“I do,” said Barb, popping up from her chair. “Anyone else want to join us?”
“You go ahead,” said Thomas. “The four of us will meet you out there.”
As soon as Charles and Barb started their swim, Helen turned to her siblings and said, “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course we’re here,” said Pammy. “Mom would be pleased.”
“And God knows how we lived to please Mom,” said Charlotte.
“Yeah, you especially,” said Thomas, laughing.
“I did give her a hard time.”
“That,” said Helen, “is the understatement of the week.”
“Hey, somebody had to give her a hard time. She gave us a hard enough time. Tell me you’ve all forgotten her antics.”
“But weren’t they done, at least some of the time, with good intentions? *” said Helen.
“Clearly you, Helen, have forgotten,” said Charlotte.
“Maybe Charlotte,” said Thomas, “it’s time for you to forget too.”
Charlotte cocked her head. “Touché, big brother.”
Helen couldn’t remember the last time she had to put all three leaves in the dining room table. There were twelve of them altogether, counting Roger Shaw, Helen and Charles’s friend and Pammy’s new love interest, and Steve Johanson, who had arrived at his family cottage a day sooner than Charlotte expected and was very available for dinner with the Thompson family. They all gathered on the Thompson porch for cocktails and kid-friendly hors d’oeuvres, which thrilled Peter and Sally, who had never had French onion dip out of a package and potato chips or ginger ale mixed with cherry juice.
At the dinner table, Thomas sat at one end, in John’s seat, and Helen sat at the other end, in Claire’s seat. Before them sat the blue and white plates Claire had been so fond of, and various platters and bowls filled with spare ribs, barbequed chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. After they had said grace and before they started eating, Thomas stood and cleared his throat. “Life is filled with irony,” he said, “and it is ironic that the two people who would most enjoy this feast, this gathering, are not here with us. However, they would not want us to be sad on this occasion, to mark their absence from our lives with woeful faces and downcast eyes—even though we all miss them, even those who sometimes aren’t so sure,” said Thomas, making eye contact with Charlotte. “Because John and Claire Thompson made their mark on us. And while the process wasn’t always pleasant, it was usually instructional.”
Charlotte chuckled, the only one who instantly realized that Thomas’s comment was meant to be humorous as well as serious. “Oh yes,” she said. “Mom was a teacher to the very end.”
Thomas raised his glass to Charlotte and then lowered it. “Looking back, as we tend to do in the present, I understand more about parenting, about expectations, about yearnings, about love than I ever did. I think this is not just because I’m older. I think it’s also because I experienced all these things growing up in this cottage. This is where you—Helen and Pammy and Charlotte—and I learned our life lessons, whether we appreciated them or not. And John and Claire Thompson certainly knew how to live life. Their legacy sits around this table—charged with carrying on in the brave and honorable ways that were laid out for us so many years ago.” He lifted his glass again. “To John and Claire, our parents, our mentors, and our most fervent supporters. Tonight we honor you and, for the rest of our lives, we walk the path that you started, clearing it for those who follow us.”
Pammy burst into tears. Charlotte, who was sitting next to her, wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulders.
“Well said, Thomas,” said Helen. “Thank you all for coming to this place that floats in and out of our lives, but is never far from our minds. We are missing our mother and father tonight, but, with everyone here, I feel complete.” Helen made eye contact with each one of her siblings and then lifted her fork. “Let’s eat.”
After dinner, Todd and Ned washed the dishes, assisted by Sally and Peter. And then everyone, even Charlotte, went out into the yard for a twilight game of hide-and-seek.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
THE SUMMER COTTAGE
Susan Kietzman
About This Guide
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s
reading of Susan Kietzman’s
The Summer Cottage!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. When Helen arrives at the cottage, she can’t wait to get to the beach. What does the beach mean to her?
2. Claire spent a good part of her early years competing in the water. How does her swim career affect her life afterward, outside of the pool?
3. Helen and Pammy are close as ten and thirteen-year-olds. What happens to their relationship as they become adults? Charlotte is not particularly close with either of her sisters. Is she close to anyone?
4. John Thompson and Claire Gaines are as seemingly different as winter from summer. What brings them together and how does their common interest affect their relationship?
5. Because Helen lives close to her parents, she falls into the role of Claire’s caregiver after John dies. She is a good caregiver, but does she like it? Do we always like what we’re good at?
6. Helen thinks she has effectively communicated Claire’s medical issues to her siblings. Why have they not offered more help?
7. Why is Charlotte attracted to Rick Jones? What is her view of Daniel Bammer? Other men?
8. Helen sneaks out of the cottage at night several times the summer she is ten years old. Do Claire and John know this? And if they do, why do they allow it to continue?
9. Of all the men available to Pammy, she chooses her sister’s boyfriend. What is Pammy’s motivation in pursuing Daniel?
10. Why does Thomas fall so hard for Anna Santiago?
11. John Thompson is measured, the voice of reason in the Thompson family. What is Claire to her children? And what does she want them to learn from competition?
12. What do we learn about each Thompson from the Labor Day cannonball contest?
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2015 by Susan Kietzman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-550-9
eISBN-10: 1-61773-550-7
First Kensington Electronic Edition: June 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6177-3549-3
ISBN-10: 1-61773-549-3
The Summer Cottage Page 33
