Rule One Said I Was the Only Person Awake After Midnight, but My Mother Never Sleeps novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Peggy, Again

I had my hands on the glass before I knew I'd moved.

She was a foot away from me on the other side of it.

Her nightgown was the one she'd had on Christmas Eve, and it was dark with lake water and stuck to her.

Her ring was on her left hand, loose, the way it always was.

She looked at me with no idea who I was.

Then she looked again.

"Peggy," she said, as if she'd found something she'd put down. "There you are. I've been looking all over."

The copy beside her turned and looked at her.

For a second, the two of them were face to face, one wet and one dry.

Then the copy turned back to the glass and spoke to me in a clear, sensible voice.

"Meg, look at her. She doesn't even know what month it is. Is that what you want to bring home?"

"Yes," I said.

"She'll wander. She'll leave the stove on. She'll hit you some night when she doesn't know you."

"She's done all of that."

I went back to the desk.

Neil stood up out of my chair and gave it to me, and I put my hands on the wood.

Mr. Coe turned away from the lake and looked into the lobby.

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