Page 2 of The Lake House

Insatiable? What is he talking about? He acts like we don’t have sex. How is this even possible?

He doesn’t move and lets his eyes roam over me. I’m stunned, speechless, devastated. My marriage is ending? My husband, the same man I thought was loving and faithful, is divorcing me? How is this my life right now?

“Todd…” A single tear falls from my eye with more threatening to come into existence.

“I’m sorry, Giuliana. I have a problem. It’s not just one woman… It’s multiple women. I don’t know how to stop it.” He swallows hard again, looks down and then back at me. “You can keep the house. I’ll be back for the rest of my things next week.”

As he reaches for the doorknob, I blurt out, “Wait, where are you going? Where will you stay? Please don’t go!”

He doesn’t respond. Instead, he walks out the door, just like he’s walking out of my life.

As the door shuts behind him without another word, I drop to the floor, cradling myself in an ocean of tears.

* * *

And so, off he went. With Heidi. Or Lucy. Or Jane. Or God knows who. It didn’t matter. But it really makes me wonder, if he wasn’t infertile, how many of those women he slept with would have gotten pregnant by him? Would I have known about his infidelities sooner if they’d call our house or come knocking on our door demanding he take responsibility for his actions?

Oh my god, I can’t even imagine it.

And like I said, me helping him get through his drinking problem didn’t even matter. I sacrificed so much for him, and he could just walk away from it all with a sorry excuse.

It was the worst time in my life that just tore me to pieces. After that, I only saw Todd a few times. He confessed he had a problem time and time again. He was sorry, but my heart was already broken. I spent so many days crying to myself, not being able to function like a normal human being because my heart was torn. It was months and months of feeling sorry for myself, making excuses for Todd, and holding on to the hope that he’d soon come back, before I could sell the house. After being there for a year on my own, I sold it. There were just too many memories there, and I needed something new, or at least something that wouldn’t remind me of Todd or our time together.

Now, as I’m thinking back on the past year of heartache and craziness, I’m starting over. I quit my job as a teacher back home, and packed up my things to move as far away as possible.

And the one possibility that makes the most sense is Silver Mist.

Silver Mist is the one place I can say without a doubt has the serenity and peace I need. I drive the long way there as the early June breeze blows through my hair. I still have about two hours to go, but once I arrive, I know I’ll feel right at home. Silver Mist, the place where I spent so many summers chasing fireflies and dreams, is now going to be my new home.

My late grandparents, Anthony & Beverly, left the house to me, and there’s nowhere better that I can think of to start over. The house itself is right on the lake. It’s where I had spent every single year after school let out for the hot summer months to spend my days. Lazy summer afternoons gave way to illuminated amethyst nights.

What more can I ask for?

ChapterTwo

GIULIANA

Iarrive in Silver Mist around four in the afternoon. As I park my car off the right side of the lake house, it’s just as I remember it. A large two-story house surrounded by the flourishing willow trees. From the front of the house, Silver Mist Lake isn’t visible because of the plants and trees around it, but as soon as you walk toward the back, you can see it.

I step out of the car and look up. The sky is clear. There’s a nostalgic feeling in the air, bringing flashes of my past to the front of my mind. I haven’t been back here in years. Really since the day Todd and I got married. I had stopped coming by, stopped visiting. It wasn’t like he forbade me, but I knew he didn’t like it out here. I had certainly let this part of my life go. All, of course, except for my best friend, Olivia, who lives up here. Thankfully, we had kept in touch regularly throughout the years.

Taking in another view of the house, I remember how I used to help Grandma in the kitchen to fix up some mean Sunday dinners and how I would walk down to the lake with Grandpa where we would spend hours together as I’d listen to him tell me stories from when he was in the Navy. God, how many days and nights had I spent here? It’s really incalculable.

I walk around to the trunk of my car and pull out the couple of boxes I brought with me. Of course, I haven’t brought everything. There were just too many things, too many memories of Todd and a life that didn’t belong to me anymore. All that time spent with him, all the memories we created… it was now just gone. I didn’t want to start over with my past holding on to me.

Once I’m lugging the boxes into the house, memories of my past flood my mind. But these memories, as opposed to the prior ones, are the good ones from when I grew up here. Each room I walk into brings a new moment from my younger years to life.

I take a deep breath and sigh as I walk into the kitchen with a box. I place it onto the same old wooden table that I had spent my days with the family either cooking something, eating dinner, or playing a game of cards.

I smile fondly at the thoughts swimming around in my head and open the box. Inside are dish rags, utensils, and a few knickknacks.

“Knock, knock,” an unmistakably familiar voice sounds from the back door.

I look up from my current task at hand, and sure enough, there’s my best friend from years ago. She’s carrying a box of Dippin’ Doughnuts. The town of Silver Mist was known for their amazing local shop’s doughnuts. I had missed them.

“Oh my god, Liv!” I say, dropping the dish rags and running toward the door.

“What’s up, chicka?” Liv says, embracing me with one hand.

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