Remember The Moon Read Online Free PDF

rock. I swam over and hauled myself out, flopping into a puddle beside her prone figure. For a moment it felt as if I hovered a few inches above my own body, with nothing underneath for support, but still able to feel every lump and pucker of warm rock against my back. I closed my eyes against the bright light and clasped my hands behind my neck, trying to re-ground myself, the sun on my face pulsing red to the beat of my heart against the back of my eyelids. When I opened them, the sun seemed to have shifted, emitting a slightly different range of color, as if the Earth had begun spinning in a new direction during our time inside the grotto. Maya lay beside me, eyes closed, still breathing heavily, skin glistening, a large drop of seawater pooled in her navel. I wanted to lean over and suck out the water but remained rooted to the rock, paralyzed by the unusual sensations in my body. After some time, a minute or an hour, Maya wiggled towards me.
    “Wow, I feel sort of dizzy, like I’m not quite a part of my body,” Maya said as she reached out for my hand, rolling onto her side, her other palm flat against the rock, steadying herself.
    “I thought it was just me,” I said, pulling her into my arms. We held onto each other for a while, as if together we might be more successful reorienting ourselves in this brand new universe. Our eyes connected, transfixed, neither of us able to break the spell. Her eyes took on the indigo-green of the water crashing around us, eyes that seemed to reflect the possibilities of a million lifetimes.
***
    Sometime later, hair still dripping down our backs and our dry clothes now pulled over our wet ones, we sat on the flowered seat cushions of the pensione’s dining room, a vine-canopied rooftop balcony that teetered high above the ocean.
    We held hands across the crisp white tablecloth. I didn’t want to let go, certain that without her to ground me I might float away from her forever. Antipasto was followed by homemade spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce.
    “How did you ever find this place?” She took a sip of wine, hair brushed off her face and drying in the light ocean breeze. “It’s so beautiful!” The ocean, draped in silky shades of mauve and tangerine, looked like a perfect Hallmark sunset scene.
    “One of my dad’s buddies, actually. Did you ever meet Gay Paul?” Maya shook her head. “He and a bunch of his friends come here. I trust his taste. It’s a little more expensive than staying in a youth hostel, but cheaper than hotels in Amalfi or Positano because Praiano is on the highway between them and is harder to reach. Do you want me to see if they have an extra room for tonight? It would be a nice change from the youth hostel.” Maya gave me a look, but didn’t reply. I hadn’t meant to assume something sexual between us; I simply dreaded the thought of having to say goodbye to her, now that I’d found her again. I worried I may have ruined the magic of the night.
    “Sorry,” I added. “I hope you didn’t take my invitation to stay as a come on.”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “No... Well... Maybe it was.”
    “I kind of hoped it was.”
    “You were? It’s not too soon since...?”
    “Marc? He ran off with a beautiful singer from Texas named Annabelle. I don’t even know where he is.”
    “Wow. That’s harsh.”
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply–”
    “That I’d just be your boy toy?” She looked horrified for a moment, until I grinned. “Kidding. I’ll be your boy toy anytime.”
    “Then do I have to get a separate room?”
    I laughed as heat shot to my groin. “Not at all!”
    When the shiny gray skin of a white fish slathered in a lemony butter was all that remained on our plates and the tall glass carafe of the local Casavecchia was almost empty and we were feeling the heat of the day and the wine in the pinkness of our cheeks, we dragged our chairs closer together and held hands, sleepily taking in the view. The ocean was black now except for