noticed how bad it got. It made him realize how off the deep end it had all gone.”
“I was just doing my job.” Devon shuffled her feet and looked down.
“I know you were. And you weren’t bad at it either. You were right about me and Matt. I didn’t want anyone to know, tried to convince myself it didn’t happen, but on the night Hutch died Matt snuck into my room. We shared one of those Oxy hits and hooked up. Probably at the same time Hutch was dying from the stuff. It’s totally fucked. I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to deal with that, but that’s something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life.”
“Regret can be a real asshole, huh?” Devon said. Isla smiled and broke out into a laugh. “I just meant that if we could rewind time, there’s probably a few things we’d all like to do differently.…”
“Even you? I thought you did everything just right?” Isla raised an eyebrow.
Now it was Devon’s turn to laugh. “Even me.”
“Anyway, thanks.” Isla reached out and pulled Devon into a hug. Devon could feel Isla’s clavicle poking into her shoulder. “I’ll see you when I see you.” She opened the passenger door and got in. The car started up and Devon backed up to give it space. The passenger window rolled down. “I left you something in my room. On the door handle.”
“What is it?”
“You know Hutch and I weren’t instantly a couple. He said he was getting over someone. Honestly, I’m not sure he ever did.” Isla smiled at Devon as her eyes filled with tears. She leaned back in her seat. The window rolled up, and the car disappeared down the Keaton hill.
Back inside Bay House Devon opened Isla’s door and stepped into the empty room. This time she saw the necklace hanging there, on the inside door handle: Hemp string threaded through two small shells, the necklace Hutch had given Isla. “Love, H,” she said aloud. Devon ran her fingers over the rough thread and wrapped it around her wrist into a bracelet.
IT SEEMED LIKE EVERYONE was taking off for the weekend. Devon bumped into Cleo rolling an oversized silver suitcase out of her room into the hallway.
“Wow, where are you off to?” Devon asked.
“My car is coming in a minute. Going to San Fran for the weekend. Why are you here, anyway? I thought you were with the amazing Elliot siblings in town?” Cleo hoisted an overstuffed messenger bag over her shoulder. “Walk with me,” she said without waiting for an answer. Devon followed as Cleo dragged her suitcase outside onto the bumpy pavement path to the upper parking lot at the top of the Keaton hill.
“Yeah, I was with Raven yesterday but.…” She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. I pretended to be sick and bolted, basically. She walked besides Cleo past the ring of classrooms. Freshly mowed shavings of green grass clung to her shoes.
“But, what? Dites moi.”
“I don’t know. There was something weird that I couldn’t figure out. Thought it might be better to just come back here.”
“Damn, girl. We have got to get that boring gene out of you. Why would you choose to come back when you were already signed off campus?”
“I don’t know. Lack of imagination?” They arrived at the top of the hill and scanned the parking lot. A black Town Car idled in a corner.
“Well, you want to imagine a weekend in San Fran? You hop in the car before anyone sees you, we can get out of here, no questions asked.” Cleo waved at the car.
A uniformed driver stepped out and approached.
A flash of silver caught Devon’s eye. At the bottom of the parking lot Devon spotted Grant tossing a duffle bag into the trunk of a silver BMW. He slammed the trunk closed and got in the passenger seat. Eric Hutchins, his long hair tucked behind his ears, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Cleo followed Devon’s stare.
“A hundred bucks says Eric’s letting Grant hang at the Four Seasons with him in Santa Cruz this weekend. Those two are thick as thieves aren’t they?”
Devon’s chest contracted. If she was ditching Raven and Bodhi for suspecting them, the least she could do would be to look into Eric Hutchins. Raven did say those beers belonged to him after all.
“How do you feel about spending the weekend in Santa Cruz instead?” Devon asked before the thought had fully formed