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Back Where The Story Starts Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. 55
  60. 56
  61. 57
  62. 58
  63. BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  65. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘God, no!’ said Clio with a tad too much protest in her voice. ‘But he doesn’t have much in his life apart from the Hall and I just thought it might be nice . . . But if you really don’t want to go, that’s fine. I’ll take the kids, Marlon can wait in the car and you can have an afternoon of peace.’

I thought it over for a moment. Marlon was quite good fun, I supposed. And it was only for a couple of hours.

‘And it’s definitely not a date?’ I asked again.

‘Definitely not,’ replied Clio.

25

25

LEAH – NOW

I grabbed my bag and stepped out into the sunshine just as Marlon got out of the car and started walking towards the house. His skin was almost translucent in the bright light. How did he work outside and yet stay so pale? He was wearing a pair of jeans that looked like his grandma had bought them for him and a striped T-shirt that reminded me of Where’s Wally?

‘Surprise?’ he said tentatively when he got close enough. There was no sign of the goofy grin that I was used to seeing him pull. In fact, he looked as nervous as I felt.

‘Is this okay?’ he added, and I relaxed a bit. At least he seemed to recognise the awkwardness of this situation. I just nodded. There was no point making a fuss. We were where we were, and I just needed to get on with it. I could dig deep and spend a couple of hours with this bloke without it killing me, and I supposed he was kind of cute, in a quirky way.

‘And I already told you I like the seaside,’ he added, the grin creeping back.

‘Wave-jumping!’ shouted Noah from behind me, making me jump a foot in the air. I felt so stupid but Marlon, who luckily didn’t seem to have noticed, gave Noah a big thumbs-up sign with both hands.

‘Well, let’s go find some waves,’ I said, now desperate to get out of sight of the others before Clio started winking or anything else of an excruciating nature. ‘Have a great time at the cinema. See you back here later?’

Clio nodded and closed the door, but not before she’d given me another wink. Damn. I hoped Marlon didn’t see. Clio was enjoying this far too much for my liking.

‘So,’ I said, turning to Marlon, keen to show that I was taking control of the odd situation that we found ourselves in. ‘What do you want to do, apart from wave-jumping?’

Marlon shrugged. ‘I’m happy just to walk and talk if that suits you,’ he said.

It did. We strolled down the street the few short yards to the promenade and then stopped.

‘Lighthouse or castle?’ I asked him.