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could have been a disaster with all that red PEI dirt just waiting to get on Nan’s white sheets, but luck stayed with her. Two minutes after pinching the last clothes-pin, she was rolling up to the end of the street in search of Gabriel.
    On the way, Darby passed Red T-shirt kicking his soccer ball. Except that today, just to mess things up for her, hewas wearing a green shirt. She waved at him anyway, ready to let bygones be bygones. But he was so focused on bouncing the ball off his knee, she ended up just cruising on by.
    Proves my point
, she thought.
Who’s being unfriendly now?
    In the end, she didn’t even have to look for Gabriel. She rolled up to the old blue house and flipped the skateboard into one hand. He was sitting right in front of the house, perched on the old rusty fence beside the gate.
    “That doesn’t look too comfortable,” Darby said, with a grin.
    He smiled. “I knew you’d come today. Everything is ready.”
    What kind of weird remark was that?
    “Ready? Ready for what?”
    He hopped off the fence and reached out a hand. “May I?”
    Darby realized he wanted to see her skateboard. The truth was she had never let anyone lay a hand on the board before that moment. Not even Sarah. Then she thought about Red T-shirt ignoring her. And she
did
know where this kid lived …
    “I guess so,” she said, reluctantly. “But no riding it. I’m still breaking it in.”
    He nodded absently and turned over the skateboard in his hands, examining it carefully. He spun one of the wheels with a finger.
    “Geez, you’d think you’d never seen a skateboard before,” Darby said. “It’s not a fancy one or anything. One day I’ll get one with dual trucks.”
    He looked up at her as if from far away and handed the board back.
    “I think it is beautiful,” he said. He turned and started up the path to the house. “Are you coming?”
    She shrugged and followed behind him slowly.
    He paused to wait. “I see you have taken to wearing a moustache,” he said, pointing at her upper lip.
    Darby’s cheeks reddened. She swiped a hand across her face. “It’s nothing,” she muttered, and repeated her earlier question. “What did you mean—all ready for me?”
    He just smiled. “Have you had a chance to look around the town at all?”
    Talk about avoiding the question. Darby marched through the long grass, following him around the side of the house. The little stone chapel and the crab apple trees behind it came into view. On this side of the house the paint was really peeling—hanging off in strips in places, with the grey, weathered boards showing clearly beneath.
    “Gabe, you actually live here? Because I think your folks could use a little help with the upkeep.”
    He stopped a few paces ahead of her and turned to look up at the old house.
    “I love this place,” he said softly. “It has been in my family a long time.”
    Darby looked at him sceptically. He sounded sincere, but—
    “Did you know my grandfather was born in this house?” she asked.
    “Was he?” Gabe didn’t look surprised.
    “So Nan says. I guess in those days babies weren’t always born in hospitals. But then something happened to his mother, and his father sold the house and moved away. I guess that’s when your family bought it?”
    He shifted his shoulders a little and bent to pick up something from the grass. The sun slipped behind a great grey cloud, rimming its edges with gold. The leaves on the giant oak tree at the very back of the property rustled and danced and the wind swirled the grass at Darby’s feet, flattening it in spirals.
    “You told me you thought this was just an old town filled with old people,” Gabe said.
    Darby stared up at the darkening cloud behind him. “Maybe it is,” she said nervously. “What difference does that make to you?”
    The wind whipped his hair around and the merriment drained out of his face.
    “Perhaps I will show you something,” he said.
    “Well, okay—but can you