Read Online Moon over Madeline Island by Jay Gilbertson - Free Book Online

thoughtfully. “I forgot to add all the colors; there’s so much color here.”
    â€œI know what you mean.” I swish the water around with my toes. They’re frozen solid.
    â€œIt’s like when someone dies.” Ruby looks up to the sky. “If you shared memories with that someone, they kind of lose their color after time. The memories fade like a picture that goes from sharp to blurry.”
    â€œReminds me of when my mom passed away.” I sit back on my elbows. “About a month after the funeral, I freaked out because for the life of me I couldn’t remember her face. Can you imagine?”
    â€œYes, I can, darling. It’s scary at first, but after a time, you add those that have passed on from your memory to your heart.” In a stronger voice she continues, “Now…I need to welcome you officially to the lake.” From a string tied to one of the support posts of the dock, Ruby pulls out of the lake a bottle of champagne!
    â€œI’ll be! Now that’s what I call a good catch. Say, can you pull up some crab dip and crackers while you’re at it there?”
    â€œSmart aleck, really. Make yourself useful and open this. “Ruby hands me a rag for my hands along with the dripping bottle of bubbly. “I purposefully forgot glasses to commemorate—”
    â€œThat’s right. Oh my God. We were sitting on my roof in the rain after my first anniversary at the shop. We got so toasted.” We laugh.
    â€œ I was toasted, darling; you were shit-faced. You were sooooooo shit-faced.”
    I was so shit-faced. “Damn, this thing is really in here!” I pull with all that’s left of my might. Then, POP! The cork is out, flying through the air and into the lake, landing with a soft plop.
    â€œWell done,” Ruby declares, taking the bottle from me and tipping it back for a nice slug. She passes it back to me and I take a long swallow. It’s sweet and cold and bubbly as hell. My eyes tear.
    â€œHere’s to you my darling. Welcome to Madeline Island, where anything— everything —is possible.” She raises the bottle high.
    We both have a slug for good measure, then lean back. Looking up, we marvel at the colors the sun is throwing into the clouds as it slowly kisses the horizon. Crossing my arms behind my head, I sigh all the way to my roots, which are in need of a touch-up, by the way.
    â€œI’d love it if the two of us lived here…moved here…now, while we can both still enjoy it,” I say, thinking out loud and full of the moment, when all things do seem possible. And yet, what in the hell am I saying? Could I fit in here—with Ed?
    â€œIt’s the end of the world up here and the winters must be lonely,” Ruby says. “I’ve heard that less than two hundred people live out here full time. Ed and I just spent the summers, then headed back to Eau Claire to suffer winters there.”
    â€œYou said yourself you’d love to live here year-around. The cottage seems like it would keep us very cozy. Besides, there’s that mega heater in the basement, and I have a plan, sort of a plan.” This is how I do things. I jump into something new and you know, it usually pans out. Usually.
    â€œYou always have a plan, darling,” Ruby replies. “Trouble is, it’s typically a lot of work, costs tons of money and I’m never quite the same. But…I’m listening.”
    â€œWell, I know my way around the Internet pretty well and what I don’t know, I’ll figure out. Now, if we were to create some kind of web site…You have to show me the barn, by the way, and what’s in that building over there?” I point to the left of us. I have a terrible habit of skipping all over the place when I’m brainstorming. Thank God Ruby’s used to this.
    â€œThe boathouse. The second floor is a cozy little guest house. Ed used to do some of his