A Summer To Remember (Seasons of Love & Lust Book 1) Read Free

were part of the same society crowd or because they truly liked us as people. It didn’t matter that we were surrounded by other teenagers our age that also came from prestigious backgrounds. The fact was, everyone was always trying to outdo everyone else and that was no way to live.
    When I met my best friends in college, I didn’t discuss money with them at all, and when they found out my parents were loaded, they genuinely didn’t care and that was a great feeling. It was the precise reason why we’d bonded our freshman year at Vassar and never let go.
    It didn’t matter we had all decided such different career paths. All that we were concerned about was that our friendship was genuine and we made time to get together each and every quarter, regardless of where life had taken us.
    By the time I arrived in Southampton, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. The house, more like a mansion, was large and pale gray with two stories, six bedrooms, and six and half bathrooms. It had private access to the beach and it was shaded by plenty of trees, therefore it provided absolute privacy. There was a large outdoor swimming pool and plenty to do inside as well in the oversized game room where there was a pool table, a sixty-inch television with an X-Box attached, a library of films on both Blu-ray and DVD. In addition, there was a dart board and several antique arcade game machines my father collected as a hobby including Pac-Man and my ultimate favorite, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
    The mansion was built purposely to allow a lot of natural light, so there was an abundance of windows on both the first and second floor. The kitchen was massive and the place required constant work, which was why there was a small staff available at all times. I had called Monique, the head housekeeper, and asked her to have the place ready ahead of time. When I arrived, the staff were still cleaning and dusting.
    “I’m so sorry about this!” Monique said in her deep French-accented voice when we exchanged air kisses.
    She was a small woman, older, very well kept, with her silver-blonde hair, blue eyes, and classical Norman features. She also was not responsible for doing any housework, hence the reason why her pale blue Chanel suit was still immaculate and her manicured fingernails gleamed in the bright sunshine that streamed through the house.
    “No worries. If the pool is clean then I am just going to go outside and sun myself for a bit,” I responded. “Thank you for doing this at the last minute. My parents told me to check on the place but they had no idea I would be staying for a while.”
    “Remember to use sunblock. And by the way, Paul is here.”
    My heart beat just a little bit faster. I smiled again and replied, “Thanks, Monique.”
    Paul Branson was an old family friend, not to mention my brother’s best pal. They had met in grade school and he was firmly outside of my reach. He had a perfect girlfriend to go along with his own perfection and a family that rivaled my own in the money department.
    I walked up to the bedroom that had belonged to me since I was a child. Though my friends would be visiting, there were two bedrooms that were definitely off limits. My parents’, of course, and Jude’s. No one ever used those rooms but the people in question and although I had invited my three best friends, they had stayed there before and already had their bedrooms picked out. Usually they doubled up since two of the guest bedrooms had two full-sized beds and a bathroom each, but they could actually fight over the three remaining rooms though I had a feeling Talia would end up in the bedroom with the queen-sized bed and bathroom.
    Although she’d initially come from humble beginnings, she took to money like a duck took to water, and it was her stepfather’s money that allowed her to pursue a music career that was faltering because all she did was write music and lyrics for artists far more successful than her.
    It might have