In Deep Waters (The Summer House series #1)

9

I woke the next morning just as the sun was coming up and moved over to the window sill seat and just sat there, watching through the window as it rose slowly. I could feel the warmth already through the glass as the light began to soak the edge of the house and the gardens down below.

I used to love summer. I'd been a summer girl, I'd never been a winter one. I was a swimmer after all, and I'd grown up in Middletown my whole life. Everything good always seemed to happen in the summer, and people were just happier.

Before Jacob's accident, I lived for every summer. It was all I would look forward to every June, apart from swim training of course. The streets and the beaches of Middletown would just come alive. We'd be having BBQs, watching late-night movies, and jumping in the pool with the Sullivans practically every night. It felt like a fire was lit in my heart once again each year. But after the accident, summer just didn't quite feel the same anymore. It was no longer when everything good happened.

The fire burnt out, and I still hadn't figured out how to get it going again.

"Keeley."

I jumped slightly when I heard a whisper coming from the doorway. Even a whisper echoed in this place.

Grier was still asleep. It was Austin, peering his head in and beckoning me to come out. I was still in my little pyjama shorts and tank top, but they would have to do.

I slipped quietly out of the room, shutting the door behind me.

"Yeah?" I asked yawning, not bothering to cover my mouth.

"Well, good morning to you too," Austin laughed. I pulled him away from the doorway quickly.

"Don't wake her, I'm telling you. You don't want to deal with that," I laughed. Grier wasn't a morning person. The furthest from it.

"Ok. Wanna go for a walk?"

I immediately was reminded of our experience yesterday and shook my head. "Not really. I'm not going down there this morning."

"Not down there. Through the house."

"Shouldn't we wait until everyone's up?"

I'd already ditched Grier last night to go for that beach walk without her. Everything I did was either with her or Austin, but I didn't want her to think she was going to be the forgotten one of the two this summer.

"Oh c'mon. It's five-thirty. Who's getting up?" Austin scoffed quietly, making his way down the hallway. He did have a point. The only reason we woke early was that we would usually be going off to training. The others wouldn't be up for at least two hours.

There were so many rooms that we passed even down this one hallway. I counted four doors along from ours before I spotted Tom and Drew's room. I could just make out the faint snoring sounds that I knew were coming from Tom through the slightly ajar door. I wondered how Drew got any sleep in there. Tom snored like a bear in hibernation.

Much of the floor that we were on looked the same to me. Once we'd left our hallway, travelling down the winding staircase and up another one, we were in a separate wing of the house. It was all rather confusing. And this hallway looked much the same as ours, just less fancy. More bedrooms, and a few little storage rooms here and there.

"Why so many bedrooms?" I whispered to Austin.

"No idea. I guess back in the day they did have a lot of people working for them." The servant quarters. It sounded awful, but he was right. These mansions were built during the gilded age by some of the wealthiest families in the country. They could definitely have afforded to have this many staff, and it made sense that some stayed with them. But even so, having this many rooms seemed ridiculous.