One Perfect Summer

back?’
    ‘He won’t.’
    ‘ I would.’
    ‘No, you wouldn’t. Not after all of this.’
    ‘I would .’
    ‘I have to go.’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Yes. If this is meant to be, if we are meant to be together, then we will be.’
    ‘We are meant to be together!’ he shouts.
    I sigh and look at him. He’s overwrought with anxiety. He takes a deep breath, and then speaks: ‘How long do you need?’
    ‘I wish I knew.’
    He wants to drive me back to my parents, but I’m worried someone will see us.
    ‘I’d be thrilled if they did,’ he says.
    I give him a wry look.
    ‘I’m not being sarcastic – I want people to see us.’
    For the first time I think about the Andy Carl interview. This would be big news. I’m the ‘Alice’ Joseph Strike spoke about on live television.
    ‘And then everyone would find out that the love of your life is an unfaithful bitch who cheated on her husband.’ He flinches. ‘You know we should do this properly,’ I add.
    He reluctantly agrees to drive me to the station instead. In the car he turns to face me. His expression is a mix of emotions.
    ‘Alice, if he takes you back—’
    ‘He won’t!’
    ‘If he does . . . And if you choose to have a normal life with him instead of a crazy one with me, I’ll still want you. Even if I can’t have the whole of you.’ He stares at me directly. ‘Do you understand what I’m saying?’
    I can’t speak for the lump in my throat.
    ‘This could still be our place . . .’ He grips my arm. ‘I need to know you understand what I’m saying!’ he adds heatedly.
    I regard him warily and then, hesitantly, I nod.
    He pulls me to him and kisses my lips once more before letting me go.

 
    It’s a hot and hazy summer’s day. There’s a naval ship out on the horizon and white gulls swoop across the cliffs and directly above my head. There’s an indentation on my finger where my rings should be and it feels strange not to have them on.
    I arrived early and left a note, but there was really no need. He’ll know where I am. I wait for him on the yellow-green grass, under the sun and the blue, blue sky. I wait for him, full of anticipation and hope and love.
    I sense him behind me, but don’t turn around. A smile forms on my lips as his hands gently touch my shoulders, and then I look up into his brown eyes which still manage to sparkle even when it’s dark. But today there’s no darkness, no sadness, only light and love.
    ‘You came,’ he says, pulling me to my feet and touching his hands to my face.
    ‘I told you I would.’ I slide my hands around his neck and gaze up at him. ‘I love you.’
    ‘I love you more,’ he says.
    ‘Still?’
    He smiles and my heart flips. ‘Always.’

 
    MASSIVE thanks to my readers, who continue to blow me away with their incredible messages of support, both on Facebook and now Twitter. Please keep them coming – you have no idea how much you make me smile.
    Thank you to Nigel Stoneman, not only for letting my family and I stay in the beautiful Dorset cottage that inspired the story for One Perfect Summer , but also for saying, ‘you should write a book’, and twenty minutes later, passing on my idea for Lucy in the Sky to his Publishing Director, Suzanne Baboneau. One week later I had a two-book deal, and I still can’t believe how lucky I am.
    Thank you to the aforementioned Suzanne Baboneau, who is a brilliant editor and who I would trust with my life and not just my books. And thank you to the whole team at Simon & Schuster. For the last five books I’ve wanted to name names, but I have always been too worried I’d leave someone out. This time though, I really must thank the following people: Sarah Birdsey, for selling my translation rights to more countries than I can count (or at least, remember); Florence Partridge, for her ongoing hard work with publicity; Matt Johnson and Lewis Csizmazia, for the beautiful cover design; and Dawn Burnett, Ally Glynn, Sara-Jade Virtue, Maxine Hitchcock, Georgina Bouzova, Alice Murphy and copy-editor extraordinaire, Clare Parkinson.
    Thank you also to my film agents, Charlotte Knight and Tanya Tillett from Knight Hall Agency.
    This is going to be my longest acknowledgements ever, because I have so many people to thank for their help with writing this book. We moved to Cambridge in August 2011, at the exact point in the story that Alice goes to university there, and it was such a joy to research the city that had become our new home.
    Thank you to