Page 60 of Hang the Moon
Annie closed Darcy’s front door and rested her weight against the wood. A whimper escaped her lips as she slid to the floor, landing in a pitiful heap atop the welcome mat. She shoved the heels of her hands into her eyes, her fingers trembling ever so slightly against her brows.
She was so entirely screwed.
“Ahem.”
She jolted, knocking her arm into the door, groaning at the blow to her funny bone.
Darcy sat on the far end of her sofa, legs crossed neatly, her hair cascading over her shoulders in loose curls. She looked like a redheaded Veronica Lake, complete with a vintage-style dressing gown. Like some sort of film noir detective missing only a cigarette, Darcy drummed her fingers against the arm of the couch and scrutinized Annie through narrowed eyes.
“Have fun?” Her right brow arched.
Hands braced against the floor, Annie hauled herself to standing. Maybe Darcy would be kind enough to pretend she hadn’twitnessed the beginning of Annie’s meltdown. “Shouldn’t you be at work? What happened toI’ve got my boss breathing down my neck, important accounts, long nights,et cetera?”
Darcy gestured to her open laptop atop her coffee table. “I decided to work from home whensomeonewas out all night.”
Annie rolled her eyes and slid off her flip-flops. She collapsed against the couch and kicked her feet up onto Darcy’s lap. Darcy wrinkled her nose. “I texted you. We missed the last ferry. No big.”
“No big?” Darcy’s brows rose.
Life would’ve had to be too kind for Darcy to let Annie’s sleepover and floor mini-meltdown go unmentioned.
No big.
Annie remembered how it had felt, waking up in Brendon’s arms. How, for a moment, she’d forgotten all the reasons why getting close to Brendon, letting him in, was a bad idea. How it wasn’t the first time she’d lost her head around Brendon. How it kept happening and how each time she struggled more and more to tear herself away.
Annie let out a desperate laugh. “I’m so confused,” she muttered, staring up at the shadow shapes on Darcy’s ceiling.
Darcy patted her hand gently. “Where’s your head at?”
“Pfff.” Annie scoffed. “I don’t know.”
Darcy waited.
“Brendon’s... he’s sweet. He makes me laugh.” Plus, she wanted to do dirty things to him she wasn’t about to tell Darcy. “He seems like a great guy, but he’s looking for...” Annie searched for the word. “Magic.He wants fireworks. He’s got thispicture in his head of what love’s supposed to be like. It’s all... feelings.”
Darcy frowned. “Loveisa feeling, Annie. A really great one.”
“No. I mean,yes. Obviously. But it’s also a choice. It’s... it’s a verb. Falling in love is one thing, but staying in love? Feelings fade, you know that.”
Darcy nodded.
“It takes a... concerted effort to keep a relationship afloat.”
An effort most people didn’t want to expend. Not in her experience.
“And you don’t think my brother can, what? Hack it?” Darcy asked, sounding offended on his behalf.
“I didn’t say that.Youare the one who told me he’s constantly going on first dates looking for theright girl. The one. But”—she bit down hard on her cheek—“what happens when something better comes along?”
Not that she assumed he thought of her as that. The one. God, no. But he’d mentioned sparks. Said he wanted to get to know her.
Brendon seemed like a genuinely great guy, but for the most part, everyone she’d dated had seemed great at first. Just like she must’ve seemed—at the very least—pretty decent to those people, too. As much as she feltsomethingfor Brendon, he seemed in love with the idea of love. Infatuated with the chase. Maybe even a little infatuated with who hethoughtshe was, perhaps some remnant of his teenage crush making her a little rosier to him than she’d have been had he not known her, once upon a time.
In a completely hypothetical situation where she wasn’tmoving to London, where she lived here, what would happen if she let him in more than she already had? What if he didn’t like her nearly as much as he thought he would? What ifsheliked him more than she already did after just a few short days? What if, as soon as she was a sure thing, she lost her shine?
“Brendon doesn’t want to settle for anything less than someone who’s perfect for him,” Darcy said. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Internally, she groaned. Talking about this with Darcy was a bad idea and she’d known it.
