The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel - By Sarah Addison Allen Page 0,81

nightgown and fell into bed. The temperature had dropped sharply, and it felt almost decadent to cover herself with a sheet. The clatter of drops against the windows on the balcony doors sounded like raining coins.

A few hours later, she woke up as she was unconsciously kicking the sheet off. Everything was quiet, a strange sort of quiet that felt like an unfinished sentence. The storm had passed and it was uncomfortably hot in her room now.

She opened her eyes and saw that moonlight was now filtering in through the gaps in the curtains on the closed balcony doors. She slowly got out of bed and went to the doors to open them. The limbs of the trees were so heavy with rainwater that some of them almost touched the balcony floor. The heat of a typical Southern summer night was back, the humidity oppressive, but the moonlight reflecting on the wet surfaces made the neighborhood look like it was coated in ice.

All this had been so foreign at first. She hadn’t known, when she’d first arrived, that she would grow to love this place like she did.

There were a lot of things she hadn’t known when she’d first arrived.

Strange and wondrous things.

The light from the moon shone along the door casing and spread across the walls a few inches inside, far enough for her to suddenly notice that the phases-of-the-moon wallpaper she’d been living with all week was gone. It was a now curious dark color she couldn’t quite make out, punctuated by long strips of yellow. It looked almost like dark doors and windows opening, letting in light. The wallpaper was usually some reflection of her mood or situation, but what did this mean? Some new door was opening? Something was being set free?

When she finally realized what it meant, she spun around, her eyes darting around the room until she found him.

Win was sitting on the couch opposite her bed. He was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped.

“My punishment ended as of midnight,” he said.

Her heart began to race. It was so good to see him. And yet, she felt unexpectedly awkward. “So … so you were just going to sit there until I woke up?”

“Yes.” He stood. It made a swishing sound in the silence. He walked to the balcony doors. She was standing in a square of moonlight, and he stopped just short of it, like it was a line he couldn’t cross.

“I’d almost forgotten what you looked like,” she said, joking. A bad joke. Why was she so nervous?

Because he had almost kissed her.

“I spent all my time remembering what you looked like,” he said seriously.

“I had people hammering and sawing and mowing all around me. It was hard to concentrate.”

He gave her a funny look. “That’s your excuse?”

“And there’s no air-conditioning in this house. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate when you don’t have air-conditioning?” She needed to stop, but couldn’t seem to.

“Your grandfather had the largest limb of the oak that stretched to your balcony cut down. I had a hell of a time getting up here this time.”

That finally drew her up short. She stared at him in the shadow. “How many times have you come up here?”

“A few.”

She suddenly thought back to the day she’d arrived in Mullaby. “The day I arrived, my bracelet on the table …”

“I knew you were coming in that day,” he said. “I was curious about you. I found the bracelet on the front walk.”

“You don’t have to sneak in here anymore,” she said. “Everything’s out in the open now, right?”

His answer was to step into the light in front of her, so close they almost touched.

Nothing happened at first. But then, like it was growing so hot it became white, the glow around him started to blaze. She looked up at him and he was watching her closely.

“I lied,” she whispered.

He looked concerned and started to step back. “About what?”

She reached out and stopped him. “About forgetting what you looked like. I could never forget this. I will never forget this,” she said. “Not in all my life.”

He smiled and took her face in his hands.

Then he finally kissed her.

Chapter 16

Maddie Davis adjusted the backpack on her shoulder as she walked down the sidewalk. She’d arrived in Mullaby yesterday and was staying at the Inn on Main Street. Her parents had arranged it. She’d wanted to do this alone, but she understood that her parents were worried,