In retrospect, those had been some great afternoons.
As she approached her destination, she noticed an easel—almost exactly like hers—set up where she used to paint. The top was draped in a sheet, and another note was attached. Julianne hesitated. So much had happened so quickly. They were staying in their house; school was starting soon. Did she really need any more surprises?
Staring at the mysterious gift, though, Julianne couldn’t stand the suspense and finally leaned down and opened the note tentatively. Open me! was all it said. Julianne laughed, thinking that she certainly would have uncovered the easel, no matter what the note had said.
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She lifted the cover off to find a wrapped package.
Then she went to work, gingerly peeling off the wrapping paper, layer by layer. At the end of all the unwrapping, Jules gasped. She squeezed her eyes shut and held them closed for a very long moment, breathing in and out slowly. But when she opened them again, Julianne was still shocked to find her mother’s painting— her painting—
sitting securely on the easel, restored and good as new.
Except it wasn’t the same landscape she’d painstakingly finished all those weeks ago. It was totally new. Much of the warped oill paint had been expertly restored, but in other parts, the mangled oils had been completely replaced. All along the painted beach, someone had worked in fragments of Julianne’s latest photo session. It was the same beach scene, but with black-and-white, color, and sepia-toned photographs mingling with the oill paint. At one end of the panorama, texture had been added with actual beach sand. Pieces of sea glass and crushed pearl had been pressed seamlessly into Julianne’s raging painted waves. It was absolutely amazing. It was one hundred percent Julianne while still maintaining her mother’s vision. Julianne could hardly breathe, it was so beautiful.
“Do you like it?”
Jules turned around to find Remi standing there. He slid down in the sand and wrapped his arms around her.
“But . . . but, how did you?” Julianne managed to start.
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Remi smiled, his dark eyes shining at Julianne. “Your dad and Chloe helped. I came by without my parents and they let me take the canvas,” he said matter-of-factly.
Julianne shook her head in disbelief.
“I know a guy who restores fine art for some of Dawson and Dawson’s clients,” Remi continued. “Chloe gave me duplicates of your photos,” he added. “I hope it’s okay. I hope I didn’t ruin it.” Julianne could hear a tinge of concern in his voice.
“Oh, Remi, it’s gorgeous!” she breathed, settling back into his embrace. “It’s a million times better than I ever could have hoped for!”
“Well,” Remi demurred softly, his voice sounding shy all of a sudden. “I just thought that maybe—the same way the original painting was a combination of you and your mom—maybe this painting could be a work of art that you and I are both part of.” He paused. “Something beautiful that we’ve worked on and struggled with and built together.”
Julianne felt her breath catch in her throat. She looked at the gorgeous picture in front of her—Remi was right, they had built it together. Then she gazed out at the beach and the ocean beyond the canvas and sighed happily. She leaned farther into Remi’s arms and knew that, a hundred yards behind him, her family was sitting in their beautiful house looking out onto the same 233
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beach. She and Remi had saved her home together and built something incredibly special in the process.
Julianne turned. Looking into Remi’s huge, brown eyes she saw the reflection of the ocean as he gazed into her face.
“Here’s to building more,” she whispered, as she pulled him into a kiss.
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About the Author
HAILEY ABBOTT
grew up in Southern California, where she split her time between creative writing and creative beaching. She is the author of THE
OTHER BOY, GETTING LOST WITH BOYS, THE SECRETS OF BOYS, THE PERFECT
BOY, and WAKING UP TO BOYS, as well as the Summer Boys books and THE BRIDESMAID. Hailey now lives in New York City.
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on your favorite HarperCollins author.
ation
Books by Hailey Abbott:
Getting Lost with Boys
The Secrets of Boys
The Perfect Boy
Waking Up to Boys
Forbidden Boy
The Other Boy
Summer Boys
Next Summer: A Summer Boys Novel After Summer: A Summer Boys Novel Last Summer: A Summer Boys Novel The Bridesmaid
Credits
Typography by Andrea C. Uva
Cover art © 2008 by Terry Doyle and Getty Images Cover design by Jennifer Rozbruch
Copyright
FORBIDDEN BOY. Copyright © 2008 by Alloy Entertainment. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader January 2009
ISBN 978-0-06-183066-2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
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HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
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http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk United States
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Document Outline
Title Page
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
About the Author
Books by Hailey Abbott
Credits
Copyright Notice
About the Publisher