Love Notes from Vinegar House Read Online Free PDF Page A

and that Rumer had latched on to him, but she would just say, “He’s older. He should know better.”
    If Bryn had been Isabella’s first crush, then Luke Hart was mine.
    There, I’ve said it.
    Maybe you guessed already?
    The idea of it had hit me a couple of summers after that first game of Murder in the Dark. I remember it like one of those home-shot movies from the olden days – you know the ones – where the handheld camera is just a little wonky and the sound just a little fuzzy. I was strolling along the wet sand of Ocean Side at the end of a sizzling summer day. The breeze was blowing the fringe back off my face, and I swear I heard some of that smoochy music that they play in romantic movies, which could have been in my head, or could have been from the caravan park hidden behind the sand dunes. I vowed my eternal love to Luke Hart then and there. I was going to marry him. That was my silent promise to the sun and the sea spray and the tiny sand critters that made the beach come alive at that time of day. In my defence, I was barely a teenager at the time, and I didn’t know a lot about life. Now I don’t think I’m even going to get married – ever. Well, certainly not before I’m thirty.
    I didn’t need to dream about my true love, with his tanned skin, strong broad shoulders and sun-bleached hair that was lighter on the ends. I didn’t need to imagine the wistful sound of his laughter, for it carried on the air towards me, a mere three rock pools away.
    As he held onto the hand of my cousin, Rumer.
    Which was perfectly understandable.
    I know I’ve already told you about Rumer, but they were just the bad bits.
    When the Kramer family is together they are one big lump. They have the same look about them: square bodies, straight, definite noses, and smiles that turn their lips up at the corners. There is nothing out of control. Even their hair is tidy. And then there is Rumer. Rumer is the beautiful angel that tops our family tree. She is all golden beauty and dimples. That is the good thing about Rumer. She is beautiful.
    Back to the bad things. She has a temper. Her father, Uncle Lawrence, is nice enough, but he’s kind of vague. When the rest of us are getting into trouble, he just looks awkward and asks her to behave. Rumer’s always gotten away with things and she always takes what she wants. And that’s where Luke Hart came in.
    Luke Hart was mine. He had lived across the road from our house for as long as I could remember. He was older than me, just by two years, and I only ever remember him being nice to me.
    Let me tell you about Luke Hart.
    Luke Hart had buckteeth when he was younger. I admired him so much that I took to resting my own two top front teeth on my bottom lip, which made talking quite tricky and eating even harder. I have a very nice Year One school photo of me, sitting in the front row, third from the left, with my two teeth jutting out over my bottom lip. Mum said it made me look like a rabbit and didn’t want to pay for the photo, but I cried until she let me buy a copy. I stopped the bucktoothed look on my seventh birthday when Uncle Lawrence clapped me so hard on the back that my teeth cut through my bottom lip.
    I may have given up on having buckteeth, but I didn’t give up on Luke Hart. He was my hero. If Luke was forced to play Monopoly with me, I let him choose the racing car token, even though that was my favourite piece. If there was a last slice of cake on the plate, it was his. If Luke needed something, I would get it for him. That didn’t include Rumer though. He managed to get her all by himself.
    Strike that.
    She managed to get him.
    I’ll tell you how that happened, but first I need to tell you about Rumer’s special circumstances.
    The first time I’d heard the words “special circumstances” I’d already played at least ten games of Murder in the Dark, though it still wasn’t my favourite game. I was just finishing up my second helping of Christmas