Summer of Secrets Read Online Free Page A

come you know one another, anyway?’
    ‘Gap year,’ Jamie mumbled, viewing the floor tiles with some interest. ‘Sailing in Australia.’
    ‘Sailing? Oh, that is so my thing,’ Izzy enthused.
    This was news to Caitlin and judging by the disbelieving smirk on Tom’s face, he wasn’t convinced either.
    ‘Anyway, don’t listen to a word Tom says,’ Izzy burbled on. ‘He loves to wind people up. So, how was the car auction?’
    ‘Ace!’ Tom butted in before Jamie could reply. ‘I bought a dream of a car – goes like the wind. OK, so the paintwork needs a bit of touching up
and––’
    ‘And the rest!’ said Jamie, laughing. He opened the fridge and tossed a can of Pepsi at Tom. ‘I still think you paid way over the odds – I mean, it’s ten years old
and you’ll never get more than twenty-five to the gallon . . .’
    ‘What’s all this about a kiss?’ Caitlin muttered to Izzy, as her brother and Tom embarked on a boring conversation about fuel consumption and carburettors.
    ‘I was just a kid,’ Izzy replied hastily. ‘I only went along with it because I needed to improve my technique; he was on the spot, and had a car – it was before I
developed any kind of good taste in men.’
    Caitlin glanced at Tom, but although he had clearly overheard Izzy’s remark, he seemed totally unfazed by it.
    ‘I like to think I taught her all she knows,’ he teased. ‘Except how to change a tyre in the pouring rain.’
    ‘Oh, you are so witty!’ Izzy retorted sarcastically.
    ‘Well, now, isn’t that lovely?’ Caitlin’s mum, who had caught the end of the conversation as she came into the kitchen clutching a bowl of strawberries, smiled happily at
everyone. ‘You’re all getting to know one another.’
    ‘And maybe you and I could get to know one another better!’ Tom’s words were the merest whisper in Caitlin’s ear as he moved to shake Mrs Morland’s hand, but there
was no mistaking his hand on her bum. She glared at him, trying to ignore the little frisson of excitement that shot through her body, and stepped hastily to one side.
    ‘The rest of the bunch are in the garden, so come along now,’ Caitlin’s mother ordered, waving through the window at Caitlin’s father. ‘Get those steaks on the
barbecue, Edward!’
    She bustled out through the back door and in one graceful move, Izzy was across the kitchen and smiling up at Jamie.
    ‘So, your car – the one you drive Caitlin to school in – it’s an MG Midget, isn’t it? Round about 1978?’
    ‘Seventy-nine,’ Jamie replied. ‘That’s amazing! I’ve never known a girl who could . . . I mean, are you keen on cars?’
    ‘ Passionate about them!’ Caitlin could have sworn that Izzy’s eyelashes fluttered individually. ‘Especially Midgets – the coolest cars ever. When I pass my
test, that’s the car I want. I’d die to go out in one.’
    ‘I guess that could be arranged,’ Jamie replied, smiling at Izzy.
    It occurred to Caitlin that she’d never seen her brother hold anyone’s gaze for so long.
    ‘You had this all planned, didn’t you?’ Caitlin demanded an hour later. ‘ Especially Midgets . . . I’d die to go out in one . . . How subtle
was that?’
    ‘So? Don’t you know anything about handling guys?’ Izzy retorted, peering in the mirror as she applied a third layer of mascara. ‘You have to find their weakness
and then play it for all it’s worth.’
    ‘I thought,’ Caitlin said petulantly, picking a remnant of corn on the cob from her front teeth, ‘that you’d come to spend the day with me. Like, not.’
    ‘Oh, come on, don’t be like that,’ Izzy pleaded, ramming her sunspecs on to the top of her head and grabbing her straw bag. ‘It’ll be fun! And it’s not my
fault Jamie’s car only seats two. Anyway, I don’t know what you’re complaining about – you get to go with Tom.’
    ‘But we’re supposed to be meeting up with Bianca and Sophie later and––’
    ‘We can still do