Summer of Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

got all the details hammered out.’
    But she wouldn’t. If anything, just thinking about their upcoming conversation made her feel a thousand times worse.
    * * * *
    ‘You know, having you actually living in the next village makes this much more convenient.’ Nate Green, co-owner of the Avalon Inn, pushed the inn’s account books across the reception desk.
    ‘Thought it might be handy,’ Alex agreed, taking the books and tucking them under his arm. ‘Besides, I was starting to miss the old place.’
    Nate ducked out from behind the desk. ‘That’s right. You grew up here, yeah?’
    Alex nodded. ‘From the age of eleven until I left for university, and quite a few summer holidays before that. Have to say, it doesn’t seem to have changed much.’ Except for Lily Thomas getting tied down and boring, and the huge hole he felt every morning when he came down to the breakfast table in the cottage to find himself the only one there.
    ‘Been checking out old haunts, have we?’ Nate moved to the front entrance, heaving the heavy oak door open for Alex to step out into the sunshine.
    ‘Not had much of a chance, yet,’ Alex admitted. Taking care of his dad had kept him pretty busy, then the move itself. But now he had the time… ‘I thought I might take a walk up to the old Mill this afternoon, see if the place has collapsed in on itself yet.’
    ‘The Felinfach Mill?’ Nate asked, then shook his head at Alex’s nod. ‘Think you might find that place has changed a bit, even if nowhere else has.’
    Alex shrugged. ‘Well, it’s a nice day for a walk, anyway. Tell your fiancée I’ll get these back to her by Thursday, yeah?’
    Nate nodded, and Alex raised a hand to wave goodbye before he stashed the books in the backseat of his car and climbed into the driver’s seat.
    Was everyone getting married this summer? First Cora and Rhys, Lily and her idiot fiancé, and even Nate and Carrie in a few weeks. That one had been inevitable, in Alex’s opinion, ever since Carrie inherited the Inn last winter. Nate and Carrie were a perfect match. They were what Alex was looking for, why he’d moved home to settle down.
    Now he just had to find it.
    The journey back into Felinfach took him downhill, through trees and past the stream that eventually led to the Mill. He could drive, Alex supposed, but he’d never really spent any time at the Mill since he’d passed his test. To him, the Mill would always be long, hot summer walks out of village, towards freedom. So he parked up in the car park by the tiny Felinfach library, locked the accounts books inside, and set off on foot.
    Felinfach had always seemed such a small, confining village during Alex’s teenage years. Now, walking down the high street, taking in the small array of businesses and shops, houses and community features, he realized he’d never taken the time to learn anything about it, beyond the parts he’d felt were oppressing him. School, home, avoiding the neighbours who might report back on his mildly scandalous activities. That had made up his world.
    Well, that and the Mill.
    When they were kids, the Mill, with its rotting beams and mossy walls, was the only place to be on a summer afternoon. And as teenagers, it was perfect for hiding out with a bottle of cheap cider and a few mates, or to take a girl for a little privacy.
    At seventeen, he’d ruled that shambles of a building. At thirty, he was morbidly keen to see what was left of it after he’d grown up and moved away. Did Nate’s cryptic comments mean it had finished falling apart, finally?
    Cresting the hill out of the town, the Mill rose up ahead, whiter than Alex remembered. He frowned, but kept walking. Maybe he should have asked Nate exactly what had happened to it. What if some rich couple had bought it and renovated it? More to the point, why hadn’t he thought of doing that? Well, apart from the fact that the place had to be a money pit. It had been on the verge of collapsing in on