Holiday In The Hamptons

This book explores how relationships change, not just romantic relationships, but the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter, sister and sister (and woman and dog!), all against the backdrop of ocean and sand dunes.

My first glimpse of the Hamptons was from a plane and I was captivated by the long stretches of sandy beaches, dunes and the yachts studding the sparkling ocean. It’s a favourite place for New Yorkers looking to escape the madness of the city and it seemed like the perfect place to set a summer book.

Wherever you are this summer, I hope this book gives you the perfect escape.

Love Sarah

xxxx

To Flo, with love and thanks for all the insight into life as a twin. You’re the best.

“The human heart has hidden treasures,

In secret kept, in silence sealed;

The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,

Whose charms were broken if revealed.”

—Charlotte Brontë

Contents

Cover (#ud4deee9e-1eae-5334-aa55-8cf30122c6d2)

Praise (#uc707eee7-4b3c-5e91-b968-7bfe5a02afa7)

About the Author (#ulink_88791596-d606-5822-b558-13136a85933a)

Title Page (#ufbac3df1-1f40-5f26-b029-83a8240d5928)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Dear Reader (#udfa8ee9a-3096-58c8-a6e1-f07f8940450b)

Dedication (#ulink_87c7b1e7-036f-5941-9e38-ee462a375727)

Epigraph (#ulink_7c4a742e-4be4-5cd3-914f-16ab5eb684b4)

PROLOGUE (#ulink_db3ab757-77c0-5cbc-8fa3-a43abb8681cc)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_3a4189de-ea40-5351-85fb-ce19735cc947)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_835c633f-0088-5746-8431-8e83afc58953)

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_68c6ff04-8fed-5a9c-9608-fdaf3b93ebd0)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_76b38770-f988-5a58-855f-4b7fb08ec8f8)

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_4c31c0d0-c4c1-5405-8958-65941d01ba08)

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_5cd7e8eb-7827-5c6e-8b49-9b2dbce32bf6)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

THANK YOU (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#ulink_6653293f-bc27-5b08-84fe-651d0985eeac)

AS EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAYS WENT, it had to be the worst ever.

Fliss ran through the overgrown garden that wrapped itself around three sides of the beach house. She didn’t feel the sharp sting of nettles or the whip of the long grass against her bare calves because she was already feeling too many other things. Bigger things.

The old rusty gate scraped her hip as she pushed her way through it. Misery fueled every stride as she took the grassy path that ran through the dunes to the beach. No one could catch her now. She’d find a place away from everyone. Away from him. And she wasn’t returning home until he’d left. The birthday cake would stay uneaten, the candles unlit, the plates untouched. There would be no singing, no salutations, no celebration. What was there to celebrate?

Fury licked around the edges of her misery, and underneath anger and misery was hurt. A hurt she worked hard never to show. Never let a bully see you’re afraid. Never let yourself be vulnerable. Wasn’t that what her brother had taught her? And her father, she’d worked out long before, was a bully.