Read Online Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood - Free Book Online Page B

have someone to kiss and touch.
    As I round the corner, I see that one of the benches is occupied. Not by a couple. Just one guy, drinking what looks like a beer. I squint through the dark to see if it’s anybody I know, and then I grin.
    Connor Clarke is sitting there in khaki shorts and a brick-red T-shirt, like I conjured him right out of thin air.
    I remember him checking me out. Twice.
    This a bad idea, Ivy , whispers a little voice in my head. Find another boy. This one’s too complicated.
    I ignore it.

Chapter
Six
    Connor lifts his bottle in greeting. “Ivy, hey.”
    I approach cautiously, like he’s some wild bird I might spook. “Hey. What’s up?”
    He shrugs. “Roommate said I couldn’t miss the first bonfire of the summer.”
    The first bonfire of the summer was after prom, and the second was last week, after graduation. But I don’t correct him because those were high school parties and I guess I don’t want to remind him that I’m still in high school.
    I gesture back toward the cove. “Party’s over there. What’re you doing over here by yourself?”
    As soon as the words are out of my mouth, it occurs to me that maybe he’s waiting for someone. Like a girlfriend.
    â€œI didn’t want to bail on Josh, but I’m not really in the mood for a party,” he says, and my mind races. Maybe he had a girlfriend and she broke up with him. Maybe he needs someone to console him. Maybe I could be that person.
    â€œMe either.” I play with the empty lemonade bottle, peeling the label a little, but Abby claims that somehow signals you are sexually frustrated, so I get self-conscious and stop.
    â€œProfessor said he was taking a few days off to deal with some family stuff. Everything okay?” Connor gestures to the empty space beside him.
    I sit, angling myself toward him. He looks like he actually cares, so I feel kind of obliged not to blow off the question. “Nobody’s sick or anything. Just…my mother’s in town. She and Granddad don’t have the best relationship.”
    Connor nods. “He mentioned that he and his daughter are estranged.”
    I give a short, sour laugh. Estranged. Such a polite word. “She ran off when I was two years old. Granddad raised me. Today was the first time we’ve seen her since.”
    â€œHoly shit.” Connor’s gaze lands on the empty bottle in my lap. “And you’re drinking lemonade?”
    â€œWith some vodka in it.” I give him a bashful smile. “What about you? Why are you drinking all by yourself? Or…you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to talk about it.”
    â€œIt’s okay.” He sets his empty bottle down on the sidewalk. “My grams is sick. Alzheimer’s. It sucks. My mom called and said Grams didn’t recognize her today. Called her Bess, who was Grams’s sister. Mom cried when she was telling me about it. And she’s not a crier.” His hand clenches into a fist on his knee, and I notice his fingers are ink-splattered again.
    â€œThat’s… Jesus. I’m sorry.” I can’t imagine losing Granddad like that, little by little, bit by bit. “Are you and your grams close?”
    â€œYeah. She babysat my sister and me when we were little, while my parents were at work.” He swallows. “She was diagnosed last year, so it’s not unexpected, I guess. But it’s hard. Especially on my mom. At first she’d forget little things, you know? Her keys or whatnot. I think she hid it from us for a while. Didn’t want to lose her independence. But now? Now she’ll have the same conversations over and over. She can remember stuff that happened thirty, forty years ago, no problem, but not what happened yesterday. When I went home a couple weekends ago, she played it like she knew who I was, but I don’t think she did. At least not at