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for an answer.
    I nod.
    “Ok,” he breathes. “We’ll wait until you’re ready. My God,” he adds, with an anguished expression. “If I’d have known…”
    He doesn’t say anything else, just holds me tight in his arms. And something occurs to me, bound tight in him.
    “Does that happen often?” I ask, “with the boat?”
    Adam shakes his head.
    “No.” He pauses for a moment, as if wondering whether to go on.
    “The rope had been partly cut,” he says, after a moment.
    I freeze.  Every part of my body is on high alert.
    “Hey, Summer.” He squeezes me tightly. “Don’t worry. I left it moored up on the docks. Probably some tearaways thought it would be fun to vandalise the boat.”
    “But,” I say, my frightened eyes resting on him. “Wouldn’t kids just have… I don’t know. Drawn graffiti? It seems a bit extreme to cut a rope.”
    Adam shrugs.
    “Disillusioned kids can do some horrible things,” he says.
    The look on his face is so dark it frightens me. And once again I’m struck by the certainty that his past carries bad memories.
    “Did something happen to you?” I whisper, momentarily forgetting to be concerned about the boat. “When you were a kid?”
    Adam gives a sardonic kind of smile.
    “Let’s just say I know what teenagers are capable of,” he says. His expression is hard, and I look away.
    “Don’t worry about the boat, ok?” Adam says, his voice turning to its usual gentle lilt. I blink into his blue eyes. They’re warm again.
    But I can’t help but worry. Because I’m thinking all kinds of things.
    Could Dez have sabotaged the boat? Does he know about me and Adam?
    I dismiss these thoughts as ridiculous. No -one knows about us. Apart from Tammy and George. And they certainly wouldn’t tell Dez.
    Besides. Dez might be have a violent streak. But cutting the rope could have killed someone. And for all his faults I don’t think he’d take things so far.
    Would he?
    But as Adam helps me off the boat and leads me back to the studio, I’m not so sure it wasn’t Dez. Not so sure at all.
     

Chapter 8
     
    My mind is still racing with this thought as Adam drops me back at the studio. But I don’t have time to think it through properly. It’s time to collaborate on our music video. And since we only have days, we need to give this our all.
    I’m heading back to meet Tammy and George when my mum calls. I debate calling her back later, since I don’t want to be late. But I’ve got a few minutes, so I connect the call.
    “Hi Mum.”
    “Hello love!”
    “You sound excited,” I laugh.
    “Of course I am,” she says, “we all are. Ben hasn’t stopped asking for your TV appearance to be replayed.”
    I grin at the thought of my irrepressible five-year-old nephew.
    “That’s so cute,” I say. “Is he there now?”
    “No, not this morning,” says mum. “He’s with Sam.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, she’s much better nowadays,” affirms my mum. “She’s growing into a proper mum. She had him so young, you know…”
    It’s a popular refrain from my mum. The truth is, my sister Sam can be a little selfish. We all make excuses for her, but she’s the baby of the family, so we’re used to taking care of her.
    “Sam was going to give you a call, after you got through to the next round,” says my mum quickly, remembering my sister hasn’t called to congratulate me. “But she’s had a lot on, you know.”
    A lot of TV to catch up on, if I know my sister.
    “That’s ok,” I say. “I’m sure she’ll call when she’s got a minute.”
    My mum hesitates.
    “Yes,” she says. “Sam’s very proud of you Summer, in her own way.”
    “I know mum.”
    “So what’s the plan now?” asks my mum. “Will there be another song for the next show?”
    “Um. There’s a quick-fire video round next,” I say. “We’re teaming up with a garage music band.”
    “Garage music?” says my mum, her Welsh accent sounding more strongly. “I’ve seen that on the MTV