Read Online The Summer House by Jean Stone - Free Book Online Page A

at least, it was what he expected her to say she wanted to be. What he really wanted was that she “marry well,” well as in Michael Barton of the Bartons of Lynnfield, which was hardly something she would tell Josh. “I don’t know what I want to do tomorrow, let alone for the rest of my life.”
    Suddenly, he was holding her hand. “I’d like to see you, Liz. I mean, on a real date. Could we do that? Would you like to?”
    Would she like to? Was he crazy? Then she thought about Father. He’d kill you , BeBe had said.
    Well, maybe BeBe was wrong. Maybe Father really wouldn’t mind. Just because he and BeBe always clashed …
    “If you don’t answer me in five seconds,” Josh said, “I’ll take that as a no.”
    Liz shook her head. “No. I mean, yes. Yes, I’ll go out with you. Of course I will.”
    “Tomorrow night?”
    “Sure.”
    “Shall I pick you up at seven?”
    She lowered her eyes to the sand. “Maybe we should meet somewhere …”
    “What’s wrong?”
    Her mind raced. Tomorrow was Sunday. Perfect. Her parents always spent Sunday evenings at the Burnses, where they had supper and played whist as if they lived in the nineteenth century and sipped lemonade instead of single malt scotch. She raised her eyes to Josh’s. “Nothing, nothing at all. I want to see you. It’s just that Father has some funny ideas about dating …”
    He studied her face a moment, his eyes lingering on her in the dark. “And I might as well tell you up front. I’m Jewish.”
    She hoped he didn’t see the skip of her pulse.
    “Will that be a problem?”
    “No,” she answered, perhaps a little too quickly. “I don’t think so. It’s dating in general …” She hated sounding so childish. God, she thought, I’m sixteen! “Seven will be fine,” she blurted out. “I’ll meet you on the road at the end of my driveway.”
    Before she knew what was happening, Josh had leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Her knees grew weak. “You’d better get home,” he said. “Before you get caught.”
    She crept up to the porch, her hand touching the spot where he had kissed her, her smile stopping just short of joy, stunted by the reality that Father might, indeed, kill her. Or Josh. Or both of them.
    “Nice night for a walk.”
    Liz froze—as if moving would make her crumble, Lot’s wife turned to a pillar of salt. Then her brain cells began to work. The voice was not Father’s. The voice belonged to Daniel.
    “What are you doing out here?” she asked.
    He laughed. “I was about to ask you that.”
    “I … I couldn’t sleep.” She wondered if he was outside because he, too, had a midnight rendezvous, with a girl who was not good enough for Father.
    Daniel leaned back against the railing. “It’s a bit late to be off wandering, Lizzie.”
    She bit her lip. She had never, ever lied to Daniel, and did not want to start now. But she could no more let Daniel down than she could disappoint Father …
    “I won’t always be around to look after my kid sister,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically somber.
    “Sure you will. Who will do it if not you?” They both knew better than to mention Roger. Or BeBe.
    “Lizzie. I need you to promise me something.”
    She wove her fingers together and stared at the ground, feeling certain that Daniel knew she had been bad. And that she intended to be bad again. “Cross my heart?” she asked.
    “Cross your heart.”
    She did so.
    He looked at her for a moment, then looked off toward the stars. “Lizzie-girl, I need you to promise me that you’ll listen to Father. He may seem stern sometimes, but he has all our best interests at heart. And, believe it or not, he knows what he’s doing.”
    She felt as if she were being reprimanded, the four-year-old caught stealing cookies. She thought of Michael, then thought of Josh. “I like Michael,” she said, “really I do. But …”
    Daniel laughed, then put his hand on her head and tousled her hair. “I’m