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Back The Summer Cottage Save as PDF
Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. Booklist
  5. About the Author
  6. Dedication
  7. Quote
  8. Prologue
  9. Part One
  10. ONE
  11. TWO
  12. THREE
  13. Part Two
  14. FOUR
  15. FIVE
  16. SIX
  17. Part Three
  18. SEVEN
  19. EIGHT
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. Part Four
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. THIRTEEN
  26. Part Five
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. FIFTEEN
  29. SIXTEEN
  30. SEVENTEEN
  31. Part Six
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. TWENTY-ONE
  36. Part Seven
  37. TWENTY-TWO
  38. TWENTY-THREE
  39. TWENTY-FOUR
  40. TWENTY-FIVE
  41. Part Eight
  42. TWENTY-SIX
  43. TWENTY-SEVEN
  44. TWENTY-EIGHT
  45. TWENTY-NINE
  46. Part Nine
  47. THIRTY
  48. THIRTY-ONE
  49. THIRTY-TWO
  50. THIRTY-THREE
  51. THIRTY-FOUR
  52. Part Ten
  53. THIRTY-FIVE
  54. THIRTY-SIX
  55. THIRTY-SEVEN
  56. THIRTY-EIGHT
  57. Part Eleven
  58. THIRTY-NINE
  59. FORTY
  60. FORTY-ONE
  61. Part Twelve
  62. FORTY-TWO
  63. FORTY-THREE
  64. FORTY-FOUR
  65. Part Thirteen
  66. FORTY-FIVE
  67. FORTY-SIX
  68. FORTY-SEVEN
  69. EPILOGUE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  71. AUTHOR NOTE
  72. Reader’s Guide
  73. Questions for Discussion
  74. The Heirloom Garden
  75. Abby

“Now I know why,” I say, opening my laptop and filling Evan in on the historic restrictions on the fish house.

His eyes grow wide as I tell him about my run-ins, and they grow even wider when I show him the renovation costs and summer forecasts as well as my ideas for women’s empowerment weekends.

“I can tell you that you’re already not charging enough for the rooms, Mom, based on our lakeshore location and how nice they’re going to be,” he says. “And you haven’t factored in any revenue for your weekends. You can offer packages as well as each option individually, like yoga, essential oils...” He stops and smiles. “Cooking with your kids,” he adds. “We could do classes together.”

“I love that,” I say.

“What if this were my summer internship?” he asks, before holding up his hands. “No pay, of course. Just room and board. I can crash on a pullout in your suite.”

My heart quickens. “I love that, too, but wouldn’t that mess up your plans for working at the bank in Chicago? And wouldn’t that make for awfully tight quarters? Trish suggested adding an extra room for you actually.”

“That’s smart,” he says.

“Which really means a room for her, too,” I add with a laugh.

“You’d have your own bedroom, and I’d have my own space then,” he says. “I live in a twelve-by-fourteen room with another guy and sleep on a top bunk. I can do it. Can you?”

I nod vigorously, set down my wine and hug my son.

His words ring in my ears, and I feel alive and empowered.

I can do it, I think. Especially now with my son’s help.

TWENTY-FOUR

“What are you doing?”

“I want to Facebook Live this, Mom,” Evan says. He is holding his cell phone about a foot away from my face, which is bare of makeup and flecked with paint.

“Why?”

Evan lowers the phone and exhales, a look of exasperation overtaking his face. “You should know this, former ad exec,” Evan says sarcastically.

“I was really part of the old-school side,” I say. “Print, radio and TV. People more, um, your age did the online advertising.”

“The techies?” Evan asks with a laugh. “The millennials?”

I set down my paintbrush. “It’s ironic, really, because my generation was among the first to embrace technology on the fly. I actually took a typewriting class in school, before working on gigantic PCs and then moving to Macs. I learned everything from email to design by the seat of my pants. I do know technology, but it’s moving at the speed of light these days.”

“Then let me show you,” Evan says.

I take a seat on the floor, and Evan walks me through Facebook Live and various other apps on his cell, like Instagram and Snapchat.