One Perfect Summer

tentatively.
    He glances at me before looking away, but he doesn’t answer.
    ‘Did you hear—’
    ‘Yeah,’ he cuts me off. He sighs. ‘I have a brother, an older brother.’
    ‘Where is he?’
    ‘Jail.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Yep. I probably should have told you this before the train left to go back to Swanage.’
    ‘Why?’ I’m confused.
    ‘In case you wanted to get back on it.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I brush him off. ‘Why’s he in jail?’
    ‘Because he’s a dickhead.’
    ‘I mean, what did he do?’
    ‘I know that’s what you meant. Sorry. He’s been in and out of detention centres ever since I can remember – joy riding, drug dealing, you name it. The last thing that landed him in jail was armed robbery.’
    ‘Jesus.’
    ‘My family is great !’ he says sarcastically. ‘And the best thing about all of this? Mum and Dad still think the sun shines out of Ryan’s arse.’
    Ryan, I’m assuming, is his brother.
    ‘Do you have any siblings?’ he asks me.
    ‘No.’
    ‘You’re lucky.’
    ‘I never thought that when I was growing up. I was lonely.’
    ‘Better to be lonely than black and blue.’
    ‘He beats you up?’ I exclaim, and from the look on his face I know instantly that he didn’t mean to reveal this information.
    ‘Here comes our food,’ he says abruptly. He doesn’t want to talk about this anymore – and who could blame him?
    ‘That was such a fun day,’ I say later in the car as I pull over near the pub.
    He smiles across at me. ‘It was, wasn’t it?’
    ‘Are you working tonight?’
    ‘Afraid so. What are you up to tomorrow?’
    I’m so relieved he asked me that question first. ‘Nothing. What about you?’
    ‘I’m coming your way if you want to join us for a walk?’
    ‘Us’ meaning him and Dyson.
    ‘I’d love that.’
    ‘Okay. I’ll see you at around ten thirty.’
    ‘Great.’
    Awkward pause. We both jump as Dyson starts to bark furiously at a dog walking past with its owner.
    ‘I’d better put him out at the back. I’m late for work.’
    ‘Will your parents kill you?’
    He cocks his head to one side. ‘Let’s hope not.’ He climbs out of the car. ‘See you tomorrow.’
    I let out a deep breath and some of the tension that’s been inside me all day slowly evaporates. Good tension, not bad tension, but tension nonetheless. And then I check my watch as a feeling of melancholy settles over me. It’s just after six o’clock. That’s one, two, three . . . I silently count the hours in my head until I come to ten thirty in the morning. Sixteen and a half hours until I see him again. How am I going to pass the time?
    If Lizzy could see me now she’d think I’d lost my head. Lizzy! I need to call her. Damn – I said I’d call her at five. I make a plan to ring as soon as I get back to the cottage.

 
    ‘She’s trying to be brave, but she’s in a lot of pain.’
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ I murmur.
    I’m on the phone to Lizzy. She’s at the hospital.
    ‘How’s your sister?’ I ask. Lizzy has just the one: Tessa. She’s younger than us by three years.
    ‘I don’t know. She doesn’t talk about it, and she barely comes out of her room when we’re at home.’
    ‘She must be worried.’
    ‘We all are.’
    ‘I wish I could give you a big hug,’ I say sadly.
    ‘I wish you could too,’ she replies and I know she has tears in her eyes. She’s not the only one.
    ‘How’s Dorset?’ she asks.
    ‘It’s okay,’ I reply.
    My heart aches to tell her about Joe, but I don’t feel that I can.
    ‘How is she?’ Mum asks when I return downstairs. I fill her in. ‘Poor thing,’ she empathises. ‘Did you have a good day?’
    ‘Yeah.’ I nod, unable to keep the corners of my lips from turning upwards.
    ‘You like him, don’t you?’
    ‘Might do,’ I reply, looking down.
    ‘Shame about his mother,’ she comments.
    ‘Mmm. I wasn’t too keen on her, either. Neither is Joe, for that matter.’
    ‘Oh, well,’ Mum says, ‘at least we’re only here for six weeks.’
    My heart plummets. Six weeks felt like an age on the car journey down here – now it’s nowhere near long enough. ‘What do you mean, “at least”?’ I ask her.
    ‘Well, it’s not like you’re going to fall for him, is it? He’s hardly going to be a permanent part of your life. Imagine dealing with his mother! And his father . . . From the look on his face when he gave me my change it’s like he thought he’d burst an artery just by cracking a smile