A Summer to Remember Read Online Free PDF Page A

image of a beautiful white Georgian mill house by a river in the heart of the Norfolk countryside. A house that had been hung with heavy printed curtains and filled with huge log-like pieces of furniture in oak. And the two young boys she’d looked after.
    It was Mrs Milton.
    Nina watched for a moment, just to be sure, smiling at the memories that were resurfacing, before summoning up the courage to speak.
    ‘Mrs Milton?’ Nina’s voice was quiet, but obviously startled the woman.
    ‘Yes?’ she said, turning around in surprise.
    Nina cleared her throat. ‘I don’t know if you’ll remember, but I used to babysit for you. I’m Nina Elliot.’ Nina watched in amazement as the woman’s face beamed, her eyes crinkling at the edges.
    ‘ Neena! Gracious! I don’t believe it. Are you all right?’
    ‘Yes, very well, thank you.’
    ‘No – I mean – after what happened.’
    ‘Pardon?’ Nina was puzzled. How on earth could Mrs Milton have heard that she’d walked out of her job?
    ‘Dominic – the car – he told me all about it.’
    ‘Car? But I don’t have a car,’ she said.
    ‘No – his car. You know – he nearly ran you over. I was terribly worried. Silly boy.’
    Nina’s expression remained one of complete bafflement but then the cogs of her memory slowly turned, releasing the image of the stern face at the traffic lights, the car horns, the panic, the half-recognition.
    It had been Dominic. Little Dommie Milton whom she’d once tucked up into bed; the little boy who’d once woken her up because of a nightmare involving giant sunflowers. This same little boy had nearly run her over.
    ‘Oh, yes!’ Nina exclaimed, ‘But I didn’t know it was him. I mean, I thought I recognised him, but—’
    ‘But you’re okay?’
    ‘Yes! Absolutely fine. It was my fault really,’ Nina said. ‘I just wasn’t thinking straight, but I’m fine, thank you.’
    ‘What a relief. Honestly. He goes around in a dream, that boy. He really shouldn’t be behind a wheel at all. Well, other than a potter’s wheel.’
    ‘Gosh, how is everyone?’ Nina asked with a smile, trying to imagine the young boys who would all be grown men now.
    ‘Oh, very well – very well,’ Olivia enthused. ‘Billy’s working in London as a pilot and taking off all over the place. Alex has had about twenty different jobs since graduating and can’t seem to settle to any one of them, and Dommie’s just graduated from art school and is preparing for his first art show in Norwich.’
    Nina beamed a smile. ‘You must be so proud of them all.’
    ‘Oh, I am!’ Olivia said. ‘And you wouldn’t believe it but Dudley and I have our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary this summer,’ she said, as if not quite believing it herself.
    ‘Oh, congratulations!’
    ‘Thank you,’ Olivia paused and then her forehead crinkled, ‘only there’s so much to organise! We’ve never thrown such a big party before. We’re having a marquee set up in the garden and a band and balloons and flowers – the works! It’s almost as much fuss as our wedding day.’
    ‘It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun,’ Nina said, remembering the times she’d joined the Miltons for lunches and dinners at the mill and how splendid they’d made even the simplest of meals, with the great table set with silver, glass and fine china. She couldn’t imagine how splendid an anniversary party was going to be.
    ‘And you must come along, Nina! We’d love to have you as our guest,’ Olivia said. ‘Now, would you mind awfully if I looked in your basket? I’ve come out without my shopping list and I’ve gone completely blank. I can’t remember a single thing we need.’
    ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ Nina said, trying not to grin as she remembered the wonderful forgetfulness of her former employer.
    Olivia looked thoughtful. Milk, bread, a tub of margarine, a small box of nasty-looking soap powder, bananas and an economy pack of tissues.
    ‘See – I haven’t