Free Ruined 2 - Dark Souls by Paula Morris

didn’t mean Miranda was clinging to Rob. She wanted to be on her own this week, after all. Didn’t she?
    Anyway, Miranda was meeting people here in York herself; she just didn’t make a big show of it. There was Nick, who she was meeting up with tomorrow at dusk — actually meeting him, to go somewhere, not just stalking him the way Rob kept turning up everywhere Sally worked. And then there was the mystery guy in the attic window, who she’d seen the night they arrived. If theyopened their windows, they’d be close enough to talk. Close enough, Miranda thought with an uneasy shiver, to touch.
    “Here they come,” said Peggy, rearranging the salt and pepper shakers again to make room for drinks and cutlery. “Not looking where they’re going, as usual.”
    Jeff and Rob were squeezing through the crowd, so intent on their conversation that they seemed oblivious to the way their drinks were slopping onto the floor. Her father practically stepped on a black cat that was sidling, tail curled, around the wall from one room to the next.
    “Dad almost tripped over that cat,” Miranda said. She was making an effort to sound normal, not strained and upset and sulky — even though that was pretty much how she was feeling.
    “There’s a cat?” Peggy raised herself out of her seat to look. If it were up to her mother, Miranda knew, they’d have a dozen cats at home, but Rob was ferociously allergic. “Where?”
    “There,” Miranda pointed. The cat had stepped onto the hearth, arching its back against the stone fireplace.
    “I don’t see it,” said Peggy, sounding disappointed.
    “It’s right there, Mom,” Miranda said. She jabbed her finger toward the fireplace. “See it? It’s licking its paw now. Cute.”
    “I can’t see anything. Maybe I need to get new glasses. Jeff, can you see a cat in here? Miranda says you almost stepped on it.”
    “No cat.” Jeff lowered two drinks onto the table, spilling both of them. “But I did see a very interesting old Blue Boar sign in the next room. I’ll point it out to you later, after we eat.”
    “You guys are all totally blind,” Miranda said, almost snapping at them. “It is RIGHT THERE by the fire.”
    “They don’t have cats in pubs,” Rob said, dragging his stool closer to the table. He looked very pleased with himself. “People are allowed to bring their dogs in, so there’d be fights all the time.”
    “You’re quite the expert now,” Peggy teased. Miranda kicked him under the table, but Rob pretended not to notice. When she looked again, the black cat by the fireplace was gone.
    That night, Miranda couldn’t sleep. She was too hot, then she was too cold. When she tried to read
Northanger Abbey,
she felt sleepy and had to put the book down, but as soon as she turned off her light, she was wide awake again. At first, there was a little noise outside — people calling to each other and laughing, the tap of heels along the cobbles — but soon everything was eerily quiet. When she was too restless to lie still any longer, Miranda rolled out of bed and pulled one curtain back. Snow was falling again, soft and wet. The street was empty.
    She knelt by the window, arms resting on the sills. Through streaks of snow she could see the attic window opposite, dark as the night sky. Miranda yawned, tuggingat the curtain to draw it back into place, but a glimpse of sudden light stilled her hand. Across the street, blurred by snow, a candle flickered.
    Then he was there, too, his face as pale as the moon, staring straight at her. Miranda felt breathless, something between excited and apprehensive. Slowly, she raised a hand to wave, but waving felt too silly, too girlish. She pressed her palm against the cold glass, not sure of what to do, wondering how long it would take for her to feel embarrassed and look away.
    A ridge of mashed snowflakes fell from the window, and now Miranda could see the guy in the attic more clearly. He wore a white collarless shirt,