The Summer's End Read Online Free Page A

stove, and a hearty hello from Lucille. The comparative silence now caused an ache deep in her chest.
    Harper stood at the threshold and looked at the dimly lit, empty room through her pragmatist eyes, not clouded by the blur of nostalgia. It was the classic kitchen found in a house that once held a staff. It had what people in real estate called good bones. The room was big, with windows that overlooked the Cove. A butler’s pantry with glass-front cabinets separated the kitchen from the dining room. It was all charming, if outdated.To her, the room was like a vintage dress that needed a good cleaning and maybe a new zipper.
    The once-butter-colored walls now appeared rancid, and the appliances were terribly out-of-date. Harper frowned to see dirty dishes in the sink and, on the long wood table, an empty package of fig cookies, crumbs scattered. Wouldn’t Lucille claim she was going to “look for a switch” if she saw the state of her normally spotless kitchen?
    Harper entered the empty room, wrinkling her nose at the smell of bitter coffee grinds and day-old garbage. She tossed the cold filter, then went to the sink for water to make a fresh pot of coffee. As she lifted the sponge in the sink, out from under it skittered an enormous brown cockroach. Harper screamed, dropped the coffeepot into the sink, and leaped back. The commotion sent the enormous bug flying past her head.
    Dora came running into the room, her eyes wide and searching. “Harper? Are you all right?”
    â€œYes,” Harper said breathlessly, her hand over her pounding heart.
    â€œYou screamed bloody murder!”
    â€œI just saw the biggest cockroach. At least I . . . I think it was a cockroach. I swear . . . it flew past me!”
    Dora’s face shifted as she burst out laughing.
    â€œIt’s not funny,” Harper fired back, sourly eyeing Dora in her perky running outfit with her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. Ironically, Harper had been the runner out of the three sisters at the beginning of the summer, but since Dora had taken up regular exercise, she’d been—literally—on Harper’s heels.
    Her older sister only leaned against the doorframe and laughed harder.
    Carson rushed into the room looking as if she’d leaped from her bed. She was in her pajamas and her long, dark hair was loose down her back. “What happened?” Her eyes were wide with alarm. “Is anyone hurt?”
    Dora muffled her laugh and waved her arm in a calming gesture. “No cause for alarm.” She caught Carson’s eye and added with a smirk, “Harper saw a palmetto bug.”
    â€œNot just a bug,” Harper said in self-defense. “It was as big as a rat.”
    A smile of genuine amusement spread across Carson’s face. “Ah, so our little sister’s met our state bird?”
    The laughter erupted again.
    Harper didn’t enjoy being the butt of their lowcountry jokes. Though the three half sisters shared the same father, each had a different mother and they’d thus grown up in different parts of the country. Dora and Carson were both raised in the Carolinas; Harper in New York. They loved to tease their Yankee sister about her city ways and her unfamiliarity with all things southern.
    â€œIf you’re so familiar with them, go catch it,” she challenged sullenly.
    â€œI’m not going after that thing.” Dora shook her head. “I always send a man after that. They’re the hunters, right? My job is to jump on a chair and scream.”
    â€œDon’t look at me,” Carson said.
    â€œI thought you were nature girl,” Harper said.
    â€œI’ll take a shark any day over one of those critters. ButI think Mamaw has one of Papa Edward’s hunting guns. You could shoot the thing.”
    Dora joined Carson in a renewed bout of laughter.
    Over the past months working in the garden, Harper had become all too familiar