Read Online The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen - Free Book Online

that maybe having Beverly around would be nice. But then Beverly and Julia’s father had gotten married, and Julia had actually felt the power shift. Julia’s father’s attention had been inexorably drawn to the person who’d demanded it the most. And that person had been Beverly. No amount of pouting or temper tantrums, and, later, pink hair or cutting, could ever have competed with Beverly, sexy Beverly with her puff of blond hair, the low V of her shirts, and the high heels she wore even with shorts. She’d liked doing things for Julia’s father—cooking his meals, lighting his cigarettes, rubbing his shoulders as he watched television. When Beverly didn’t get her way, she’d stop doing those things, and it had been painful for Julia to watch her father try to get back into her good graces.
    Beverly and her father had stayed together until about four years ago. When her father had told her about the divorce during Julia’s annual Christmas call to him, he’d said in his kind, simple way, “Beverly is such a vibrant woman. She needed more than I could give her.”
    What she needed, Julia later found out, was a man with cash. Julia’s father never had a lot of money, but he’d done very well for a man with only an eighth-grade education. He’d owned his own home and business, free and clear, by the time he was thirty. And he’d been an excellent money manager, which was why Julia had been so shocked when she’d discovered the extent of his debt after his death. She could only assume Beverly had spent her way through what he had, and when there was nothing left, she’d left him for Bud Dale, who had just opened his second muffler shop in town.
    Julia remembered seeing Beverly for the first time in years at her father’s funeral. She’d aged quite a bit, but she still had that power women with big noses have to seem beautiful, even when they aren’t. “I’m sorry about your daddy,” she’d said. “Let me know if there’s any money left. Some of it should go to me, don’t you think? We had twenty beautiful years together.” And she’d said it right in front of Bud Dale.
    When Julia sold her father’s house and took what little was left after paying off the mortgage and applied it to his restaurant mortgage, Beverly had been livid. Some of that money could have gone to her, she’d insisted. But once she realized what Julia was doing, staying here and working to get the restaurant mortgage paid off in order to sell it for a profit, she periodically accosted Julia to remind her that some of the money should go to her, naturally. Like they were in this together.
    “Is it always this slow at this hour?” Beverly asked, waving one of the waitresses over to her. “I’d like two breakfast specials, to go. I’ll surprise Bud at work. He’ll never believe I’m up this early.”
    “The place will fill up soon,” Julia assured her.
    “I hope so. It looks like you’re not doing enough to bring in business at breakfast. And you make a lot of desserts.” She pointed to the chalkboard. “Do people really eat it all every day? If there’s any left over, that’s a terrible waste of money.”
    “There’s never any left over. I was just on my way out, Beverly,” Julia said. “What can I do for you?”
    “Oh, stop with that You don’t have anywhere to go. You never do anything but work and go home. You’re so much like your daddy.”
    Julia tried to hold her smile. At one point in her life, she would have welcomed the comparison. Now, she wanted to scream No! I’ve done so much more!
    “I know it’s only a few more months until you’re going to sell this place. Rumor has it that Charlotte is interested in buying it from you. I just wanted to tell you that I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “Oh?” Charlotte was the day manager of the restaurant, and the perfect person to sell it to. She not only knew the business, she cared about it. And that meant something to Julia now. When