the way it feels on my lips.”

  Devyn swallowed and took a moment with that one. “Your lips deserve some fun now and then. I can agree.”

  Elizabeth leaned back against the truck with a side smile that showcased that hint of a dimple. “Are you flirting with me again?”

  “No,” Devyn said automatically, like a fifth grader incapable of honest communication. She glanced at the ground in mortification of her own behavior because this time there was so much behind it.

  Elizabeth dipped her head and caught Devyn’s gaze. “Because there have been several moments where I felt like we were flirting.”

  Devyn placed her hands on top of her head. She met Elizabeth’s eyes. “Well, you just put it right out there, don’t you?”

  “Is that bad?” Elizabeth asked, seeming to not know one way or the other.

  “No. I just thought we would play it cool. Let it unravel.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “We could. Or I could use the two beers I just had to tell you that you’re a smoke show.” Elizabeth didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she pushed off the truck and headed down the sidewalk with her hair blowing in the evening breeze.

  “Where are you going?” Devyn called with a laugh. “You can’t say that and then walk away, you weirdo.”

  “Yes, I can,” Elizabeth called over her shoulder. “And I’m walking now. Had two beers. Shouldn’t drive.” She paused and turned back. “Coming?”

  Like she had any choice now. Elizabeth and the great time she’d already shown her had Devyn’s mood light and her interest piqued. Don’t get her started on her libido and how much exercise it was raking in. She hurried to close the distance between them on the sidewalk. “Where are we going?”

  “My place. My backyard.”

  “What for?”

  “You’ll see. Follow me.”

  In that moment, she likely would have followed Elizabeth Draper anywhere. “So mysterious.” She grinned and her phone buzzed in her pocket.

  “I find things are most exciting with a little mystery tacked on,” Elizabeth said back. “Don’t you?”

  “I’m not opposed to it.” Devyn finally caught up and pulled out her phone. It was Paul calling, the top broker on her team, likely with updates on Twenty-Four Walker.

  “Do you need to take that, Ms. Wheeler-Dealer?”

  Devyn stared at the phone and back at Elizabeth. “No. I’m good.” She declined the call and felt strangely okay about that. The stars were peeking out from above and the ocean air caressed her face. “It’s a very pretty night.”

  Elizabeth smiled and it made the night even better. “Isn’t it?” Her gaze never left Devyn’s face. “I can’t get over the view.”

  * * *

  Elizabeth had goose bumps on her arms. Devyn Winters had given them to her with the long looks she’d cast her way all night. She rubbed her arms now as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror of her home.

  “You have a lot of purple,” she heard Devyn say loudly, from the living room. “Oh, and lavender drapes, too.”

  She opened the door and craned her neck around it. “I’ve always thought of purple as a calming color. Friendly, too. At least a third of my wardrobe has a touch of something close to it.”

  “You know? That’s true, now that I think about it.” She watched Devyn, in her black tank top, having discarded her button-up shirt, make a circle around her living room, taking it in. She exhaled slowly. What was she gonna do with this woman and their very unexpected chemistry? She wasn’t sure, but the night felt…alive. In fact, she’d never felt so much energy passing between two people. Surely it wasn’t just her, right? The vibrations were palpable.

  Elizabeth washed her hands, gave her shoulders a roll, and returned to Devyn, just in time to see Scout emerge from the bedroom with her sleepy eyes on. She must not have heard them come in, which wasn’t unusual. Scout, it turned out, was a champion sleeper now that she lived indoors, safe and sound.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Devyn said, holding out her hand for Scout, who approached her with a lowered head and wagging tail. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “You didn’t ask. This is Scout. She’s the best, and will likely curl up in your lap at some point soon.”

  Devyn knelt and with both hands scratched behind Scout’s ears to rave reviews from Scout. “Wait. I’ve met this dog.” Her gaze flew to Elizabeth’s in confusion. “From that day. She was at the site of the crash.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Yep. She’s the reason we found Jill. Felt only fitting to give her a permanent home. Don’t worry. I followed the proper channels.”

  “You adopted the dog that found Jill?”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Turns out we make a great pair.”

  Devyn placed a kiss on the side of Scout’s face and spoke quietly to her. “Thank you. I mean that.”

  Elizabeth felt a pang in her chest at the tender moment. Scout offered a lick and then headed to the couch to curl up on her favorite blanket, content that people were home.

  Devyn stood and seemed to shake herself out of the weighted exchange. “I’m glad you did this for her.”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “For me, too. Are you ready?
”

  Devyn studied her with a mischievous look on her face that said she had definite ideas. “Oh, I think you’re going to have to be more specific, because one could take that a lot of ways.”

  Elizabeth chuckled but let that one go. Their flirting felt more overt now that they’d acknowledged it. “Follow me.”

  “You say that a lot.” Devyn fell in line behind Elizabeth on the way to her back door. When she opened it and stepped out into the darkness, she heard Devyn’s breath catch. Yep. There it was. She paused, allowing Devyn to soak in the sight. “So?”

  “Oh, my God. I remember these, just not so many at once. It’s gorgeous.”

  Elizabeth nodded and stared out at the hundreds of lightning bugs that took turns illuminating her yard like tiny lanterns assembling. She would never get tired of their beauty, their peace. She turned to Devyn. “It’s really something, isn’t it?” she said quietly.

  “There are so many.” She shook her head and stepped farther onto Elizabeth’s back porch, looking up into the trees and beyond. “When you live in the city, you forget that all of this is happening at the very same time. Like two entirely different worlds coexisting. And the silence. You forget anything can be this quiet.”

  “One of the perks of a small town: access to nature and time enough to enjoy it. Milkshake?”

  Devyn turned to her. “That’s what you offer your guests? Not wine or coffee, but a milkshake as if it were the most natural thing?”

  “No, not typically. I’m just in the mood for one, and thought you might be, too. I can pour you wine if that’s what you’re feeling, though that seems a little boring in comparison to a fantastic milkshake.”

  Devyn stared at her like she was a unicorn.

  “What? Nobody in Philadelphia has milkshakes?”

  “No, no. I’m sure they do.” She laughed. “I’ll take a damn milkshake. Why the hell not?”

  “Now you’re talking.” Elizabeth beamed. “Two homespun milkshakes coming right up.”

  As Elizabeth blended what would be chocolate milkshakes with extra whole milk, Devyn remained outside drinking in the view. She left the door open so they could converse back and forth.