All The Things We Didn’t Say. Sara Shepard

way through. But she just couldn’t wait to start the skating season.’

      ‘What happened?’

      ‘Oh, she fell through.’ Stella waved her hand. ‘One minute she was spinning, that gray skirt all twirly, the next she was under the water. The boys made a human chain to get her, but by the time they got out to the middle, it was too late. They had to wait to get her body out until the ice thawed-months, really. That skirt didn’t look quite so pretty, all soggy and covered in frost.’

      I gaped. ‘They waited until spring? They didn’t drain the pond and get her out that day?’

      Stella blinked rapidly, as if I’d awakened her from a dream. ‘Oh. Well. I don’t know, really. It was so long ago. Anyway, I consoled Skip at Muriel’s funeral, and the rest is history.’ She coaxed another cigarette from the pack. ‘We weren’t apart until he died.’