Page 1 of The Lake House

ChapterOne

GIULIANA

Starting over is never easy.

They say you’ll have three great loves during your lifetime, and I’m finding this to be exceptionally true. The first one is supposed to be your fairy tale love… the one who is supposed to literally sweep you off your feet, like in all those romance novels and movies. This was my first love, or I should say, my crush, because we’ve never dated.

The second one is the one who teaches us about ourselves. It’s the one who you want to make things work with, but even though you try time and time again to get it right—while hoping for a different outcome—it just isn’t meant to be. It’s the love you wish was right, but honestly, it’s just a lesson learned. What’s that saying? People come into your life as either a blessing or a lesson? Yeah, that’s him… the lesson. This was my high school sweetheart. We were voted as best couple in the yearbook our senior year, sealing my idea of Jason being my future. But of course, this wasn’t the case. He turned out to be scum, and we’d fight constantly. Our break up—the last one, probably after twenty-five times—left me broken, angry, and insecure.

The third love is the one that lasts. The guy you marry. The one. And it’s not like anything you imagined it would be. Sometimes, you don’t even see it coming, but when it does, you fall, and you fall hard. And let me tell you, I fell… hard. So when I met my husband, my third love, I was sure he was the one. And while this love is the one that is supposed to last, it didn’t. He didn’t. He broke my heart worst of all.

So, here I am. If you would have told me a year ago I’d be here today, I would have told you, “not a chance, I’ll never be that girl.” But somehow, life has a funny way of throwing you off course, when you least expect it.

I was certain I had found my happily ever after when I first met Todd during my sophomore year of college. We were the perfect couple, but like I said, it was least expected. We met one night out with friends, and while I didn’t fall for him right away, when I did, I fell hard. Fast forward to our last year in college, and off we were making plans to get married. At twenty-five, I was the blushing bride, surrounded by family and friends on a bright sunny day at the end of June.

Things were great. We were in love, and we supported one another through good times and the bad. Sure, his drinking was a problem most of the time, but I loved him and helped him through it. Eventually, he quit, but it was too late by then. But that part of the story will come into play later.

So, there we were. The perfect couple. The only thing left was to start a family. And even though we had tried to have children for three years, we soon found out that wouldn’t be an option for us. Todd was almost completely infertile, making our journey to parenthood nearly impossible. Of course, there was a slim chance, but it was practically nonexistent. We discussed possibly trying procedures from intrauterine insemination to in vitro fertilization, but life always seemed to get in the way, and my dreams of one day becoming a mother grew less and less likely. After a while, I accepted the fact that motherhood just wasn’t in the cards for me.

Of course, it was depressing at times, but it wasn’t enough to make me stress out Todd. He seemed happy with just the two of us, so I let it go and tried to find the same happiness he did within our relationship. It wasn’t like he wasn’t enough for me. He was. But I think a lot of women dream of having children at some point in their lives.

So, I went to work, came home, made dinner for the both of us, and at the end of the night, the two of us found comfort in each other’s arms.

And this worked. It worked for us. At least, I thought it did. I really thought the two of us were happy. I really believed it. Until about a year ago when I got home from work one night to find Todd sitting on our couch, bags packed and ready to go.

* * *

“Hey… what’s going on?” My eyes search his, hoping this is not what it looks like. Yet, the knots in the pit of my stomach are telling me otherwise.

“Giuliana,” he begins, failing to meet my gaze.

Well, it’s never a good thing when he calls me by my name. Usually it’s babe or honey or love… something of that nature. Whenever he calls me by my first name, it means something serious is up.

“I’m leaving,” he bluntly states, matter-of-factly.

I swallow hard. “Leaving? Where are you going?”

Todd takes a deep breath before rising to his feet. Finally, he looks me in the eyes. His face is blank, no sign of any real emotion there.

“I want a divorce. I haven’t been happy for a very long time now. I’m sorry.”

My heart stops. Sorry? He’s sorry? For wanting a divorce? He hasn’t been happy? This is news to me. I thought we were happy. Very happy.

Divorce? He wants a divorce? We’ve been together for so long, and he wants to just end it here and now? I don’t understand. A divorce?

“What?” is all I mutter out. So many questions are running through my mind, but this is the only thing I’m capable of saying.

He stands up, picks up his luggage, shakes his head, and continues. “It’s over, Giuliana. Good-bye.”

“Wait! What?!” What the hell? He owes me more than just a sorry and a goodbye. It’s over. After all these years and everything we’ve been through, I need more than just a simple goodbye.

I watch him make his way over to the door and this shit just isn’t sitting right with me. It’s over? It’s not over! I need answers. I need to know why? Why? Oh my God, why is my husband leaving me? I thought he loved me. I thought we were happy.

As he turns around, reaching the door, I stop him by grabbing his arm. “Todd, wait. We need to talk about this. You can’t just up and leave like this. What is going on here? You’re just going to walk away? You can’t do that to me, not without some answers or some fucking explanation. What the hell happened?”

He takes another deep sigh and looks down at me. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been honest with you.” Swallowing hard, he continues. “I’ve been having affair after affair for years. I’m insatiable. You deserve better than me. I’m not the man you married.”

What. The. Actual. Fuck?!

---