Free The Space Between Sisters by Mary McNear

had housed a collection of old birds’ nests and taxidermied animals, but in recent years it had expanded to include new exhibits, and it had begun offering a summer program for “junior naturalists.” Sam’s children were “junior naturalists,” as were most of the children in Butternut who were between the ages of five and twelve and whose parents needed a convenient and mildly stimulating place to park them during their summer vacations.
    â€œWhat’s the theme for the day?” Sam asked Margot, who, along with the counselors she oversaw, was very theme oriented.
    â€œIt’s ‘Raptor Rapture,’” she said. “We have a ranger visiting with a tame falcon and several other birds of prey.” She beamed. “They’ve all been injured and can’t be released back into the wild, but they should make for a very exciting program. By the way, Sam,” she added, “did you get the email on our family programs for summer? We have one coming up called ‘What a Hoot.’ It’s a nighttime walk where we learn about owls and then try to spot them in their natural habitat.”
    â€œThat sounds really . . . interesting,” Sam said. “I’ll have to check our calendar.”
    â€œHopefully, you’ll be free,” she said, smiling up at him. But their conversation ended there, when the first of the day’s deliveries arrived, and Sam had to say a hurried good-bye. Later, though, in a rare moment of calm, he felt guilty about her. The expression on her face when she’d told him about the family program had been so . . . so hopeful . He hated to disappoint her, but at the same time, he didn’t want to lead her on. There’d been times, over the last year, when he’d tried to care about her, tried, even, to be attracted to her; she was so obviously interested in him. In a practical sense, being involved with Margot could have eased the weekday burdens of his single parenthood. She was great with kids, and he could see her taking the boys on informative hikes in the woods near their cabin, or doing age appropriate craft activities with Cassie at their kitchen table. But he wasn’t someone who could date a woman for purely practical reasons. Besides, Sam knew you couldn’t always choose whom to fall in love with. Sometimes, they chose you.

CHAPTER 6
    P oppy’s eyes were closed, and she was lying perfectly still. She was in her bikini, on a beach towel at the end of the dock, the sun warm on her skin, the lake water slapping gently against the dock’s pilings, and the air redolent with dried pine needles, the not unpleasant tang of algae, and her own coconut scented sunscreen. She wasn’t awake, and she wasn’t asleep. She was suspended somewhere between the two. And it was perfect. She was perfect. And she would continue to be perfect, as long as she didn’t open her eyes, didn’t move, and, above all, didn’t think.
    â€œPoppy?” Win called from the cabin’s back door. Poppy ignored her and tried to return to her previously blissful state. But Win was not to be deterred.
    â€œPoppy,” she said again, and this time she was standing over her.
    Poppy sighed, raised herself up on her elbows, and lifted her sunglasses up onto her head.
    â€œYes?” she said, squinting up at her.
    â€œAre you going to lie here all day?”
    â€œThat was the plan,” she said, lying back down. She closed her eyes, already drowsy again, and listened to the distant humof a motorboat entering the bay, a sound that had provided the backdrop for so many childhood summer afternoons on the lake.
    â€œPoppy.”
    â€œWhat?” Poppy said, slightly startled. She raised herself up again.
    â€œAren’t you worried . . .”
    â€œThat I’ll get sunburned?” Poppy said. “No. I’m wearing SPF 100. I found it in your medicine cabinet. I didn’t even know sunscreen