The Summer Season
Passions flare, secrets unravel and love blossoms in the heart of the summer season.As summertime flourishes, it’s time for new beginnings…Heartsease House is in desperate need of renovation. Its owner, widower Joel, is struggling to come to terms with life as a single dad. His plans to refurbish the house and garden suddenly seem like one burden too many.Mum to twin girls, Lauren’s life is a constant juggling act. When her ex Troy turns up she’s determined to keep her distance while he gets to know his daughters. But it’s a lot harder than she imagined …Then erstwhile guerrilla gardener Kezzie bursts into their lives with her infectious enthusiasm to restore the gardens of Heartsease. But who is Kezzie? And what is she running away from?As the warm days of summer draw closer, Heartsease House and its beautiful love-knot garden are transformed. But will Joel, Kezzie and Lauren be able to restore their own hearts?Kick off your sandals, enjoy a glass of rose and escape into a gorgeous novel this summer with Julia Williams.
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Julia Williams
The Summer Season
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
A division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street,
London SE1 9GF
THE SUMMER SEASON. Copyright © Julia Williams 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Julia Williams asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9781847560889
Ebook Edition © MAY 2011 ISBN: 9780007443246
Version: 2018-07-23
To the memory of
Alfred Thomas Clark 1890–1918
Ernest Ophir Clark 1896–1916
And Jemima Clark 1863–1944 who must have been so brave
Contents
Copyright
Edward
Edward dreams of Lily. She comes to him in the…
Edward and Lily
‘Edward, you never said you were coming!’ His mother rose…
Part One
Summer’s Lease
Chapter One
‘Come on, girls, time to get up! Important day today.’…
Chapter Two
Different sounds. That was the most unusual thing about living…
Chapter Three
It was dark, just the way she liked it. Kezzie…
Chapter Four
Kezzie poked her head out of her bedroom window. The…
Edward and Lily
Chapter Five
Late. Late again. Joel hated clockwatching, particularly when he had…
Chapter Six
Lauren pushed Sam up the road on her way back…
Chapter Seven
It was Kezzie’s first morning working at Joel’s. She’d set…
Chapter Eight
Lauren was feeling frustrated with Joel. While she was sympathetic…
Edward and Lily
Chapter Nine
After Lauren left, Joel and Kezzie dragged the trunk, paperwork…
Chapter Ten
Lauren was still smiling when she let herself in. As…
Chapter Eleven
‘So?’ said Troy, as Lauren came downstairs after she’d got…
Chapter Twelve
‘Girls, do you remember who I said was visiting today?’…
Edward and Lily
Part Two
Spring Fever
Chapter Thirteen
‘The girls go to bed at 7 p.m. sharp,’ said…
Chapter Fourteen
‘So, you’re going to trust me with the girls again?’…
Chapter Fifteen
‘So you think you’ve got New Horizons?’ said Eileen, at…
Chapter Sixteen
Kezzie timed her arrival at work the next day for…
Edward and Lily
Chapter Seventeen
Kezzie spent several days mulling over what Joel had said.
Chapter Eighteen
Lauren couldn’t stop thinking about Troy, as she pushed Sam…
Chapter Nineteen
‘Right, buckets and mops at the ready,’ said Lauren to…
Chapter Twenty
‘OK you guys, let’s get cracking.’
Edward and Lily
Chapter Twenty-One
The party was in full swing by the time Lauren…
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘Ouch, my head hurts.’ Kezzie woke to find sun pouring…
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘Come on, Sam,’ said Joel. ‘Here’s Nanny. We’re going to…
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next morning, Kezzie woke up feeling even worse than…
Edward and Lily
Part Three
Summer’s Promise
Chapter Twenty-Five
It wasn’t just Kezzie who was unimpressed by Lauren’s news;…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Joel snuck in to the Summer Fest meeting, late again.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The weeks were speeding by and already June was upon…
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Joel didn’t look at Kezzie, but stared into the gathering…
Edward and Lily
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘So, have you been to Wimbledon before?’ asked Lauren, as…
Chapter Thirty
Kezzie flew round to Eileen’s house.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lauren woke up with a headache. She hadn’t slept well.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Joel had taken Sam to pick up his mum for…
Edward and Lily
Chapter Thirty-Three
‘This is looking great,’ said Eileen. She had come over…
Chapter Thirty-Four
‘Right, how are we doing?’ Eileen asked, as she arrived…
Chapter Thirty-Five
Joel was astonished to get back at 11.30 to find…
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kezzie stood in disbelief. Richard was actually standing before her,…
Epilogue
Edward
Edward
Flower Meanings
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Other Books by Julia Williams
Edward
Edward dreams of Lily. She comes to him in the garden, holding a bunch of pansies. It is summer and she wears a sun hat, which falls down her back.
‘Here, for you,’ she proffers, ‘to ease your heart.’ She laughs, and her long, dark curls fly loose down her back in the summer breeze. It is always summer, with the Lily of his dreams.
He reaches out to touch her, to feel her, to know that she is once more real and dear to him, as she ever was. As he does so, she scatters petals to the wind, and her touch on his hand is as light and insubstantial as the breeze. As soon as he grasps her, she is gone away from him, to a place he knows he cannot reach.
