Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood Read Free Book Online

after a long moment. “Go ahead. But be careful.”
    She says it like she cares. Gracie squeals and throws herself at Erica, hugging her around the waist. Erica pats Grace’s shoulder, and her face softens when she looks down at her little girl.
    â€œYou want to come?” I ask Isobel.
    â€œNo,” she scoffs. I don’t miss the way she glances at her mother afterward, seeking her approval, rewarded when Erica tosses a scrap of a smile her way.
    â€œSuit yourself.” I lead the way inside, Gracie skipping after me.
    â€œIzzy’s mad because she wanted to stay in DC with Daddy,” she confides the second the screen door bangs shut behind us. “She was supposed to go to theater camp and she didn’t want to leave her friends. And her boy friend.” She draws the word boy out like it’s seventeen syllables long. “You got a boyfriend?”
    â€œNope.” But I think of Connor and his tattoos and the way his eyes trailed over my legs, and I feel myself blushing. “What about you?”
    â€œEw! No! I’m six , silly!” Gracie giggles, climbing the stairs next to me.
    â€œI meant are you okay with being here for the summer?” It must be hard, leaving her father and everything familiar to come live with strangers.
    She shrugs. “Daddy says I can visit him on the weekends. Izzy too. Or he’ll come and visit us. He says there’s a hotel here where you can have a tea party. Like with the queen !”
    I laugh as I open the attic door. “There is. I’ve been there.” I had my seventh birthday party at the Blue Heron Inn. My friends and I wore poufy dresses and little hats. We thought we were incredibly fancy. Alex was the only boy and Luisa made him wear a suit and he was so mad. Only till he saw all the cookies though. We both ate ourselves sick.
    â€œIs blue your favorite color?” Gracie points at my navy comforter and the navy-and-white-striped curtains. “My favorite color is pink.”
    â€œI like pink too. My prom dress was pink.” I grab the picture of Alex and me off the nightstand and show her.
    Gracie plants her hands on her skinny hips. “You said you didn’t have a boyfriend!”
    â€œI don’t! This is Alex. He and his mom, Luisa, live in the carriage house in our backyard. Luisa is our housekeeper, and Alex is my best friend. You’ll meet them at supper.”
    â€œA boy best friend?” Gracie wrinkles her nose as she examines the picture. “Your dress is pretty.”
    â€œThank you.” It was bright pink with a V-neck and an A-line skirt that flared out when I twirled, and I twirled a lot that night. Claire went solo, and Abby went with her boyfriend, Ty, a friend of Alex’s from the baseball team. The five of us had dinner at the Crab Claw beforehand and went to the bonfire at the cove after. It was a pretty perfect night, right up until the very end.
    I guess more-than-friendship had been brewing between Alex and me for a while, but that night it became impossible to ignore. It was there between us when Alex wrapped his arm around me as we posed for a million pictures for Granddad and Luisa, and it was there when we were dancing to a slow song, swaying together with my arms looped around his neck. As we were leaving the dance, he put his hand on the small of my back, guiding me through the crowd, and it felt different. Possessive. Even though we’ve raced and wrestled and dunked each other about a million times, I suddenly felt so aware of his touch, his thumb brushing against the curve of my hip. Like he was claiming me as his .
    I wasn’t sure I liked it.
    Later, when he walked me to my door at three in the morning, he stopped and looked at me. Really looked , like I wasn’t the Ivy he’d been looking at his whole life—or maybe I was, but I was also more. Ivy-plus. He tucked my hair behind my ear, and his fingers hesitated on my neck. Then he