CHAPTER 16: THE COTTAGE BY THE LAKE
Two months after graduation, Lily and I drove out to a small lake house in North Texas that I had purchased using the settlement funds recovered from Victoria’s attempted real estate fraud.
It was a rustic, wooden cottage surrounded by tall pine trees, with a wide porch extending right over the clear, still water.
We spent two weeks painting the porch rails white, hanging hammock chairs, and setting up a small study room for Lily where she could write her graduate school applications.
One quiet afternoon, as the sun began to dip behind the pines, casting golden light across the water, Lily sat on the edge of the dock, her bare feet dangling in the cool lake.
I walked down the wooden steps carrying two cold bottles of lemonade and handed one to her.
I sat down beside her on the sun-warmed planks.
"It's quiet out here," Lily murmured, taking a sip.
"Too quiet?" I asked.
"No," she smiled, leaning her head against my shoulder. "It's the good kind of quiet. The kind where you can hear yourself think."
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"Your mother would have loved this place," I said softly, looking out at the ripples on the water.
"She's here, Dad," Lily whispered. "Every time we choose to be kind to each other, she's here."
