Saving Summer Read Online Free Page B

didn’t understand why, complete strangers, relatives, they all seemed to unload on me. My mother said it was because I had a kind, open face. I figured it was more because I wasn’t unapproachable or bitchy like my sister, Rebecca. She repelled people just by breathing. I sometimes think my brother is scared of her…
    “No, I don’t need to talk to anyone.” He went back to his computer parts.
    “Wow, sorry to piss you off. I was just trying to be friendly.” Actually, I was stalling going home. Maybe I was scared to go back out there alone, or maybe I was just happy to have someone to talk to that seemed to be on the same level as me. Whatever it was, it made leaving Gael difficult. “I’ll go.”
    “Look, I’m not pissed off.” He let out a breath. “Normally I don’t let people in the shed…and normally I’m not freaking out over the party raging in my parent’s house…which might not be there in the morning. We’ll see. Last time we had to replace the front windows.”
    “So the raving drunks and half naked girls have happened before?” I sat on a stool next to him and settled in. He went back to working, and didn’t seem to mind my company, much. “Why are your parents okay with it?”
    “Honestly, I have no idea. I think they are just over dealing with Celso and Damian. My mother said when they were little it was like trying to raise wild animals. Now they are two adult animals with hormones and a penchant for beer.” He glanced up at me, and the way his eyes met mine made my heart dance a jig in my chest. “You spend every summer here, and we’ve never bumped into each other. Why is that? This island is only half a mile long.”
    “Well, Lou doesn’t let me leave the house much. Unless it’s church on Sunday…or something else we do together.”
    He nodded, “Yeah, she’s stern from what I’ve seen. And up until I was fourteen, I used to go away to camp each summer.”
    “Really? Was it like a wilderness thing, did you learn how to raft and make fire?”
    “Uh,” his face went pink “No, it was space camp. We watched Star Trek, learned about the solar system, and ate astronaut ice cream… You can laugh. It won’t hurt my feelings.”
    I smiled, but didn’t laugh. “Hey, space camp sounds a lot cooler than what I did.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I tried to knit.” I shrugged. “Space camp would have been a welcome reprieve from that. Once I went to band camp for spring break. It was…different.”
    “Different is good.”
    “Someone sat on my violin. It broke. I haven’t played since.”
    “So what did you do for the week?”
    “Well, I got to help the younger kids with their instruments. It was BYOI. Bring your own instrument. They didn’t have spares.”
    “Right,” he laughed, and stood from the workbench. “So, I’m thinking about heading to bed.”
    My mouth dropped open just a little bit. “Okay…”
    “Want me to walk you back to Lou’s?”
    I nodded. “That would be great. But where will you sleep? The house is crazy.”
    He pointed at a small couch with a sleeping bag draped over it. “It’s not great, but it works.”
    “Hey, it looks better than the bed I share with Napoleon.”
    “Who?”
    “Lou’s cat.”
    His eyes went wide. “So that’s what she calls him.”
    “Did you call him something else?”
    “Yeah, Satan.”
    I snorted with laughter. “Kind of fits him, actually.”
    “Shall we?” he said, motioning to the shed door.
    “Sure.” I started out and waited for him to close it. I had trouble trying to keep from acting too excited. Not because I was suddenly head over heals for Gael Cortez. I was just excited about the human contact. I mean, I loved Lou, but I really needed something else to do other than sit on the front porch, try to knit, and talk about the weather.
    Also, I’d refused to knit with her, so that left me lacking in the activities area. She wouldn’t let me go swimming alone, because I would drown. I