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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

My eyes scan when it was booked and how. Online. In late March.

I rub my eyes. But they seemed to know so little about the place or the cottage they’d booked.

I open the reservation.

A woman named Betty booked the room for Trey Caldwell, I read. I don’t recognize the phone number she left with the reservation. I must have assumed it was Trey’s assistant. Who did I send the confirmation email to?

I click on the screen again.

[email protected]

Oh, my God! Nate’s university. That must be his assistant! Why would he book this for them?

My head pounds, and I feel sick to my stomach. I head into my room, rub some lavender on my neck and take Sonny out to tinkle.

I look up at the sky and immediately locate the Big Dipper. It now appears as if it’s fallen on its side and is dumping the entire constellation directly on my head.

Before I crawl into bed, I crack the window despite the temperature. The sound of the lake fills the room and instantly calms me.

I pull the sheets around me, set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. and call Sonny to my side.

“How was your first day, Adie Lou?” I ask myself, stroking Sonny’s fur. “Oh, just terrific, Sonny. Perfection. Everything I dreamed.”

I think of Nate and the Caldwells, my head spinning. The front door opens, and I can hear Mildred’s voice echo in the entry. “Mark, go check and see if there are any more chocolate-chip cookies! If so, get four!”

Go Jump in the Lake, Mildred, I think, releasing a little giggle before falling into the deepest sleep of my life.

THIRTY-SEVEN

I lift my head and smile.

The sun is glinting over the edge of the woods that back the cottage, quickly melting the light frost that has coated the grass and casting the earth in an otherworldly glow. The light gleams through the fronds of the newly unfolding ferns, green arms stretching as if they’ve just woken up. May apples cover the forest floor, and the early light makes the Michigan forest resemble a jungle thicket. The bark on the trunks of the spindly pines—the ones that creak in unison and sympathy with the cottage during a windstorm—glows red, a stand of white birch dots the woods like uniformed sentinels, while the smooth, pale gray bark of the beech shines, for once demanding attention.

Beyond the color, however, the early-morning sun has divided the world into two distinct halves. Half of the world remains cloaked in darkness, while the other half is awash in light.

Perhaps that is how we all tend to see the world, I think. Either filled with light and hope, or darkness and despair, depending on our own light level.