Return to the Lake House

Introductory Notes:

 

My name is Hannah Stone and this is my story. My life was fairly normal up until I was eleven and my parents divorced. Not too long after the divorce, Alicia, an old college friend of Mom's came to live with us. At first it seemed weird to see Mom and Alicia in bed together, but now it seems â ¦.well, normal. We live in a nice big house in a great neighborhood. And it's just us girls! There's me of course and my twin sister Madison (Maddy), our younger sister Carrie and on weekends, Alicia's daughter Tawny who is the same age as Carrie. Mom is an English professor at a local private college and Alicia is a high-powered corporate lawyer. My Dad travels a lot on business and we only see him on weekends and then, mostly in the Summer. He lives at his family's lake house on a secluded lake about three hours' drive away from us. The house is really just a small cottage with a kitchen, two small bedrooms and a tiny bathroom with a trailer sized hot water heater. That first Summer after the divorce, I was able to share lots of time alone at the lake house with Daddy. My body was just beginning to change and Daddy helped me explore all the wonderful and mysterious feelings that come along with puberty. And I had friends at the lake that helped me begin to understand my feelings about boysâ ¦..and girls. There is Kayla, two years older than me. She is bold and exciting! And there are my friends Suzy and Sierra Chen. Suzy was twelve that first Summer and Sierra was nine. They taught us how to play "The Game".

 

Over the years, Daddy and I had many wonderful weekends together. And oh yes, Daddy and I loved to play The Game! Of course, I had to share Daddy's time with my sisters. My twin Maddy and our sister Carrie each had their weekends alone with Daddy too. Even though it was crowded, the very best weekends were the ones when Maddy and I and Carrie all spent the weekend with Daddy! But perhaps the culminating event that still makes me feel warm all over on cold Winter nights was my eighteenth birthday when Daddy and I shared everything.

 

Chapter 1

 

As I begin the long drive to the lake house, my head is filled with both anticipation and memories. This weekend we will celebrate Tawny's eighteenth birthday. Tawny is like a sister to me in every way. Along with my real sisters Maddy and Carrie, Tawny and I grew up together. We played together and showered together and watched our bodies change and develop as we moved through puberty and beyond. We experienced all the emotional and physical feelings that sisters share. We have a special bond too because of The Game. Even though Tawny lived with her own Father Michael during the week, she was our sister on weekends and over time has come to love and care about our Dad as if he were her Father too. That's why she chose to spend her eighteenth birthday at the lake house with her sisters and Daddy.