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

Gran and Melissa continued into the house. As soon as they were gone, I grabbed Karen by the arm.


“Why are you bothering me?” I asked.


Karen smiled. “Because I was worried about you. You just tore out of there last night. No one knew where you’d gone.”


Right. “Now that’s a laugh.” How could Katie be worried about me, when she was moving out?


“Nickie, she does still care about you.”


“She has a strange way of showing it.” How could she break my heart and walk out of my life if she still cared?


“Come on. Just because you two can’t agree about things, doesn’t mean she stopped caring about you.”


“Did she send you here to say that?”


“Hell, no,” Karen exclaimed. “Shit, I was worried, too.”


“You don’t have to be.” And I don’t want you to be.


“Nickie, I’m your best friend. I know you’re going through some tough shit, but damn! Running away won’t solve it.”


Chapter 9