The Cottage on Glass Lake

by Amy Pine

Genres: Women's Fiction; Family Life

Synopsis

Dr. Becca Weiland had the perfect life—or so she thought, until she learned her husband cheated on her after a decade of marriage. With divorce papers signed, Becca throws her trademark caution to the wind and agrees to an impromptu monthlong vacation at a beach house with Sadie, a woman she's known all her life but really doesn't know at all.

Free-spirit Sadie Bloom is Becca’s opposite in every way, living in the moment and wasting zero energy on what comes next. But the pastry chef’s nothing-bothers-me exterior hides a fear she’s not ready to face—one that may jeopardize a future she never realized she wanted.

At first, Sadie’s go-big-or-go-home style bumps up against Becca’s perfectionism, but soon they’re bonding over too much Schnapps, a leaky roof, a bikini wax gone awry, and awkward meet-cutes with two of the hottest men in town. Best of all, in getting to know each other, they’ve gotten to know themselves, and together they find the courage to discover what it really means to live.

Release date: June 27, 2023

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Print pages: 368

Sample

Dr. Becca Weiland pulled into her driveway, the pink sky on the brink of day. She put the car in park and closed her eyes, letting her head fall against the back of her seat. A smile parted her lips as she replayed in her head her favorite part of every delivery—introducing the newborn to its parents. Had it only been six years ago that she was the one on the delivery table, her life changed exponentially as she greeted her twins for the first time? She’d never seen Jeff cry before that day. But when he’d kissed her forehead, thanking her for all she’d done to bring their babies into the world, tears flowed freely from his red-rimmed eyes. Becca had never loved him more than she had in that moment, and she was certain he’d felt the same.

Maybe that had been it, a moment they wouldn’t be able to top—or even sustain.

She needed to get the hell out of her head. She needed sleep. She needed to move her morning appointments because there was no way she was making it back into the office before noon. She needed…

Becca glanced down at the large manila envelope on the passenger seat next to her.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years, and all it would take was a few signatures, passing the documents off to her lawyer, and just like that, it would all be undone.

One Year Earlier…

Becca looked up from the stack of patient charts on her desk to see her big sister, Alissa, lingering in her office doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Becca asked, then went back to organizing her charts. “Your postpartum checkup isn’t until next week, so if you’re here to sweet-talk me into giving you and Matthew the thumbs-up to start having sex again, tell him to keep it in his pants for a few more days. Though you two might want to invest in a better brand of condoms next time.” Becca raised her brows.

Alissa barked out a laugh. “Sex! Ha! How about a full night’s sleep instead? Can you give me the thumbs-up for that?” She sighed. “Oh, who am I kidding? I do miss sex. And sleep. And sex…”

Becca scoffed and shook her head. “Welcome to motherhood. Again.” Because this wasn’t her sister’s first go. She and her high school boyfriend, Matthew Bloom, had gotten pregnant as teens, married, divorced, and in the middle of it all, raised a wonderful daughter—Becca’s niece, Gabi. But then the two succumbed to a night of nostalgia when Gabi graduated college and boom. Baby number two at forty, and now she and Matthew were back together.

“So… yeah,” Alissa said hesitantly. “Permission to do the horizontal mambo is not why I’m here.”

“You’re so not a grown-up,” Becca said with a chuckle.

“Never claimed to be one either,” Alissa quipped. “But…” She strode toward Becca’s desk and sat down opposite her. Despite Alissa’s wild red curls falling out of the messy bun atop her head, the dark circles under her eyes, and the dried spit-up on the shoulder of her jacket, Becca had never seen her sister look more beautiful. She guessed happiness could do that to a person and wondered when the last time was that she looked that beautiful herself.

Alissa sat there for a long moment just staring at Becca, not saying a word.

“Okay. What is it, Liss? You’re kind of freaking me out now.”

Alissa winced, then blew out a shaky breath. “We tell each other everything, right? The good and the bad?”

“And the ugly,” Becca added with a nervous smile, trying to make light of a situation that seemed to increasingly darken the longer her sister stared at her with those exhausted yet worried eyes.

“And no matter what, you know that I love you and I’m here for you and… you know what? I shouldn’t be doing this now. It’s just that the baby is napping and Matt has the day off, so it was, like, my one free window this whole week, and I didn’t want to do this when you were at home because the kids and Jeff and—”

“Spit it out, Liss. You’re freaking me out. Just rip off the damned Band-Aid and be done with it.”

Alissa placed her phone on the desk and slid it across to Becca.

Becca’s brows drew together. Wasn’t her sister done with dating apps?

“I thought you and Matt were good,” she started. “Plus, with a newborn, where would you find the time to…” But then the face of the man on the screen snapped into focus. The face she saw every day when she woke up and every night before she went to sleep. She hadn’t recognized him immediately, though. Because—he was smiling. The man on the screen was smiling, and Becca hadn’t seen that expression in quite some time.

Smiling. But not at her. Becca’s husband, Jeff, was smiling back at the nameless, faceless bevy of women who were swiping right and left on a dating app. He was smiling at the possibility of someone else. Someone other than her.

“I’m gonna be sick,” Becca said.

Alissa nodded, then stood, picked up the trash can next to Becca’s desk, and handed it to her.

This wasn’t how life was supposed to go. Becca was the one handing the trash can to expectant mothers in the throes of morning sickness. Expectant mothers like her own sister, who not so long ago saw her world turn upside down when a one-night stand with her ex turned into a second foray into motherhood right when she thought she was an empty nester.

Becca Weiland’s world did not turn upside down. She had a plan. She and Jeff both did. College sweethearts who supported each other through medical school. Law school. The perfect set of boy and girl twins and the house—their dream home—where they could sit on the deck with a bottle of wine after the kids went to bed and take advantage of the waking hours they still had together. On paper, Becca’s life was the definition of happiness.

Only Jeff didn’t smile at her anymore. And Becca couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled at him.

She heaved into the trash can, emptying the contents of her stomach as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I know, sweetie,” Alissa said, rubbing Becca’s back as she heaved into the bin. “I’m so sorry. But I’m here for you, okay? No matter what happens, I’m here.”

So much for sleep.

After four hours of tossing and turning, Becca decided to clear her head with a run before heading into the office for her afternoon appointments.

A knock sounded on her door as she stared down at the sheaf of paper in front of her. The envelope had made it from the front seat of her minivan to her desk. She’d even opened the envelope and taken the papers out. But her hand shook every time she tried to pick up her pen.

Another knock.

Becca sucked in a breath through her nose and swiped at the wetness under her eyes before shoving the pile of papers into her desk drawer.

“Come in!” she called, dialing up the I’m totally fine in her voice.

The door opened enough for a hand to poke through the opening—a hand that held a white ribbon attached to a pink box that was unmistakably from Take the Cake, Alissa’s bakery.

“Liss, you didn’t have to—” But before Becca could finish her sentence, the person attached to the hand holding the box pushed through the door.

“Oh. Sadie,” Becca said, her breath catching in her throat as she realized she wished it were her sister. Instead it was the sister of Liss’s ex-husband Matt, except he was now Liss’s second-chance-boyfriend and current baby daddy. Did that make Sadie and Becca in-laws once again?

The tall, slender woman beamed at Becca, her sandy waves bouncing against her shoulders as she bounded into the office and plopped into the chair opposite Becca on the other side of her desk, the bakery box now resting in her lap.

“Not Alissa,” Sadie said, stating the obvious. “But I do come bearing gifts from your sis—and myself, of course—since I was going to be in the neighborhood. And by neighborhood, I mean up in stirrups while Dr. Park inserted my new IUD. Your twins are great, I’m sure, and I love, love, love my new nephew, but procreating is not on my to-do list. You know what I mean?” She huffed out a laugh. “Who am I kidding? I don’t make lists. But I do avoid procreation. That’s not TMI, right? You’ve got your hands all up in the lady parts all day, so it’s not like—”

“I got it, Sadie. And I’m all good on hearing about your lady parts.” Becca’s eyes dipped toward the pink box and then back up to meet Sadie’s. “And if my sister intends on me eating my feelings, then she needs to give me a heads-up so I can put in an extra mile or two on the treadmill before work.”

Sadie sighed, then opened the box and pulled out raspberry rugelach. Becca’s favorite.

“Suit yourself,” the other woman said with a shrug before popping the pastry into her mouth.

Becca gasped. “That wasn’t… I mean, she wouldn’t only… There’s more than one, right?”

Sadie slid the open box across the desk, and for a second Becca shrank back, the déjà vu of Alissa doing the same with her phone just a year ago making her stomach roil. But then she saw the box was filled to the top with nothing but raspberry rugelach, which meant Becca’s sister had woken early enough to bake extra since there was no way the bakery would go without one of their top-selling items. Okay, fine. Everything Alissa and Sadie created sold like crazy because the two women were geniuses in the kitchen. But the rugelach—the rolled pastry filled with homemade raspberry preserves—was all Alissa. She’d been baking it ever since their grandmother had showed her how. Well, she’d tried to show Becca too, but where Alissa shined, Becca was a disaster. Becca was much better at ordering in than creating something from scratch.

“Maybe just one,” Becca said, reaching for the box. “But it’s not because I’m sad about the… you know, the… I’m not eating my feelings because of the—”

“Divorce?” Sadie blurted out. “Come on, Bex. It’s not a swear word.”

Becca’s cheeks burned, and she snatched the box toward her chest as Sadie reached for another pastry. “When you end a relationship that’s lasted almost half your life, you can judge. And—and I can swear if I want to. I just choose not to. And maybe I choose not to say the D-word too. Also, don’t call me Bex. Only my sister and my husb—” She cut herself off, her hand flying over her mouth.

Maybe she’d expected Jeff to fight her on it, but he hadn’t. Maybe she’d expected herself to fight harder for him to stay, but she hadn’t done that either. The truth was, their marriage had ended long before she’d seen Jeff’s photo on the dating app, but neither of them had wanted to admit it.

Becca Weiland was many things, but above all, she was a mother, a doctor, and a wife. Who would she be now with a third of her identity missing?

“Becca,” Sadie said, her tone gentle. “I know we aren’t exactly close, but if you haven’t—you know—signed yet, I can be here for you while you do.”

Becca swallowed the lump in her throat. This was it, right? The turning point in her life where either she stood on her own two feet or she didn’t.

“Actually,” Becca said. “Thanks for the rugelach, Sadie. But I have a patient I need to get to, so if you don’t mind…”

Sadie held up her hands and grinned. “Say no more. I’ll leave you to it.” She stood and backed toward the door. “And maybe I’ve never ended a relationship that lasted half my life, but heartbreak comes in all shapes and sizes. I can relate. And while I get it doesn’t have to be me, eventually you’re going to want a single gal or two in your life to show you the ropes. I’m just saying.” And with that, she shrugged and slipped out the door.

Show her the ropes? Like Becca was going to jump right back into dating. She had a summer of delivering babies and wrangling seven-year-old twins to look forward to. Dating? Dating? In the immortal words of Cher Horowitz, “As if.”

Becca threw open her drawer, pulled out the stack of papers—the ones Jeff had already signed—and scribbled her name in all the spots where her lawyer had stuck a bright yellow tab. She didn’t need Sadie or her sister or anyone standing next to her to hold her hand. Except when she’d finished and leaned back in her chair, she looked around the office for someone to acknowledge what she’d done, but there was nobody there.

“I’m—divorced,” she said to no one in particular, then popped another pastry in her mouth. She picked up her phone to call her sister, only for it to vibrate and ring in her hand before she could initiate the call.

Alissa.

“Hi,” Becca said, a slight tremor in her voice. “I did it.”

“I’m here,” Alissa told her. “What do you need? What can I do?”

Tell me who I am other than doctor, mother, and now—no longer—wife?

But as much as it seemed her big sister had finally figured out her own life, she wouldn’t have the answer for Becca.

Becca was the only one who could do it, find out who she was without the labels that identified her to everyone else but Becca herself.

“Nothing,” Becca admitted. “I love you, Liss, but you can’t do anything. Whatever happens next, it has to be me.”

Sadie Bloom wasn’t usually one to eavesdrop, but here she was, pressing her ear up against Dr. Becca Weiland’s office door. What would she have done if she’d heard Becca burst into tears… or throw something breakable against a wall? It wasn’t like Sadie could run in and hug her and tell her everything would be all right. First, Becca wasn’t the hugging type. Second, despite the two women having been in each other’s lives since they were in middle school, thanks to the complicated relationship between Sadie’s brother and Becca’s sister, they’d never been particularly close.

Becca was a Monica. Sadie was a Phoebe, and despite what a long-running sitcom made viewers believe, Sadie was sure those two would never have been friends in real life.

“You’re still here?”

Sadie gasped, palm on her chest, as she spun toward the voice over her shoulder.

“I wasn’t—” But before she could spit out the rest of her defense, she fell back against the office door, her other hand grappling for purchase on the door’s frame.

“Sadie,” Dr. Park said, stepping toward her.

But Sadie waved her off. “I’m fine,” she insisted, still catching her breath. “You just surprised me.” She let out a nervous laugh. “And sort of caught me in the act.”

Sadie straightened, and Dr. Park took a step back, seemingly satisfied.

“Promise me you’re calling your cardiologist as soon as you leave here.”

“Promise,” she lied. Sadie had just received a clean bill of heart health from the doctor in question six months prior. Whatever Dr. Park heard in her stethoscope was nothing more than run-of-the-mill, it’s-never-not-weird-to-put-my-feet-in-stirrups palpitations.

Dr. Park nodded slowly. “Okay, then.”

It was the doctor’s turn to jump and run to the nearest window when the sound of a car alarm blared throughout the small corridor of exam rooms and offices.

Sadie scrambled to pull her phone from the bag slung across her torso, silencing the alarming ringtone by answering the call. What? It was funny. Plus if she overslept and Alissa called, it was the only thing that would wake her. When you ran a bakery, you had to be up before dawn most days, and Sadie had never quite taken to that little perk of the job.

“Sorry!” she called out to anyone who would listen. Becca’s office door flew open to reveal a petite clenched-jaw, furrowed-brow brunette with a severe ponytail, who stared daggers at her as she spoke into her own cell phone.

“Yep. It was your sister-in-law,” Becca said. “Or is it ex-sister-in-law? Can you and Matthew just get married again so I know what to call everyone?”

“Ooh!” Sadie said. “You’re talking to Alissa? I’ve got my brother!” She held the phone to her ear, ignoring her shortness of breath that only seemed to increase. “Hey, Matty. What’s up? I’m in Becca’s office, and she’s on the phone with Alissa.”

Sadie’s eyes met Becca’s, and they both said, “They did?” at the same time, followed by, “You do? A month? But I can’t.”

Sadie pulled the phone away from her ear and stared quizzically at the screen even though her brother couldn’t see her.

“Is your sister telling you something about a house in Glass Lake, that cute beach town in Wisconsin?”

Becca nodded, then put her own phone on speaker.

“I can’t take a month off of work,” she said. “I have patients. And—and children.”

“You haven’t taken a vacation since before the kids,” Alissa said, her voice echoing from the phone’s speaker.

“Hey, Freckles,” Matthew called from Sadie’s phone, also on speaker now. “I thought we agreed my sis could take the lake house.”

“And I thought Gabi called me about Ethan’s emergency appendectomy and having to give up the rental.”

“And Ethan called me,” Matthew said.

“Wait,” Sadie interrupted. “Ethan’s in the hospital? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Matthew assured her. “In fact, I was his first phone call after he was out of recovery, offering me the lake house.”

Alissa laughed. “After surgery? He’s still trying to get on your good side even though it’s been more than a year since you almost caught him knocking boots—consensually, I might add—with your adult daughter in her childhood tree house.”

“La la la la la la la. I can’t hear you!” Matthew’s voice blared from Sadie’s hand.

Becca groaned, and Sadie giggled.

“I thought the big brother and sister were supposed to act like grown-ups and set a good example for their younger siblings,” Becca said to Sadie.

“We can hear you,” Alissa and Matthew said in unison.

“I know,” Becca said.

Sadie waved her off. “Why do any of us have to act like grown-ups?” But then she pouted. “Matty, I would love to take the house, but I can’t leave Alissa and the bakery for a month.”

But the things she could do in a month. For the first time ever, she was already formulating a list in her head.

“You can, though,” Matthew continued. “I can cover early mornings before I have to head to work, and Mom said she’d love to help. You know you got your baking genes from her.”

“And your kids have two weeks of overnight camp, which means childcare is already half covered, Bex,” Alissa added. “Plus Mom said she can split the other two weeks with Jeff, so really, it’s a no-brainer. I know your partners would be happy to take your patient load, and it’s only a couple of hours away. You could always drive back if you needed to do a delivery. But, honey, you just had a major life change. You need time to recharge. Do something for yourself for once.” Alissa gasped. “I just thought of something. It’s technically a one-bedroom, but there’s a loft with a futon, so it could actually accommodate two…”

Becca snorted. “You want me to take a month off and spend it with Sadie?” Then she winced as the two women made eye contact. “No offense. It’s just that… I mean you’re so…”

Sadie raised her brows as the corners of her mouth turned up.

“Fun?” Sadie said, finishing Becca’s sentence. “Not so tightly wound?”

Becca’s mouth dropped open.

“This should be good,” Matthew said.

“Can you put us on FaceTime?” Alissa asked. “I can’t tell if you’re angry. Are you angry, Bex? I actually think you and Sadie might be really good for each other if you spent this time together.”

“I am not tightly wound,” Becca said through clenched teeth.

Sadie reached for Becca’s cheek with her free hand, massaging her jaw with the tips of her fingers. “Tell that to the night guard I’m sure you wear when you sleep.”

Becca gasped. “I’m sorry we can’t all live in the moment, only caring about ourselves. Some of us have kids and responsibilities and—”

“Oh no you don’t,” Sadie interrupted. “Being a mother is important, but it’s not the only thing that makes you a responsible adult. Not that I enjoy admitting I am an adult, but just because I don’t have extra humans to keep alive doesn’t mean I don’t have responsibilities of my own. And for the record, my first choice of who I’d want to spend a month with at a lake house wouldn’t exactly be you either, but you know what? I’m in. I’ll even take the open loft with the futon since I’m sure you’d never be able to handle such a lack of control over your environment.”

Becca’s mouth fell open, but she didn’t protest.

“Liss, are you sure you can handle four weeks without me?” Sadie called toward Becca’s phone.

“You haven’t taken a day off since we opened, and you worked your ass off when I was on maternity leave. I would love to do this for you.” There was a pause. “And for you, Bex. Let Matt and I do this for both of you. Plus now Matt doesn’t have to think about what Gabi and Ethan would have been doing for a romantic month alone. At least not. . .