Read Online Mistakes We Make by Jenny Harper - Free Book Online Page B

done more to protect him, but the first rule of school had been look out for yourself. 
    She studied the muscular figure in the faded denims and heavy check shirt, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows. My God, he’d changed! How had she not noticed? Malcolm Milne had been a scrawny little boy with sticky-out ears, but she saw now that his eyes were a deep sea green and were kind. He’d matured well – gardening obviously suited him.
    ‘Still working for Ibsen Brown?’
    Ibsen Brown, a Summerfield local, had moved up a gear from being a jobbing gardener and, with the help of his new partner, Kate Courtenay, had set up a gardening business, Brown Earth. She’d heard it was doing well – there was no shortage of well-heeled folk in Hailesbank and the pretty conservation village of Forgie who were desperate for help in the gardens of their comfortable homes.
    Malkie clambered down the ladder and dusted his hands together. ‘Aye. Ibsen’s got a new contract, as a matter of fact.’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘His dad’s retiring and he’s taking over his work. All the formal gardens at Fleming House. The grass too. It’s a big job.’
    Caitlyn said, ‘That’s good news for Ibsen then.’
    Malcolm smiled at her. She liked his smile. It was a little crooked because his teeth weren’t straight, but it went all the way up to his eyes. ‘Aye, it is. But I’m afraid it might make it harder for me to find time to cut your mum’s hedge. Ibsen’s putting me in charge up at Fleming House, you see.’
    He looked so proud, and shy, and embarrassed, all at the same time, that Caitlyn leaned forward impulsively and kissed his cheek.
    ‘Malkie, that’s brilliant! He must think really highly of you.’
    A wave of red infused Malkie’s throat and embarked on a voyage upwards.
    ‘Thanks.’ He gazed at her awkwardly, then turned back to the ladder. ‘Best get on.’
    ‘How’s Sassy?’
    Malcolm had been going out with plump little Saskia Kelly, who worked down at the baker’s, for three years, ever since she’d had a pregnancy scare that turned out to be nothing.
    ‘Oh, you know.’ His grin was still there, but his eyes glazed over and he turned back to the hedge.
    Caitlyn bent to gather up the tattered remnants of her shopping bags and finally made it to the front door as the whine of the hedge cutter started again. She had just located her key when the door was yanked open and Harris’s grinning face appeared.
    ‘Caitlyn’s in love with Malkie, Caitlyn’s in love with Malkie,’ he chanted.
    ‘No, I’m not. What are you talking about?’
    She dropped her bag on the floor behind the door and shrugged off her jacket.
    ‘We saw you chatting him up.’ Lewis joined in the chorus. ‘Caitlyn’s in love with Malkie.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous, I am not. And anyway, he’s with Saskia.’
    The twins stared at each other and giggled. ‘No he’s not. Sass’s brother told us they’ve split up.’
    Isla May sidled out of the front room and hugged her knees. ‘Caitlyn—’ The little voice was suspiciously ingratiating.
    ‘What?’ Caitlyn said guardedly.
    ‘You know the summer camp at school?’
    Caitlyn groaned. ‘Not that again, Isla May.’ Her sister had been pestering her about school camp for weeks now, ever since Joyce had told her there was no spare cash for her to go. ‘You know what Mum said.’
    ‘Aww, but Caitlyn—’
    Caitlyn sighed and put her hands down to release Isla May’s grasp. She squatted down on her heels and looked her little sister in the eye. ‘Sorry, sweetheart. You know we’d pay for it if we could, but we can’t. Mum’s working too hard as it is.’
    ‘But everyone’s going!’
    ‘Don’t go on about it, there’s a love. We’ll think of another treat for you, but the camp’s out of the question.’
    If Isla May had pouted, or sulked, or had a tantrum it might have been easier, but the surge of disappointment in her eyes and the way she bit her lower lip to stop it wobbling