Lake Thirteen Read Online Free

replied, hugging her back. I still felt a little awkward around her, even though clearly the coming out e-mail wasn’t a big deal to her. I hadn’t thought it would be—Teresa had always hated injustice, which was why she wanted to be a civil rights attorney. That’s part of the reason I was so surprised she never answered me. “What do you think of this place?” I gestured with my hand, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something at the tree line on the other side of the parking lot.
    I turned my head, but there was nothing there at all.
    “Are you okay?” Teresa asked, her smile fading into a frown.
    I turned back to her slowly. “You didn’t see anything over there, did you?” I pointed, starting to feel more than a little foolish.
    She shook her head. “No. No, I didn’t.” She peered at me over the top of her glasses. “You sure you’re okay?”
    As she said the words, once again I had that weird sense of familiarity—
    And for just a moment, the pavement changed into dirt and rock—
    And just as quickly changed back.
    I gulped. What the hell was that?
    “You look pale,” Teresa reached over and felt my forehead with her right hand. “You’re not hot.” Her eyebrows knit together. “You sure you’re feeling okay?”
    “I didn’t sleep good last night,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “I’m just really tired.” And I’m seeing things. I stole another glance over to the edge of the forest. There was nothing there, nothing at all. You’re just tired, I said to myself again.
    “Okay,” she nodded, leaning in closer to me as Logan approached, the soccer ball tucked under his arm and a big grin on his face. “We don’t care about the gay thing, you know, you’re still Scotty, if that’s what you’re worried about, okay? We wanted to talk to you in person—not online, okay?” Impulsively, she planted a kiss on my cheek.
    I hadn’t realized until that moment just how tense I’d been about it. I wiped at my eyes, turning my head slightly so she couldn’t see the sudden tears her words had caused. “Thanks,” I said softly as Logan slugged me in the arm.
    “Come on, Scotty,” my mother called. “Logan, Teresa—we’ll see you at dinner.”
    “See you guys in a bit,” I said, trying not to yawn, and I walked across the parking lot and climbed into the backseat of the SUV.
    “Any trouble?” Mom asked as Dad started the engine.
    “Nope,” I replied, closing my eyes and leaning back into the seat.
    But I deliberately avoided looking at that spot in the tree line as we drove past it.
    I was just tired, that’s all it was.
    A short nap before dinner was all I needed, and I’d be fine.

Chapter Two
     
    All six of the adults were sitting in the lodge’s little bar, drinking too much and laughing a little too loudly as they relived the glory days of past vacations and their college days—stories we’d all heard so many times before on the first nights of previous vacations I could probably recite them word for word. Once the reminiscing started after dinner, the five of us had gone into the game room. The game room was a small space through a door off the big main room. It had its own little bathroom and a back staircase leading up to the second floor. There was a desk with an ancient desktop computer sitting on it in one corner, and the wireless router was right behind it. There was a dusty air hockey table and a battered foosball table against the wall by the staircase. Right behind the L-shaped couch was a stack of well-worn board games, with Trivial Pursuit, Life,and Monopolyon the top. And in front of the couch was a coffee table, its top scattered with old issues of People, Us Weekly, Better Homes and Gardens, and Good Housekeeping. There was a big picture window with the curtains pulled open along the wall facing the lake, but it was now so dark outside the glass might as well have been painted black. An enormous flat-screen television was mounted on