THE STEPUNCLE
CHAPTER 1
MIA
I never thought the lake house would smell like this: charcoal smoke, pine needles, sunscreen, and something dangerously forbidden.
Every summer the whole family piles into Uncle Chris’s place on Lake Harmony. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents; twenty-three people crammed into one big cedar house with creaking floors and paper-thin walls. This year I turned twenty, and apparently that means I’m “old enough” to share the loft with Uncle Chris instead of bunking with the little cousins. The loft is one huge room under the eaves: slanted ceiling, two queen beds separated by a rickety nightstand, and one tiny window that looks out over the moonlit water.
He didn’t say much when Mom announced the sleeping arrangements. Just gave me that quiet, dark look he’s
