MOVING WATER

Summary

Noah is sitting in his rocking chair when Allie's car pulls in. She appears more relaxed and confident than the day before and he is once again slightly shocked to see her. However, these are new feelings, not simply memories anymore. She surprises him by kissing him gently on the cheek with her hand lingering at his waist. She immediately wants to know what the surprise is that he has promised her. He is worried, however, because it's supposed to rain, and they'll be outside. However, she insists she doesn't care about getting wet, and so they walk to the canoe.

Allie asks Noah what the place is, and he answers that it makes all those sunrises he had shown her that summer seem ordinary. She guesses she should feel special, and Noah tells her she is special. She seats herself in the canoe in such a position that she can see everything around her while she observes Noah as well. She admires his muscular body, developed from all the paddling, and she thinks, Artistic . . . There's something almost artistic about him . . . Something natural, as if being on the water is beyond his control, part of a gene passed on to him from some obscure hereditary pool. She can't think of anyone else who is remotely like him. He appears to savor life more fully than others appear to. Noah asks her what she's thinking, and her response is, Good things, an answer which makes him aware that she is thinking about him. She knows, too, that he is thinking about her.

To mask her sudden flush of embarrassment, Allie comments that it's so pretty out there, so clean, so quiet. It's almost like going back in time. Noah responds that the area probably is as close to being original nature as he knows.

Then, Allie asks Noah if he remembers anything about their summer together. She also asks if he remembers anything in particular. His answer is touching and loving when he admits that the entire summer was perfect. He had been involved in an emotion that he couldn't control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. They had fallen in love, despite their differences, and something rare and beautiful was created. Allie is so overwhelmed by his thoughts that she begins to notice every sound, every thought around her. Her senses come alive, invigorating her and making her realize how much better she feels now than she had for the past few weeks. She is pleased that Noah has turned into the type of man she'd thought he would, even though she knows most people would have a hard time understanding him. He is so different from people like Lon who rush headlong forward into their lives, with long hours and profits as their goals, neglecting the things that bring beauty to the world.

She sees Noah's love of nature and poetry as the same thing as her art. She knows because of him that painting is what she is meant to do, and whatever happens, she is going to give her art another shot. She knows from the one time she had shown Lon one of her paintings that he will never understand her need for her art, and yet, she knows he is a good man, the kind of man she'd always known she would marry. She wouldn't describe it as a passionate relationship, but with time, she would have companionship and compatibility. Noah, on the other hand, exudes sexuality, and she finds herself thinking of him in a way an engaged woman shouldn't.

Finally, they arrive at the surprise where an old tree had fallen over, obscuring an opening almost completely hidden from view. Noah tells Allie to close her eyes and then paddles them forward into the hidden opening.

Notes

The purpose of this chapter is to build the sexual tension between Noah and Allie. They spend the time traveling to Noah's surprise spot either thinking about each other or talking about the feelings they had first felt for each other fourteen years before. The time on the river also allows Allie to compare Noah to other men, especially to Lon. It's obvious that Lon, no matter how good a man she knows he is, falls short of the kind of man Noah is.