Once inside she headed straight for the shower, hoping that she could wash away the eerie feeling that was hanging over her. She placed the picture of Agnes and Marge on her dresser, again feeling a pang of sadness when she gazed at the desperate expression on Agnes Devereaux’s young face. It was as if the girl knew that one way or another her happiness would be destroyed on that night.
Maggie stood under the warm water of the shower allowing it to wash over her, willing it to take with it her apprehension. Regardless of how she came to be here the happiness she’d found here was very real and she wouldn’t let that be sullied by the strange circumstances that surrounded it.
She did feel refreshed when she emerged from the shower, and desperate to see Aaron again. She promptly dressed then called him, feeling the last of her tension release the moment she heard his voice.
Aaron arrived a short while later with a backpack slung over his shoulder and a charming smile on his face.
“I missed you,” he told her, lifting her into his arms and kissing her the way only he could. Maggie sighed happily as he lowered her feet back to the floor. “I was thinking we could take a walk. There’s a place I’d like to show you. Maybe have a little picnic, unless you’d rather go to town for dinner.”
“No! A picnic sounds perfect,” Maggie said. All she wanted was to be alone with Aaron away from the town of Sweetwater, away from everything.
He smiled and took her by the hand as he led her out the back door.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they stepped into the woods.
“You’ll see,” he answered cryptically as he led her along a path through the woods.
20
They walked hand in hand through the darkening woods. The sun had just set and the forest around them was coming alive with the sounds cicadas and tree frogs. The air was warm and heavy with sweet smelling dew. The rising moon was full, embedded in a sea of stars, bathing the woods in a bluish glow. Maggie had never walked through the woods at night before. She wondered if it always felt this magical.
Aaron led Maggie past the barn down a new path. Just a short distance into the woods they crested a small hill and came upon a lake of sheer glass reflecting the moon and stars above in a nearly perfect mirror image. Maggie gasped at the sight. A thrill of excitement ran through her as she realized that this had been the lake she’d found last month, where she had spent a lazy afternoon swimming under the sun. The realization that it was so close to the barn she’d been searching for that day, that it had been so close to Aaron, made the memory even sweeter.
“What do you think?” Aaron asked, looking toward Maggie.
“Beautiful,” she whispered. There was no other word. Maggie wondered idly if the world around her had always held so much beauty or if she was just seeing it through different eyes now. Aaron led her to the same flat outcropping of rock where she’d sunbathed and pulled out a large blanket from the backpack he’d slung over his shoulder. He spread the blanket across the rocks and gestured for her to sit.
Her nerve endings were zinging with awareness as he sat beside her. To be with him here now, in the place where she’d laid beneath the sun dreaming of his hands on her for the first time, it seemed surreal.
“This is amazing,” Maggie said, looking out over the glassy water.
“A beauty beyond compare.” Aaron’s words were heavy with emotion. Maggie turned to him and found his eyes riveted on her. In the blue moonlight his face was washed of all color, a pearlescent white, and his hair similarly appeared silver rather than the rich golden blonde she knew it to be, but his eyes held their crystalline blue color, practically glowing in the night. She felt that familiar stirring that only he could incite. She sucked in a ragged breath, belatedly realizing that she hadn’t been breathing. He smiled her favorite crooked smile, as he turned away to rummage through his backpack. He pulled out two sandwiches wrapped in paper towels.
“I hope you like turkey and cheese,” he said smiling apologetically as he handed her a sandwich.
“I’ve lived on ramen noodles and pizza for the last six years,” she told him, smiling. “I’m not picky.” He chuckled softly as they both ate, looking out over the glassy surface of the water.
“It’s so beautiful here, it doesn’t seem real,” Maggie whispered after several moments of silence.
“I live in constant fear of the day I’m going to wake up and realize this has all been a dream,” Aaron admitted. “Especially now.”
“It does seem like a dream. Do you ever feel like this is too good to be true?” Maggie asked, turning to Aaron.
“I try not to think about it,” he answered quietly.
“I just don’t understand how any of it is possible,” Maggie continued. “I lived over a thousand miles away from this place. How did that ad end up in front of my dorm room? Was it meant for me?” She knew Aaron didn’t have the answer but it felt good to finally ask the question out loud, and once she had, every other question began pouring out.