Nicole never really came out as a lesbian to her friends, family, and colleagues, and now her relationship with Katie is on the rocks. Katie is tired of being a "dirty secret" and moves out of their shared apartment on a hot Friday in August. Devastated, Nicole goes to her grandmother's farm on the shores of Lake Sunapee, a safe place where she spent happy summer holidays as a child. Nicole hopes for a quiet weekend to reflect, but between her gran's new lodger, the sexy redhead Melissa, and Sally and Bud, two of Nicole's childhood friends, she is quickly roped into an evening's entertainment at the Lodge Saturday evening. Her well-meaning friends try to fix her up with a guy, and in the heat of the moment she blurts out she is a lesbian. Havoc ensues. But in a conversation with her grandmother, Nicole begins to understand her secret hasn't been hidden as well as she thought, and she learns she isn’t the first lesbian in her family. With the new sense of freedom that comes from being true to herself, she has only one thing to wish for, and that is to reach Katy and make amends. But is it too late?

Heat Wave: Sunapee

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that happy,” she said. “Must be the air around here.”


Or the bottle on the top shelf of the linen closet. “Yes, I forget that some people are happy being married and having babies.”


I went back to picking berries and Melissa stooped down to help me.


“Yah, me too. Must be nice,” she said. “You want a family?”


“Me? Kids? Out of the question.” It was a nice casual discussion.


“Why? You’re still young. You’ve got time.”


“Time: yes. Inclination: no. It’s not really my style.”


Melissa looked over at me as we threw berry after berry into the baskets. “Oh…You the happy swinging-singles type?”


“No, but kids scare me. I’ve never wanted any.”


“Me either,” she admitted. “Bill and I have talked about it but we decided against it. It’s too hard bringing up kids these days…especially in the city.” Or in the country.


Chapter 8