LAKEHOUSE

She remembered why she had come to the house on the lake, it was to forget.

So let’s forget. As she pulled up in the gravel drive, the bumps seemed familiar. No, she was going to forget. This was a new life now and she was going to have to make it work. No one to answer to now, just the dog. Fluffy was in the back of the car, barking now, he knew the way was familiar too. He was so excited. He loved the house at the lake as much as she did.

It wasn’t fancy, rather run down in fact, but she and Steve had fixed it up over the years. It was really a mess when she bought it, almost against his will she thought. They had been living in Florida along the gulf coast.. busy jobs, busy life.. She was a realtor dealing in high end waterfront and making a good living. Steve had been making a killing in mortgage. A good pair, a good team. Money was rolling in then and she wanted to get back to the north for the summers. Steve was from upstate New York, near the Adirondacks. He had taken her to Vermont for their honeymoon. A strange idea since it was Christmas and cold. He insisted and they had the most wonderful time. She hadn’t seen snow in so long, even though she was from Wisconsin. It was a wonderful honeymoon and she longed to get back up to Vermont.

“ Fluffy, get down! We’re almost there.”

She pulled up to the house. It looked the same minus a few fallen branches and overgrown weeds. The neighbors kept an eye on it for her and somehow it survived the winters. A huge wave of sadness overcame her since this was the first time she had come on her own without Steve. After the accident she thought about selling it but life was too crowded with emergencies and hospital visits to enter into the whole real estate listing routine. She had kept it in spite of all the logical reasons she had to sell it. Well, this would be the test. Could she get through the summer without him.

The tall hemlock tree branches overhanging the front porch seemed comforting to her. Their boughs were weeping in empathy for her lonely return , but she was just imagining this. “Well Fluffy, first things first. Let’s get the wine open and go sit out on the porch!” She opened the blinds to the sliding door that led to the porch and flipped the lock and opened the door.

“Aaahhh, nothing compares to this view” she thought . The lake that fronted the house was fading into darkness now with the water a cerulean blue, almost as clear and still as glass. The mountains in the background were a dark forest green and the coolness of the early summer evening was wonderfully refreshing. Sharon pulled a kitchen chair out and dusted off the patio table. Fluffy was running around sniffing all the familiar scents. She opened the wine and poured out the golden chardonnay into the glass. Let the rest of the duties wait. This is the moment she had played over and over in her mind during Steve’s terrible hospital ordeal. She would try to calm herself during those traumatic times by visualizing the lake, just as it is now, calm, darkening into twilight, no boats on the water, just a few ducks and water birds flying about. Nothing but peacefulness.

Vermont had to be one of the most beautiful states in the U.S. It was hard to get to and that was probably why it still remained so pristine. After her second glass of wine, life was looking pretty good again. She promised herself that she wouldn’t cry when she was here. So far so good. Last year had been so very hard and she wasn’t going to spoil it now. He had died. She had to face it. Her husband who adored her had simply died. Hit by a dumb kid and put in the hospital with traumatic brain injuries…but she never had thought her life would have turned out this way. It’s not how she would have written it.

The vigil at the hospital was costly in so many ways. She had stayed by him almost constantly hoping he would come out of the coma. She had prayed, had others praying, had bargained with God. Nothing worked. He lingered for a week, and then, she realized now, had mercifully died. Steve had been a really good man. He had done all that had been expected of him. He had been a wonderful husband to her. The years had flown by. And now she was left empty, hollow and alone.

“O.K., let’s just get on with life, huh Fluffy?” what a stupid name, fluffy, for your dog. They had teasingly call their little Pekingese that even though his real name was Panda.

“Well, my darling,” she said as she raised her glass to the heavens, “Here’s to you and here’s to me. We are separated now, but soon we’ll be together again. I love you.” Just a few tears ran down her cheeks.

What is this? She noticed a burned out house down further along the lakeshore. Burned out completely, down to the ground. Nothing left of it except the rock fireplace. A really serious fire must have occurred. She would have to find out what happened.

“Come on, Panda, time to unpack and open this house up!”