Dinah broke the silence. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked. She was combing her fingers through the grass and propellers, watching intently as the blades bounced right back up, twirling the propellers in the air.

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't very well tell her that I watched her dig my sandwich out of the trash yesterday, and I was just dying of curiosity. "You just seem different --- more interesting than most of the people I see around here." I leaned back on my elbows and stretched my feet out in front of me. "Why did you agree to have lunch with me?"

"I was hungry," she said simply, rising to her feet and wiping her hands on the back of her jean shorts. She walked around the maple tree, hugging it with one arm as she walked. Then she turned around and walked the other way, hugging the tree with her other arm. She stopped right in front of me. I had to look straight up to see her face. "You seem different, too," she admitted. "In a good way." She sat down and relaxed a little, leaning back against the tree. "Can you keep a secret?" she asked.

I hesitated. How many times had my parents talked to me about good secrets and bad secrets? Could I promise to keep a secret without knowing what kind of a secret it was? "I can keep a secret that needs to be kept."

"I mean it, Matthew." She sat forward, hugging her knees. "If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone." Just the way she said it I could tell it was a really serious secret.

"I promise," I said, knowing that I would keep Dinah's secret no matter what, and hoping I wouldn't regret it.

Excerpted from SUMMER SANCTUARY © Copyright 2011 by Laurie Gray. Reprinted with permission by Luminis Books

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