Page 104 of The Summer That Changed Us

Amber blinked at her. ‘I’m really sorry.’

A wave of shame rippled through Katie. In comparison with Amber’s bad thing, it was nothing.

‘I’m fine now, I promise,’ she said. ‘I’ve just got out of the habit of letting people close to me. Men end up getting annoyed with me because I hold myself back. It’s not their fault, it’s mine.’

‘But how will you ever know whether you can trust someone if you never give them a chance?’ Amber said sternly.

Katie laughed softly. ‘You’re very wise.’

‘I am,’ Amber said completely without guile. ‘I’ll tell you what I tried the other day: the one-pound trick.’

Katie looked blank. ‘Tell me more.’

‘OK. There’s this boy at school called Ed.’

‘Ed?’ Katie arched an eyebrow. ‘Nice name.’

Amber’s blush came back, deeper this time. ‘I wanted to check if he was a nice boy or not, so I put a one-pound coin on the floor by my bag.’

‘Ah, a test,’ Katie nodded.

‘He was supposed to pick it up and ask me if it was mine. And then I’d know he could be trusted.’

‘And did he pass?’

‘No,’ she said indignantly. ‘He just took my money and walked off.’

‘Oh love,’ Katie sympathised. ‘Well at least you know.’

She sighed. ‘I still like him though. And perhaps he really needed the money. I might have to give him another chance.’

Katie laughed. ‘Maybe that wasn’t a good example.’

‘Fair point. Let’s try again.’ Amber thought about it. ‘OK, got it. Take Elmo, our new kitten.’

‘I thought your dad wanted to call it Elvis?’

Amber pulled a face. ‘I had words with him about that. So now he’s called Elmo. Anyway, he slept on my bed last night. Don’t tell Dad.’ She scrolled through her phone and showed Katie photo after photo.

‘Very cute,’ Katie agreed.

‘I love him so much.’ Amber gazed at her phone once more before putting it down. ‘And he just instinctively trusts us even though he knows nothing about us. He hasn’t got anything to go on other than good vibes. He just assumes Dad and I love him and he’s right. Maybe trust can be that simple.’

Katie smiled. She was with Elmo on that one; she had good vibes about Amber too, and Barney. ‘Maybe it can.’

Nula’s customers had paid and were on their way out of the shop.

‘Thank you!’ Katie called.

Before the door had fully shut, it was opened again. It was Barney, holding a copy of the paper.

‘Hot off the press!’ he said, kissing Amber on the top of her head and handing the newspaper to Katie. ‘You’re on the business pages, just past the centrefold.’

Katie’s stomach clenched as she turned the pages. She gasped when she saw the size of the accompanying picture.

‘It’s nearly half the page!’ she exclaimed.

‘Oh, Katie, you look absolutely beautiful,’ Nula sniffed. ‘Jean would be so proud.’