Hawthorn Read Online Free PDF Page B

village for me to just grab you if I want.” He grins disarmingly.
    I laugh. “Okay, you have a point. Lead the way.” He turns and I follow. This could be good. He looks my age, maybe a little older. Making a friend could be good, make starting college easier with a familiar face to look forward to.
    I can’t help study his back, tapered down to his tight butt. Damn, now I’m checking him out. He does have nice arms, though, wiry and strong-looking even if he’s as pale as the moon. He doesn’t seem to feel the chill in the air.
    I wonder if he’s wearing sun cream. I bet he burns easy.
    I trip and stumble, but don’t hit the ground because he has me.
    I don’t know how, but I have to ask. “Are you a vampire?”
    He stares at me for a long beat and then bursts out laughing.
    After a second I join in.
    I realise he is still holding me, his hands warm on my skin. “Come on then, show me this place.”
    He lets go of me and ambles off again. “Eyes on the trail now, Gemma.”
     

12
    JULES
    The sun is glorious. I know it won’t last. We’ve been lucky so far, a long summer, but the weather forecast says it’s going to get cooler. There is a definite bite to the air today and the salty tang is more prominent. Right now I want to enjoy the sun and my new home. The uneasy feeling I had when we first came here has been swept out with the cobwebs and dust. It’s amazing what a coat of paint, a good scrubbing and your own furniture and knick knacks can do to make a place feel like home.
    Learmonth House definitely feels like home now.
    Danny and Heather are playing at the bottom of the garden. It’s good to see them getting on again. I don’t know what it is about moving houses that throws everything out of balance, but things seem to be settling back into their comfortable nooks now like a jigsaw puzzle that is almost complete.
    I feel Mary behind me standing in the patio doors. I wait for her to step out, and when she doesn’t, I hold out my hand.
    “Babe? You coming out? It’s lovely.”
    Silence.
    I sit up on the sun lounger and glance back at the house. The doorway is empty.
    I sit back, confused. I was sure she’d been there. I’d felt her presence.
    Something’s presence…
    No. I push the thought away. There are no such things as ghosts. Even if there are, I won’t have them, not here.
    Mary slips into the lounger next to mine.
    I blink in surprise because I didn’t hear her coming.
    “Sandwich?” She puts a plate on the table between us.
    “Oh, yum!” I take a neat triangle. Egg mayo, my favourite.
    “I’m sorry I’ve been such a moody cow the last few days,” she says
    “The last few days!”
    “Fine, the last few weeks. I was just so stressed out about…everything.”
    I chew and swallow. “I know. It’s okay, but we did it. We made it, we’re here and it’s our home.”
    Mary nods, glancing back up at the house. “I know. It looks fab now and the kids have got so much room to play and stuff. It’s great.”
    I study her face and I can tell she’s hiding something.
    “What’s the matter? What’s bothering you?”
    She shrugs. “It’s stupid. Just bad dreams, just the stress, I know. But they just seem…they seem so real.”
    I swing my legs off my lounger and face her, taking her face in mine. I plant a soft kiss on her lips. “It’s going to be fine, I promise. Look, why don’t you go take a nap? I’ll watch the kids and make dinner. I’ll wake you later and run you a lovely bubble bath. Trust me, once you relax, those nasty nightmares will piss right off.”
    She smiles at me and her face lights up, and I am reminded of why I fell in love with her. It was that smile that did it. Sunshine warm on my face, that’s what her smile is.
    She kisses me this time, soft and lingering.
    It’s been a while since we made love. With the move and everything, we’ve been so tired.
    “I love you, Jules.”
    “Love you too, babe.”
    She disappears inside the house, but