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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

“I’ll give you two a minute,” Dr. Dolittle says. “I’m going to get you started with some good puppy food and some pills he’ll need to take for a while. I’ll check back in a sec.”

She walks out but Sonny doesn’t notice. He is snoozing, his chest rising and falling, before he begins to have a dream. His hind legs start twitching as if he’s running, his heinie shakes and he begins to yip.

What are you dreaming about, little guy? I think. And then I start to cry again, thinking of him being abandoned, all alone. I’ve been through the exact same thing as Sonny: tossed aside for being less than, unwanted for being not as pretty as someone else, trying to survive just because I want something better.

I walk out of the exam room with Sonny in my arms, feeling strong, as if he weighs no more than a Chihuahua.

“I’m keeping him,” I announce to everyone in the vet’s office. “He’s my soul mate.”

The office explodes into applause, and Dr. Dolittle doesn’t charge me for the visit.

EIGHT

Saugatuck Marina is nestled just off the bay. It’s a full-service marina that offers deep-water boat slips, a pool, fully stocked store, green space for picnics, showers and stunning views. In essence, it’s home to a lot of rich folks with big boats who take them to warmer climes during the winter.

My parents’ beloved boat, the Adie Lou—the one I nearly sold—and I are not among them. My boat is in storage here. And it has been since my parents died.

“Keeping a boat in storage too long is like being in a coma,” my father used to say. “Nothing will work the way it used to do.”

My dad used to be the first one at Saugatuck Marina come spring. He’d watch the lake—when and how it thawed—and gauge its temperature by walking in up to his ankles. He’d observe the birds: when they began to build nests, when they began to peck the warming earth for worms. He seemed to know Lake Michigan—every nuance, the ways it would warm or grow cold—as if it were an old lover. And he knew the exact moment when it was safe to pull the Adie Lou from storage, put it into the slip here and take it for its first spin of the season. He’d pop champagne that first boat ride, even if it was still in the fifties, and exclaim, “What’s Rule #12 of the summer cottage? Boat rides are a shore thing!”