Summer Loving Read Online Free PDF

floor and scrubbed his scalp with both hands, ‘I’ll do it.’
    ‘We may as well both go down.’ She tied the belt of her cotton robe. ‘There’ll be no sleeping through this.’ Normally thunderstorms didn’t bother her. They didn’t happen often. But her skin was prickling and, as she rubbed her arms, unease feathered down her spine. The air felt spiky and charged.
    Tom had pulled on his boxers and was stepping into his jeans. ‘I been up at sparrowfart every day this past week,’ he grumbled. ‘Just one more hour, that’s all I –’
    A blinding flash and simultaneous ear-splitting crack of thunder made the cottage vibrate. Jess gasped at the sound of smashing tiles and shattering glass.
    ‘That’s a strike,’ Tom said.
    The air was acrid then Jess smelled burning. She ran on to the landing, and looked out of the window that faced her back garden as lightning flashed again.
    ‘Tom,’ her throat was dry, her voice raspy. ‘I think it hit the chapel.’ She watched, horrified, as smoke and flames billowed out of the roof.
    ‘Call the fire brigade,’ Tom yelled, pulling on his shirt and stuffing bare feet into his deck shoes.
    As soon as she had replaced the receiver, Jess flew upstairs, threw her robe onto the rumpled bed, and pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt. Downstairs she stepped into moccasins and yanked open the front door.
    Elsie was in her doorway, her arm round a crying Tegan, both in their nightclothes. ‘What was the crash?’
    ‘Lightning hit the chapel. I’ve called the fire brigade.’
    ‘Oh my dear Lord.’
    Front doors were opening, people emerged, some still in nightwear, others partly dressed, all hurrying up the road.
    Dazzled by a vivid blue-white flare, Jess winced at thunder so loud she felt real fear. She had never experienced anything like this. Which of the keyholders lived nearest? Reaching the front of the chapel, she stumbled to a halt, shock taking her breath as the next flash lit up the damage.
    The lightning strike had ripped a long jagged hole in the slates, blasted through the frosted glass screen, and blown one of the double doors off its hinges.
    Stunned, Jess saw crackling flames and thick grey smoke curling out of the roof. The intense heat of the lightning must have set the rafters alight.
    Panting men emerged carrying the altar table and lectern. Where was Tom? Relief followed panic as she saw Tom and Fred Honey manhandle the piano out over the step. Fred’s son Jase emerged, coughing, carrying a large bundle she recognised as the altar cloth and wooden cross.
    ‘Got the Sunday school room open yet?’ Fred yelled. ‘Be raining in a minute.’
    Men surged forward, some to salvage whatever they could before the fire reached it, others to move what had already been retrieved. More people were arriving. Women carrying cartons of milk hurried through the chapel yard to the schoolroom and attached kitchen. The caretaker had brought a key.
    After another vibrating boom of thunder, Jess heard the siren of the fire-engine. A raindrop hit her head. Another slid down her face. About to head for the schoolroom and offer help, something made her look round.
    Morwenna was standing against the hedge on the far side of the road, her long nightdress visible beneath her raincoat, hands pressed to her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
    ‘Take her home,’ Tom said behind Jess, making her jump. ‘She don’t need to see this. Ben prob’ly don’t know yet. If I hadn’t stayed with you last night, I wouldn’t neither.’
    ‘I’m glad you were here, Tom.’
    ‘So’m I, bird. Go on now, I’ll catch you later.’
    As Jess crossed the road to Morwenna, the fire engine hurtled round the corner, blue lights flashing, siren blaring, and braked to a halt a few yards beyond the wrecked chapel entrance. The siren stopped but the blue lights still strobed their warning as figures in bulky, grey protective suits with yellow stripes and yellow helmets jumped out. A generator