Summer of Secrets by Cathy Cole Page A

guess,” Rhi found herself saying.
    Lila squeezed her arm. “You’ll be fine – you always work really hard. What have you got tomorrow?”
    Rhi wasn’t sure she knew. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she make herself care? “French and geography, I think,” she said.
    Lila looked admiring. “I wish I was as cool about these exams as you. I have my timetable practically tattooed on my eyelids.”
    Polly’s house was bright and sunny, the kitchen table big enough for the four of them to fit around comfortably with a plate of biscuits and four mismatched mugs of tea. It was so calm here, Rhi reflected, looking around at the bright paintings on the walls and the well-thumbed books on the shelves. Her own house felt like a war zone in comparison.
    She took out her books and wondered where to start.
    Lila groaned. “I hate French.”
    â€œ Je déteste le français ,” Eve observed.
    Lila looked a little panic-stricken. “What?”
    â€œI hate French,” Eve replied.
    Brightening, Lila said, “You too?”
    â€œEve said ‘I hate French’ in French, Lila,” Rhi said, rousing herself. “She didn’t actually mean she hated it.”
    Lila threw her hands in the air. “See what I’m up against?” she said in despair. “How am I supposed to do an exam in this? It’s a foreign language.”
    â€œThat’s the point, I believe,” said Eve drily.
    Rhi opened a book at random and stared at it. If she could just focus, maybe she could absorb the information. But her mind was too full of other things.
    â€œRhi, can I talk to you?”
    Rhi glanced up at Polly, twirling her pencil absently between her fingers. The others had their heads down over their books. “Sure. What about?”
    â€œLet’s go outside,” Polly suggested.
    Polly’s garden was as bright and sunny as her kitchen, dotted with terracotta pots full of brightly coloured geraniums and daisies. Rhi felt the sun on her face as she sat down at the green garden table.
    â€œWhat do you want to talk about?” she asked as Polly sat opposite her.
    â€œI know what you’re going through,” said Polly simply. “It will get better, Rhi. I promise it will. Mum and Dad used to yell at each other outside in our garden. They thought if they shut the kitchen door, somehow I wouldn’t be able to hear them.”
    Rhi gave a hollow laugh. “I wish my parents were as considerate.”
    â€œHave you seen your dad since he moved out?”
    â€œI see him at the Heartbeat.”
    Rhi wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about the Heartbeat all that much. It brought back the hot and miserable memory of her trying to kiss Brody and being rejected.
    Polly’s eyes glimmered with sympathetic tears. “Oh Rhi, I know this is awful. Any time you want to escape, you can come here, OK? It’s really important to have a space where you can just be . I wish I’d had a space like that when I was going through it.”
    Rhi felt a wash of relief at the thought. “Thanks,” she said gratefully. “I might take you up on that.”
    Polly reached over the table and gripped Rhi by the hands. “You know it might get worse before it gets better. Divorce isn’t simple, or straightforward. I wish it was. It’ll get interesting when one of them starts dating too.”
    â€œI thought you were trying to cheer me up!” Rhi said, with half a smile.
    Polly looked anxious. “I am! The point I’m trying to make is that however bad it gets, it’s important to remember that all the bad stuff will eventually pass and everything will get back to normal. It may be a different sort of normal, but it will be normal.”
    Rhi nodded. “It’s been coming for a while, if I’m honest,” she said. “They’ve been miserable for a long time. Dad told me he was thinking of