Read Online The Lake Season by Hannah McKinnon - Free Book Online

welcomed it as she waded in. She began a slow paddle toward the center of the lake, but quickly realized that she hadn’t the stamina. So she turned onto her back to float. The night before had been fun. But despite the easy candor, Iris had been unable to concentrate on the content, distracted instead by her sister’s fiancé, Stephen.
    Stephen had ignored her outstretched hand when Leah introduced them, opting instead to pull Iris into a firm hug. Which had made her blush; the guy was ridiculously good-looking—dark haired and strong jawed. But what had she expected? Look at Leah.
    Iris marveled at the couple’s shared ease, something she and Paul had never mastered in all their years. Paul just never seemed invested in forging relationships beyond casual banter, business talk, and the polite consumption of beverages. While her parents had always gotten along with Paul, she couldn’t say for sure if they’d ever actually liked him. But Stephen was different. Immediately he’d slid open his coat pocket and pulled a Cuban cigar out for her father, then offered one playfully to Millie. Iris had been rendered speechless when Millie shooed him with a dainty hand and laughed, a completely uncharacteristic gesture of “Oh, go ahead” acquiescence. Iris was impressed; Stephen knew not only what Bill Standish liked but also how to navigate Millie Standish to make it happen, something the man himself had been unable to do in all the years of his marriage.
    But despite the abundant flow of chatter and wine on the patio, Iris found herself stealing curious glances at her sister throughout the long evening, remembering Naomi’s words that morning. She’s better now. It made her wonder again about Leah’s cryptic postcard. But on the surface, she detected nothing. Leah shone in her pale blue crepe dress, and Iris couldn’t help but note the enviable flush of her cheeks, dewy with both her youth and excitement. She’d never been more radiant.
    By dessert, Naomi and Ernesto joined them, along with a few of the neighbors Millie had called and invited to stop by to welcome the soon-to-be-wedded couple.
    â€œIt’s you!” Naomi squealed, darting across the patio. Iris couldn’t help but notice that it was the kind of hug reserved for old friends.
    â€œIn the flesh.” Leah laughed. “Didn’t think you could get rid of me that fast, did you?” Leah gave Ernesto a hearty high five, and Iris could’ve sworn the shy man blushed.
    By ten o’clock they were all heady with celebration, and Bill set up his phonograph by the open window in his library, so that the music flowed onto the patio and across the sloping green lawns. It lent an old-fashioned elegance of an era gone by, like something out of T he Great Gatsby . The stars were out, and Iris found herself slumped on the stone wall of the patio watching as her parents took a spin. When Bill whispered something in her mother’s ear, Millie laughed, and for a moment Iris was sure her heart would break. At the song’s end Stephen dipped Leah dramatically, and the others clapped.
    â€œYou must be so glad to see your sister,” Naomi said, sitting beside Iris on the wall. “This place just isn’t the same without her.”
    Iris had already had too much to drink, but she helped herself to another glass of champagne from the table. “Nothing ever is,” she mused. And then she excused herself abruptly. Iris hadn’t meant to be rude, but it was suddenly too much. The music, the star-strewn sky, the couples moving in harmony before her. And herself: forever the forgettable older sister.
    She’d stumbled up the narrow back stairs to her room—Leah’s room—and fumbled through her purse for her phone. No messages . It was twelve thirty. If she called home now, she’d wake the kids. And she didn’t want to talk to Paul, she really did not. But she was