The Lake House by Marci Nault

Author:Marci Nault
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Literary, General, Contemporary Women, Fiction
ISBN: 9781451686814
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2013-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

The cool evening air smelled like roses as Victoria clipped the flower bushes in her front yard. The sun had begun to set and the sky over the lake looked as if it had been washed in purple and pink watercolors. Victoria watched as Heather walked out of her house and across the street with her head down, kicking at the sand as she walked toward the shoreline.

Victoria went inside, brewed coffee, and poured it into a thermos, and grabbed a bag of chocolates from the pantry. She gathered a blanket from the sunroom and walked out to the beach. Heather sat in the sand, her jeans rolled to her knees, her bare arms curled around her calves. Victoria saw that the girl was creating holes with her feet.

“Digging to China?” Victoria asked.

Heather jumped at the sound of Victoria’s voice. “Thinking that if I dig a pit deep enough, I can crawl in and hide.”

“Things that bad?” Victoria asked as she looked at the water and listened to the small waves lap against the beach and the rowboats bump against the wooden dock. This time of night the lake held such peace, and Victoria breathed in the scene.

“Actually, I’m pretending I’m in Belize,” Heather said. “Do you know that when the wind blows through the long pointed leaves of the palm trees, it sounds like rain?”

“I didn’t know that. I’ve never been to Belize.”

“A tropical island would be perfect right now: a hammock, a piña colada, and the ocean waves crashing. I feel like my life has become a strange vacation and any minute I’m going to take a flight back to Boston.”

“Well, I own a hammock and if you want, we could string it between the trees along the shore. I know how to make a rather good piña colada, and I think we could find the sound of rain on a meditation tape. We could re-create Belize right here in Nagog.”

Heather smiled. “Thank you. That helped.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your thoughts, but you looked like you might need some company.” She extended the thermos to Heather.

“Got anything stronger than caffeine?” Heather asked as she stood and walked to the picnic table.

“Sorry, it’s decaf. If I drink caffeine in the evening I’m up all night. Chronic insomniac.”

Heather looked at Victoria and then sat at the table. “I’m sorry if the music kept you up last night. I realize that you probably had church early this morning.”

“You were having fun. A woman your age is supposed to play loud music. And everyone got off to church just fine this morning, but personally, I slept in.” Victoria placed the cups on the picnic table and poured the rich, dark roast into the mugs. They watched the sunlight fade, the steam rising from their cups. Heather faced the lake. Mosquitoes began to buzz around them and Heather smacked at a few that landed on her skin. A small black shadow flew over them. “What was that?”

“A bat. They live in the

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