Kin by Lesley Crewe Page B

happens.”
    â€œI believe her,” Annie laughed. “She’s always been odd.”
    Lila threw her pillow at her.
    The rest of the time they burned their noses and shoulders picking berries on hot August afternoons, and then ran down to the beach and hurled themselves into the cold salty water to cool off. They had a bonfire almost every night, marvelling at the Big Dipper and the Milky Way in the vast and unknowable sky. They lay in the field one night and counted fifteen shooting stars.
    Only very gradually did Lila become aware that her energy was starting to wane. She tried to keep up, but more and more often, she’d beg off if Uncle Joe offered to take them to the store for treats, or the girls would head out for a hike around the point. She didn’t like letting Annie down, though Annie never showed her disappointment.
    The day Annie and her friends were going back to Louisbourg was a low day for Lila. She and Freddy walked across the field, Lila taking time to hug the big tree by the brook that ran past the Dillons’ barn. It was a touchstone, a comforting ritual. When she listened hard enough, she could hear the tree’s heartbeat.
    Annie and Erna Jean and Bernice were helping Annie’s mom pack up the car, but when they saw Lila approach, they headed straight for her. The four of them hugged each other, all of them snivelling, except for Annie. She told them to smarten up. They weren’t leaving for Timbuktu.
    Lila walked back to the cottage with them to say goodbye to Annie’s mom. That’s when she noticed that David had come with his dad to pick everyone up. He was leaning against the car with a stalk of grass in his mouth and gave her a lazy smile. It made her skin tingle.
    â€œI see Annie Oakley and her deputies haven’t killed you yet.”
    â€œNot yet.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do when my sister leaves?”
    â€œMiss her.”
    â€œDo you ever miss me?”
    â€œEvery day.”
    He laughed at her unexpected answer. Trouble was, ever since that night in Louisbourg, it was true.
    After more goodbye hugs, the Macdonalds and friends piled in the car and with a honk of the horn set off for home. Lila ran through the field waving at them. Once they were out of sight, Lila fell to the ground and lay on her back. Freddy came up and licked her face. She rubbed behind his ears, and he sniffed her pockets for treats.
    â€œIt’s no fun being alone, is it? Maybe we should walk over and help Ewan with his chores.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    A week later everyone was back at school and wouldn’t you know, Annie got in trouble on the first day after she yanked a skirt off a girl and locked her in the broom closet. “That’ll teach you to steal my skirt off my very own clothesline!”
    Girls used Annie’s antics to come up to David and ask him about her. It was a way of being close to him. David had his share of stolen moments with the girls in school, some more obliging than others, but what made it so damn difficult was that the only girl he wanted was Lila. He tried every which way to stop himself from thinking about her and when he couldn’t, he’d get angry and go chop wood or run to the lighthouse and back, anything to get rid of his frustration.
    It didn’t help that Lila occasionally came to spend the weekend with Annie. When she’d sit across from him at the table he did his best to ignore her, but who was he kidding? He drank in everything about her. The first time she arrived with her hair cut short, it was a jolt. To him, Lila was the lost little girl with golden curls he met on the porch steps, the one he wanted to protect from bullies like Mrs. Butts.
    With her hair short, he could see the soft curve of her neck, the wave of her hair behind her small perfect ears, the chin that quivered whenever she was unsure. But he had no business wanting her. She was his sister’s friend—though Annie, with her