Kiss the Moon by Carla Neggers

Author:Carla Neggers [Neggers, Carla]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 1999-02-13T05:00:00+00:00

Wyatt might have gotten all kinds of things out of Penelope if her parents hadn’t descended on them within minutes of her turning on the heat under the syrup and dashing into her room to change. Nothing was going on, they said. They’d just stopped by to say hello. Wyatt didn’t try to explain his presence in their daughter’s house. When she emerged from her bedroom—in dry clothes and remarkably calm—she gave them a bright smile and invited them to stay for pancakes. “I’ll just double the recipe.”

Wyatt wasn’t fooled. Anything to avoid being alone with him. Robby Chestnut didn’t look keen on the idea of pancakes, but Lyman accepted immediately. Four people in the front room were at least two people too many. Wyatt could feel the walls closing in on him. The three Chestnuts hovered over the boiling syrup, debating its grade and quality, and Penelope got down dented measuring cups and spoons, a mixing bowl from the thirties, a chipped crockery of flour, and pretty soon she was spooning pancake batter onto an ancient griddle, and her father was frying ham in a cast-iron pan.

As she laid mismatched plates on the kitchen table, Robby gave Wyatt a tentative smile. “When Lyman’s father was alive, the three of them would spend a lot of time together up here. It felt more isolated in those days. It’s bad enough now—but Penelope seems to like it.”

“It must be beautiful here in the summer,” he said diplomatically.

“Oh, it’s gorgeous.”

Wyatt considered telling her that her daughter had just been followed in the woods—or thought she had—and that Robby should ask her to show her the mysterious fax and tell her about the instant message she’d received. He would guess neither parent had a clue what was going on in Penelope’s life. Then he reminded himself why he’d come to Cold Spring. He wanted to learn his uncle’s fate, not get caught up in the schemes, troubles and charms of a blond-haired pilot.

Dinner was good, not as interminable as he’d expected, and involved an exacting analysis of Penelope’s first batch of maple syrup and discussion of Robby’s projected yield at her sugar shack. Wyatt had never imagined so much could be said about syrup. He didn’t pay close attention, instead observing the dynamics of the nuclear Chestnut family. Robby and Lyman indulged their only daughter. No question about it. But she, in her own way, indulged them, granting them their need to be with her for whatever instinctive reasons, understanding their protectiveness.

Her life was so unlike his. Syrup, pancakes, cob-smoked ham, parents in for dinner on a blustery March night. He would have chosen from a dozen favorite restaurants, possibly met friends or taken in a movie. He had no idea where the nearest movie theater was to Cold Spring. What did people do here? Boil sap. Get lost in the woods. Make up stories about famous missing planes.

Once her parents had cleared the driveway, Wyatt stacked dishes in the sink, squirted in detergent and turned on the water.

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