Page 53 of The Summer That Changed Us

‘I did wonder.’ Katie was intrigued and also touched that Amber would think of asking her anything.

The teenager walked around the living room, inspecting it. ‘Your house isn’t what I expected.’

‘Oh?’ Katie took her shoes off and sat down on the sofa, amused.

‘It’s a bit old ladyish.’ Amber wrinkled her nose. ‘And you’re not that old.’

‘Thanks.’ Katie gave a bark of laughter. She hadn’t considered twenty-eight as old at all.

‘Sorry, that’s really rude.’ Amber winced. ‘It’s probably retro and really trendy? I can’t tell. Mum did all our interior stuff and she liked quite modernish. Not weird modern. Just IKEA modern.’

‘I like modern, but I like cosy cottage too.’ She paused, realising that she hadn’t really ever thought about what styles she liked; she’d either lived with her parents or her aunt and neither place had been hers to decorate.

‘Yeah?’ Amber looked around her doubtfully, her eyes settling on Auntie Jean’s collection of miniature cottages which took up three whole shelves in the built-in bookcase one side of the fireplace. The other two were sun-faded cookery books mostly by Delia Smith and Mary Berry.

‘My aunt used to collect those pottery cottages,’ Katie explained, in case Amber thought that was her idea of cosy cottage. ‘Lots of people did when I was little. I inherited this house from her, so what you see is her taste.’

‘That explains a lot,’ Amber grinned, peering into one of Auntie Jean’s bags for life. ‘Why do you have this big bag of stones in here?’

‘It’s sea glass. My aunt collected it. There are more bags in other rooms.’

‘Right?’ Amber looked at her, waiting for the rest of the answer.

‘And, well, I haven’t got around to moving many of her things since she died.’

‘I get that.’ Amber flopped down at the other end of the sofa. ‘Me and Dad were the same about our house when

Mum died. Even buying a new cushion felt like we were cheating on her.’

‘Is that why you moved up north?’

She shrugged. ‘It’s one reason. He got headhunted by the newspaper and he said it felt like the right time for a change. His old job used to be really long hours and he wanted to be around more for me. I think Dad came here when he was little, and he remembered it as being the best holiday ever.’

‘You must miss your friends.’

‘Not really.’ Amber wrinkled her nose. ‘I’ve made some new friends here, which is good. Most of the girls from my old school ghosted me after the accident. Nobody knew what to say so they decided to say nothing. And I was off school for ages because of my injuries. By the time I went back, my group had shut me out.’

Poor kid, Katie’s heart squeezed for her.

‘You say most of the girls,’ Katie prompted, hoping that at least one of them had stood by her.

‘My best friend Ellie kept in touch. Still does. Except now she’s going out with this boy and all the messages I get from her are about how gorgeous he is.’ She rolled her eyes.

How resilient and courageous she was. Katie was reminded of her own situation, how Rose had been as close as a sister and then, like Amber’s friends, had ghosted her.

Weirdly, Katie’s mum had run into Rose’s mother last year after joining a choir. At her first session she’d stood next to a dark-haired woman and after introducing herself, found out that it was none other than Valerie Dunbar. Her mum hadn’t really known Valerie when Katie was at school; parents didn’t meet at the secondary school gates like they did in primary, but Katie had always been a bit scared of her. Over the course of the last year, although not friends exactly, Josie and Valerie swapped information about their daughters and what they were up to with their lives. Rose still had a difficult relationship with her mother apparently but was doing quite well at work; she was an accountant, already divorced, no kids. There’d been no suggestion of putting the young women in touch. Fine with Katie; she had no wish to be reminded of being eighteen again.

Life didn’t seem very even-handed when it doled out its challenges, thought Katie watching Amber flick through a pile of Auntie Jean’s old puzzle books; some people definitely got more than their fair share. She checked the time on her phone. She had an hour and a half before she needed to meet Grace and Robyn; hopefully, that would be plenty of time to get to the bottom of whatever was troubling Amber today.

Amber caught her gesture. ‘You’re probably busy so I’ll get straight to the point. I need some help with something.’

‘I’ve got plenty of time, I promise, and I’m honoured that you’re asking me,’ said Katie.

‘Don’t be too honoured, I don’t know many other women.’ Amber gave her a lopsided smile and Katie couldn’t help laughing. There was no chance of an inflated ego with this girl around.

‘OK. Fire away,’ said Katie.

Amber tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘It’s about periods.’