The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel - By Sarah Addison Allen Page 0,55
crowd as it got smaller and smaller. She finally found his father. He was standing as still as stone, watching them with an expression made of ghosts and anger.
“He’ll leave soon,” Win said, still looking up at the dusky sky. “He won’t want anyone knowing that it bothers him that we’re together.
“You and your dad don’t get along, do you?”
“We’re alike in many ways. But we don’t see eye to eye. For example, he’s very attached to doing things the way they’ve always been done. I don’t agree.”
The Ferris wheel came to a stop two seats down from the top. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot this past week,” she said, and it came out a lot more moony that she intended.
He lowered his gaze from the sky and met her eyes. His smile was mischievous. “Oh?”
“Not like that,” she said, laughing. She stopped laughing when their seat swayed back and forth in the wind. She grabbed the safety bar in front of them. Of course he didn’t seem afraid to be up this high. “I just can’t get my mind around something.”
“What is it?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be a werewolf, would you?”
“Excuse me?” he said.
She slowly loosened her hold on the bar and sat back.
“There are only two reasons I can think of for why you don’t come out at night: night blindness or werewolf.”
“And you decided to go with werewolf?”
“It was a toss-up.”
Win didn’t answer for a few moments. He finally said, “It’s tradition. It’s gone on for centuries.”
“Why?”
“That’s a good question. I guess because that’s what traditions do.”
“Is this another thing you and your father don’t see eye to eye on?”
The wheel started moving again. “Yes. But going against this tradition is a big deal.” He turned to her. “Of all the things I’m going to tell you, you need to understand that the most.”
She suddenly felt excited. “What things are you going to tell me?”
“Strange and wondrous things,” he said in a dramatic voice, like he was narrating a book.
“And why? Why are you doing this?”
“I told you before, we have history.”
“Technically, we don’t,” she pointed out. “Your uncle and my mother had history.”
“History is a loop. We’re exactly where they stood twenty years ago. What’s theirs is ours, what’s ours will become theirs.”
“You’ve thought about this a lot.”
“Yes, I have.”
The wheel made one more rotation before stopping again. This time they were at the very top of the ride. Their seat creaked as it swung precariously back and forth. Emily grabbed the bar again.
Win smiled at her. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
“Of course not. Are you?”
He looked out over the horizon. “I like seeing things from this perspective. I know what everything looks like from down there. I like seeing the possibilities of what’s beyond that. What’s beyond that loop I was talking about.”
She didn’t realize she was staring at him until he turned to stare back. The air around them suddenly changed. She was so close she could smell him, a hint of cologne, and she could see the perspiration collected in the indentation at the base of his throat. His eyes went to her lips. Something warm and desperate filled her body. She’d never felt anything like it. It felt like the entire universe would cease to exist if something didn’t happen right then.
But the moment passed and his chest rose and fell as if taking a very deep breath of air. He moved his arm from the back of the seat.
After another rotation, the wheel stopped and the attendant unhooked the safety bar. They both got off the ride without a word and walked off the deck.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go,” he said.
She was still feeling strange, sort of buzzed and prickly. “Okay.”
But he didn’t leave. “My dad is around the corner, waiting,” he explained. “I want to spare you whatever it is he might say.”
“Okay.”
And still he didn’t go. “And it’s going to get dark soon.”
“And you don’t want to grow fur and fangs in front of me,” she said. “I get it.”
His dark hair was curling in the humidity. He ran his hands through it. “No, I don’t think you do.”
“Then explain it to me. Tell me these strange and wondrous things.”
That made him smile, like it was exactly what he wanted to hear, like he’d been planning this all along. “I will. Next time.” He turned to leave.
“Wait,” she called, and he stopped. “I need to ask you something.”