Read One Perfect Summer for Free Online

would be ideal. Actually, if you could just not leave at all, that would be pretty much perfect.
    ‘See you.’ He glances over my shoulder at Mum, who is unpacking the last of her things from the car. He starts to walk away as she heads inside to the kitchen.
    ‘Joe!’ I call and he spins around. I beckon for him to come back and then I lean over the gate. ‘You forgot something.’
    He grins and kisses me quickly, then turns to leave.
    ‘Hang on.’ I grab his arm. ‘What’s your surname?’
    ‘Strickwold.’
    ‘Joe Strickwold,’ I repeat.
    ‘It’s a bit of a tongue-twister.’ My fingers fall away from his bicep into his warm hand as he steps away. ‘Till tomorrow?’
    ‘Yes.’ I nod, giving his hand a quick squeeze. Then he’s off.

 
    ‘You’ve moved your relationship onto the next level already,’ Mum teases when I walk back into the kitchen with a spring in my step.
    ‘You saw that, did you?’ I feel my face heat up.
    ‘A bit hard not to. The window is right there.’
    ‘How was your day?’ I change the subject. Thankfully, she lets me.
    ‘Very good. I went to Lulworth Cove and picked up a few bits and bobs. I found a fossil of a sea snail or something like that. I want to go back in the morning. You should come with me. It’s very pretty.’
    ‘Um, no, I can’t,’ I reply. ‘Joe’s coming to get me at nine.’
    ‘Joe again?’ Uh-oh. I know that tone. ‘Aren’t you seeing a bit too much of him?’
    ‘God, Mum, it’s only been a few days,’ I reply huffily. I hate it when she questions me like this. I’m eighteen, for pity’s sake. ‘I thought you wanted me to make friends?’
    ‘Friends? Is that what you are?’ Her tone is wry.
    ‘Well, you know . . .’
    ‘I just don’t want you to let your work suffer.’
    ‘I won’t. I’ve got weeks of summer sprawled out before me. I’ll get it done,’ I say, forcing breeziness into my tone.
    She smiles at me. ‘I guess you know what you’re doing.’
    ‘I do. Show me the fossil, then?’
    The next morning Joe and I return to Dancing Ledge. The jittery feeling has been in my stomach all night and it’s even more intense now. I don’t want to keep my hands off him. He’s so warm and perfect. To my amazement, he seems to feel the same.
    ‘I could kiss you all day,’ he says.
    ‘Don’t you need to eat?’
    ‘Nope.’
    ‘Drink?’
    ‘Nope.’
    ‘Me neither,’ I say.
    ‘I really can’t get over your eyes,’ he says, staring into them, almost searchingly. ‘They’re the greenest green.’
    ‘I like yours too,’ I admit.
    ‘Boring brown.’
    ‘They could never be boring. No, it’s like they have an inner light or something. They’re dark, but they still seem to sparkle.’
    He starts to laugh at me.
    ‘Don’t be mean!’ I cry, whacking him on his arm. ‘Maybe that did sound a little corny, but it’s true.’
    ‘Where are your parents from?’ he asks suddenly.
    ‘They’re both British, but my grandmother on my father’s side was Chinese.’
    ‘Where was she from?’
    ‘Beijing originally, but her parents took her to Britain when she was young. My grandfather was British.’
    ‘I didn’t think Alice Simmons sounded very Chinese.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Do you speak it?’
    ‘Mandarin? No. I wish I could, but my dad always speaks English.’
    ‘Maybe you could take it as a subject at university.’
    I look ahead, thoughtfully. ‘That’s a really good idea. They do have an option to take a language module. I’ll check it out when I get there.’ I gaze across at him. ‘ Xie_xie .’
    ‘What does that mean?’
    ‘Thank you.’ I smile. ‘For the idea.’
    He shakes his head with amusement. ‘You are such a brainiac!’
    ‘So, Joe Strickwold,’ I say. ‘When are you coming to visit me in Cambridge?’
    ‘Joe Strickwold – you even said it without tripping over it.’
    ‘I’ve been practising: Joe Strickwold, Joe Strickwold, Joe Strickwold.’
    ‘Impressive. Alice Simmons, Alice Simmons, Alice