Chapter 19 - ONE LAST VISIT TO THE LAKE
In April, Earl called.
“We’re replacing part of the dock.”
My heart skipped.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
He laughed.
“Relax.”
I smiled.
“Sorry.”
“I found something under one of the old boards.”
“What?”
“You should come see it.”
I drove to Lake Oconee the next morning.
The sage-green front door was still there.
The cedar siding still glowed in the sunlight.
The porch swing moved slightly in the breeze.
For one painful second, I expected Thomas to walk around the corner.
Instead, Earl opened the door.
“Welcome home.”
I shook my head gently.
“Not mine anymore.”
“Still welcome.”
Janice hugged me.
The house looked almost identical.
She had repainted the laundry room.
Gray.
Thomas would have approved.
Earl led me down toward the dock.
One board had been removed near the bench.
He handed me a small metal object.
A fishing lure.
Old.
Rusty.
I recognized it immediately.
Thomas’s favorite.
My throat closed.
“He must’ve dropped it during construction.”
Earl nodded.
“Figured it belonged to you.”
I turned the lure over in my hand.
Memories rushed back.
Thomas tying fishing line at the kitchen table.
Thomas complaining that fish were smarter than him.
Thomas promising he would teach every grandchild to cast.
I cried.
Earl placed one hand on my shoulder.
After a while, voices came from the driveway.
Claire.
Sophie.
Ben.
Daniel had come too.
I stared at Earl.
“You invited them?”
He smiled.
“You said the house was supposed to bring family together.”
Claire approached carefully.
“Is this okay?”
I looked at my children.
Then at the lake.
Then at Thomas’s old lure in my palm.
“Yes.”
Sophie ran toward the dock.
Earl immediately shouted, “Life jacket first.”
She groaned.
The sound was so normal that everyone laughed.
We spent the afternoon fishing.
Claire caught nothing.
Daniel caught a branch.
Ben caught one tiny fish and behaved as though he had conquered the Atlantic.
At sunset, I sat on the porch swing.
Claire joined me.
For a while, we said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Do you regret selling it?”
I thought carefully.
“No.”
She nodded.
“I think I finally understand.”
“What?”
“You didn’t sell the family.”
I looked at her.
“You sold the thing we were using to hurt it.”
My eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Claire leaned her head against my shoulder.
“I miss Dad.”
“So do I.”
“Do you think he’d be angry?”
I watched the sun sink across the lake.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your father hated arguments about money.”
Claire laughed softly.
“That’s true.”
“And because he loved this view.”
We sat together until the light disappeared.
When I finally stood, I touched the porch swing once.
Then I walked toward my car without looking back.
May you like
For the first time, leaving the lake house did not feel like losing Thomas.
His memory came with me.
