Spending every summer with his grandmother in the south of England isn't Ryan's idea of a good time, and when he finds someone his own age to hang out with, he doesn't much care who that is. Alex might not say much, but company is company when there's nobody else to choose from, and Ryan will simply have to make do. It isn't, after all, like he really needs a friend. But Alex is more than just a kid with a thing for smashing up greenhouses, and Ryan finds himself dragged further and further into a dark, uncertain world of alcohol, bruises, a mother's madness, and a father's anger. Worst of all, Alex is dragging Ryan into a world of lust, attraction, and midnight kisses that Ryan is struggling to keep confined to southern summers. This thing with Alex can't go further than summer -- but Alex, and the shadows that surround him, are not so easily forgotten. Ryan can't forget Alex, but the longer he hangs on, the more he discovers ... not just about Alex, but about himself, his future, and the things that really matter. But eventually, summer must come to an end.

Our Last Summer

Milly is proof that age, wisdom, and deviousness are a largely inseparable trio. She is over eighty years of age, and soon to be a great-grandmother, and knows just about everything about everyone in the village, through a cunning mix of gossip, friendship and that dreaded female intuition.


And she knows exactly how to set things in motion.


The moment the congregation rises to leave, she darts from her pew and catches the enormously tall man—John Bexley—under the elbow. She looks ridiculous next to him, dwarfed by the man’s massive size, her hand almost vanishing in the crook of his elbow, but his smile is indulgent and charming, and Ryan sees why Milly approves of at least him.


He can’t hear Milly from here, but when they gather at the tearoom for the usual post-church meeting over coffee and cake, the small new family have been dragged along by the insistent old woman—and judging by the reactions of the people around them, this is not quite normal.


Chapter 6