Page 36 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"If he wants her so badly, why doesn't he go to Paris and tell her he's still waiting for her?"

"I don't think he knows where she is."

"He could hire someone to find her."

"He's in his seventies."

"Which means he doesn't have a lot of time to waste. He's already blown ten years."

She gave a helpless shrug. "He's a romantic. Alice said she'd come back. He thinks eventually she will."

"She could be dead. He could be waiting forever. That seems more tragic than romantic."

"It would be romantic if she came back."

"But she probably won't. And why is it just her choice?" he argued. "Why doesn't Noah get a say?"

"I don't know. I'm not really disagreeing with you, Justin."

"So you wouldn't spend ten years waiting for a guy."

"No. I don't think I'd spend ten minutes right about now."

"Ruthless," he said with a grin.

"You can't count on another person for your happiness. It doesn't work that way. You have to go out and grab what you want. Waiting seems so passive."

"I completely agree. If I wanted a woman like Noah wants Alice, I'd go get her. I'd fight for her."

"I've always wondered if Alice wasn't waiting for him to do that. But Noah seems to feel some guilt about their affair, and he believes it has to be her decision. He can't try to persuade her. But meanwhile, the clock is ticking, and Noah spends a week here every year wandering around the inn. There was a period when the inn was closed. It was locked down for almost a year before I bought it. Noah said he went crazy during that time. He used to come and sleep in his car."

"The man is crazy."

"He acknowledges that. He said love makes him insane," she said with a soft smile. "It is pretty sweet. I can't imagine being loved like that."

"I can't imagine loving anyone like that. It seems too one-sided. Needing anyone that much makes a person weak and vulnerable and desperate. Who wants to live like that?"

"Apparently, neither one of us. But it's Noah's life. He gets to do what he wants with it."

"Have you ever tried to persuade him to let her go?"

"No. It's his choice."

"I thought you wanted your guests to be happy."

"I do, but I don't meddle in their lives."

"You don't?" he asked doubtfully.

"Well, sometimes I do," she admitted. "But not in something like this. And what would I even say?" She shook her head. "It's up to him if he wants to come here every year, and I'm happy to have him. He's a lonely old man. Even if Alice doesn't show up, he gets to be in a place that brought him joy a long time ago."

"It's not enough."

"I don't think Noah wants as much for himself as you want for yourself."

"He should. Everyone should. Why settle? Why not go for what you want? That's what you're doing. That's what I'm doing. Maybe with a little encouragement, Noah would do the same."

"If you want to encourage him, feel free."

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