Time After Time by Wendy Godding Read Free Book Online Page A

angrier. Frustrated and looking for advice, I turned around, only to jump, startled.
    ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.’ Marcus was there.
    ‘What do you want?’
    His eyes flickered slightly between me and the painting. ‘Nice work.’
    ‘Oh,’ I said, caught off guard by his compliment and the gentle warmth of his voice, ‘um, thank you.’
    ‘Where’s that place?’
    ‘Nowhere.’
    ‘You haven’t been there?’ He seemed surprised.
    ‘Well, no. Not really.’
    Marcus continued to stare at the picture, a thoughtful look on his face. I watched him and wondered if perhaps he knew it. If perhaps he remembered…
    Then his eyes snapped back to mine. ‘You do beautiful paintings,’ he said after a lengthy pause. ‘England, isn’t it? Broadhurst parsonage.’
    I gasped. ‘You know it?’
    He pointed at my notes lying on the floor, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘You wrote it there.’
    Glancing down at my flowery handwriting, my heart sank. He didn’t know the parsonage. He hadn’t been there. ‘Oh.’
    ‘Be nice to go there sometime,’ he said slowly, his eyes roaming my face, ‘England.’ I watched him, my mouth dry. I felt hot and itchy as I waited for recognition to flood his eyes, silently begging for him to recognise his connection to Broadhurst, to me.
    But it never came and, after a few moments, he blinked, his eyes lightening to a soft caramel colour, before he moved away.
    I watched him walk back across the room, unsure of exactly what had just transpired. Did he know the parsonage? Did he remember?
    After school, as I walked towards the car park to meet Beth, I spied Lilly and Emma with Marcus. They had followed him and were leaning against the bonnet of his red Toyota, flirting with him.
    ‘Admit it,’ Beth said, approaching me, ‘you think he’s cute!’
    ‘Hardly,’ I scoffed. ‘And really, how long are we going to be talking about him? Hasn’t the novelty worn off yet?’
    ‘Not for those two,’ Beth commented. ‘Besides, I was watching you. You seem awfully interested in him.’
    For the second time that day I felt a rush of heat to my cheeks. I opened the car door and climbed in, dramatically slamming it shut behind me.
    I waited for Beth to follow suit before replying. ‘Not at all. The only thing I’m interested in is not having Lilly and Emma hang around the house next door. That would be a fate worse than death.’

Chapter Seven
    1806
    ‘Heath and I have been studying phrenology. Have you heard of it, Georgie?’ Harry said, his eyes flashing teasingly at his sister.
    Penelope watched with interest. Harry was baiting Georgina; she recognised the signs well. Georgina would be baited until she asked what he was talking about, only to be told something shocking. Harry got a peculiar delight out of shocking Georgina and herself.
    ‘No, what is it?’ Georgina played her hand at cards and looked at Harry expectantly, the low lamplight in the room giving her curls a golden hue.
    ‘The study of the skull and human behaviour,’ Harry announced before sitting back and waiting for realisation to dawn on Georgina.
    It was Penelope who responded first. ‘You mean to say you have seen a human brain?’
    ‘Yes, of course,’ Heath replied, playing his own hand. ‘It’s very interesting.’
    Georgina made a face. ‘You really shouldn’t talk about such things, Harry. Not in the presence of ladies.’
    ‘Ladies?’ Harry laughed, looking about the room, ‘Heath do you see any ladies?’
    Penelope lifted her eyes just as Heath’s fell on her. ‘I do indeed,’ Heath replied, the corners of his mouth tugging in a smile.
    Harry frowned and threw down his cards, annoyed that his friend hadn’t joined in teasing his cousin and sister. ‘Well, they’re certainly different to some of the ladies we’ve met, aren’t they?’
    This time Harry managed to provoke a scowl from Georgina. ‘And you really shouldn’t talk about things like that, either!’ Georgina