Summer Storms (The Starlings of Starling Hall #4)

Prologue

Thirteen year old Christine eyed the Nash family suspiciously. Every year, her parents invited them to spend Christmas at Starling Hall. And every year, Zek Nash sneered at her as if he believed he was better than her.

He wasn’t. He never would be. She hated him, he hated her, and despite it being the season of love and forgiveness that was never going to change.

Look at him in his threadbare jacket, acting as if he’s wearing the latest fashion!

Last week, he had thrown snowballs at her, the icy water had trickled down her back until she wanted to scream. She got him back later, though, holding her nose whenever he walked past in the village, pretending he reeked of some foul odour, which caused much merriment among the passersby.

Everyone knew the Nashes were the poorest family in Barton Lacey.

They barely scraped together enough from their varying jobs to put food on their table.

Christine didn’t know why they were so poor, but it was no doubt their own fault, and she felt no sympathy for them.

Perhaps if Zek Nash looked at her the way the other village boys did, admiring and envious, she might have thought better of them.

But he didn’t.

Now he was glaring at her over the top of the steaming plum pudding her sister Abby had placed on the table in front of him.

Christine sniffed and turned her back, flouncing back to the kitchen.

One day, she told herself, she would make Zek Nash wish he had been more respectful of her. One day he would get his comeuppance.