Page 35 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"Is this the ghost room?" he asked, as she used her key to open the door to the only room on the fourth floor.

"Yes, but I don't think you'll see anyone." She stepped into the room and walked over to the window.

It was even hotter in this attic room tucked under the eaves. As Lizzie struggled with the window, he moved across the room to help her. They were both sweating even more by the time they got the rusty latch to move. As cooler air filled the room, he drew in a grateful breath. "That's better."

"I'll say," she agreed.

As he glanced around the room, he saw that it was decorated as attractively as all the others. There was a colorful quilt on the end of the double bed, a vase of fake flowers on the desk as well as a couple of shelves of books. There was a rocking chair across from the bed, adjacent to the window, and it moved gently back and forth with the breeze, or so he hoped.

Lizzie followed his gaze. "It's just the wind. No one is rocking."

"Are you sure?"

She put her hand on the chair and stopped the motion. Then she sat down in it. "Satisfied?"

He perched on the edge of the bed. "Hopefully, you didn't squish the ghost," he said with a grin.

"You don't believe in ghosts. Although…" She paused, giving him a speculative look. "You said something last night about maybe wanting to believe—"

"I don't remember saying that," he lied.

"Well, you said something. What did you mean?"

"I don't remember. But speaking of ghosts, tell me about Noah."

"Noah and ghosts don't go together."

"Are you sure? Isn't he roaming the inn, looking for some long-lost love?"

"She's not a ghost. She just left."

"What's his story? I saw him late last night from my window. He was out in the yard, wandering through the garden. He kept checking his watch and looking back toward the inn, to a particular room."

"The room he shared with Alice, it's on the floor below us. He'll be moving in there today after Patty leaves."

"Because he's expecting this woman named Alice to come back?"

"Yes. But I doubt that will ever happen."

"Why not?"

"It has been ten years, for one thing." She paused. "You really want to hear the story?"

"I do."

"Okay, here goes. Ten years ago, Noah and Alice stayed in room six this same week in April. Noah had come to the lake to heal. He'd spent the past year grieving the loss of his wife, and he needed to start over. His friend told him about the inn and he came here for a week. The second night he was here, there was a lunar eclipse, and he and the other guests went down to the beach. He ended up sharing a picnic blanket with Alice, who was staying in room six. They drank too much wine and during the darkness of the eclipse, they shared a forbidden kiss."

"Why was it forbidden? Wait, let me guess. She was married."

"Yes. Alice was married and living in Paris with her husband. But she came to a work conference in Denver and then afterward came up to the lake to vacation. She was deciding what to do with her life and whether or not she would stay married, since she was very unhappy with her husband. At least, that's what Noah told me."

"Not an unfamiliar explanation for an affair," he said dryly.

"Good point. Anyway, they fell hard for each other that week. Alice kept extending her stay and so did Noah. They couldn't bear to part. But then tragedy struck. Alice got word that her husband had been in an accident, and she needed to return to Paris. She told Noah she had to leave, but that one day they'd see each other again. She didn't know when, but she would come back to this magical place where she'd discovered real love and happiness for the first time. Noah said he was devastated when she left, but he understood her duty to her husband. They agreed not to speak again until she could come back, until she could leave her husband. Every year since then, during the second week in April, Noah comes back to the inn, hoping that this will be the year when Alice comes back."

He shook his head. "She's not coming back, not after all this time."

"I don't think so, either, but Noah hasn't given up."

---