Epilogue
August, a year later
Avery plodded out of the lakefront door of the Red House to join Miles, who sat at the end of the dock, reading in an Adirondack chair.
Unlike most nights, she’d brought nothing with her.
All she wanted to do was watch the sunset.
Miles could keep reading. They didn’t need to talk.
After a great but busy week, being next to him was the balm she needed.
The underbelly of each cloud in the sky glowed pale pink, highlighting Miles in a warm glow.
Tabasco lay beside him, head up, scanning the lake for anything she might need to bark at.
Her tail thumped the dock as Avery approach.
Miles reached down, patted Tabasco’s head, and smiled at Avery before turning to the next page of the latest bestseller.
The final week-long session of Camp Luciole’s first summer had ended a day before and the experience had been exhausting and rewarding.
Miles and Hayes oversaw everything and while they had a legal pad full of suggestions for next year, their inaugural year had been a resounding success.
Every departing family commented on how grateful they were for the opportunity to be away from their daily lives, in a calming place, finding the healing they needed.
They’d made friends and found support in the group sessions and lake activities.
Avery caught Miles and Hayes tearing up more than once during the goodbyes.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him hug so many people and felt a swelling of pride in her throat.
At the end of the dock, Avery kicked off her Birkenstocks, pulled a lip balm out of her pocket, and slathered the minty freshness on her lips. The clouds reflected on the water’s surface, turning everything rosy pink. This was the prettiest night she’d ever seen on Linden Lake.
In addition to the amazing therapy team Hayes had assembled, their friends and families pitched in too.
Miles’s father and Dorothea led daily hikes and kayaking excursions.
Avery’s parents had flown up from Virginia for a couple of weeks.
Her mother taught yoga and her father, a trusts and estates lawyer, helped grieving widows and widowers with probate questions and referrals for attorneys who could draft new wills given their changed family situations.
Nate and Lily popped over from Montressa, sometimes with a couple off-duty staff who wanted to volunteer, and led the evening activities, including Bingo night and s’mores around the campfire.
Sam told campfire stories. Anna led a theater class while Avery worked in arts and crafts with the art therapists.
And Paulson ran the immensely popular catch-and-release fishing program.
Casper, Tabasco, and Paulson and Victoria’s dog, Snowball, visited everyone who wanted to pet or play with a dog. Somehow the three pups never discovered the two emotional support cats one of the therapists kept in the office building where they held sessions with families.
Avery plopped down in the empty chair next to Miles.
This chair had become her chair in the past year, and this was her favorite part of their day, sitting on the dock, sometimes way past when the stars came out.
Skinny dipping once it got dark enough, sometimes swimming out to the floating dock, and on nights where a light breeze kept the bugs away, laying naked under the stars.
There was no place she would rather be than here, with him.
She relaxed back into her chair and checked out her freshly painted nails.
She never got manicures, but she and Lily had gone to get pedicures after the camp wrapped up yesterday and Lily insisted they get “the works”.
Watercolor paint often dyed Avery’s cuticles and got under her nailbeds.
She hoped she could keep her hands looking this nice, at least for a day or two.
“Hey.” Miles looked up from his book. “Did you come down here empty handed?”
“Yeah.” She tilted her head to the sky, closed her eyes, and took a deep inhale.
After painting murals in each cabin at Camp Luciole this spring and then working in arts and crafts, Avery had far surpassed her normal artistic output for the summer.
Her daily sixteen hour shifts behind her, she looked forward to the next two weeks of sleeping late, nestled in the Red House’s birch tree bed.
Waking up, with nothing to do but gaze up at the pitched ceiling and plan her day however she pleased.
Miles reached across the armrests and rubbed her forearm.
“You okay?”
“I’m great.” She turned her head and cracked open her eyes, further relaxing into the chair. “I’m appreciating this moment of quiet. It’s been a full throttle summer, and I’m ready to cruise for a while.”
Miles had worked harder than she had. Where he got the energy, she didn’t know. He should be dog tired by now.
“Oh, you don’t fool me.” He turned a page in his book. “I know you have the whole next year planned.”
Avery smiled to herself. Over the last year, she’d learned to let go of her need to always have a plan.
When she’d moved to Manhattan, she told herself she was going exploring.
She’d taken classes in pottery, wood working, interior design, even a rom-com seminar so she could keep up with Hayes and Anna Catherine’s references.
By Thanksgiving, she’d designed a line of wallpaper and fabric.
She found a manufacturer in South Carolina and convinced an elite Manhattan design studio to carry her line.
Since she couldn’t call it the Peppered Page and she didn’t want her name in her brand, Miles had come up with the name: Paprika Home.
Her camp-themed line was doing quite well and after being around toddling Lennox, she had a plethora of ideas for children’s rooms.
Miles traced the webs where her fingers met her hand. “What’s on the schedule for next year?”
“I’ve been thinking about something for a while. I want to spend more time here.”
Miles closed his book. “Here?”
“In Maine,” she said.
A week before camp started, Hayes and Anna Catherine announced they were moving to London for a few months while Anna headlined a play in the West End.
Lily and Nate were here all year. With the camp, Miles commuted to and from Portland frequently.
Now that they had a successful summer in the books and hoped to offer more sessions next year, he’d mentioned needing to hire year round office staff.
Avery loved Maine in summer and wanted a taste of winter.
“Remember when we came up here for Valentine’s Day?” she asked. “You took me ice skating on the lake. I keep thinking about that. It was so cool.”
“I liked what we did next better.” He raised an eyebrow. They’d made love in front of the fire. “I’m always up for more of that.”
He winked.
Avery asked herself how once upon a time, she’d not only resisted that sultry wink, but managed to find it utterly vexing. These days, when Miles winked, she melted. He knew this and used it to his advantage. And she loved him for it. Avery knew what drove him wild too.
“Yes, I want more of that too.” She ran her finger along her lower lip and watched him lick his own lips. “After you give me lessons.”
“Lessons.” The word hung in midair while he absorbed it. Miles swallowed, a dark flicker in his chestnut eyes. He shifted his lips like he was assessing her suggestion and adjusted his pants.
“Not those kind of lessons,” she giggled. “Teach me to cross-country ski and snowshoe. Maybe we’ll even see a moose.”
She laughed as his face fell flat. Yes, she loved sleeping with him. But Avery also wanted to get outside.
“Just so you know,” he said, “I have never seen a moose while skiing.”
“And you won’t if you don’t get out there. It’s not like a moose will magically appear while you’re banging me either.”
“If I can make you see stars, I can make you see a moose.”
“Now, there’s some big dock energy.” She laughed.
Tabasco barked at the sight of Sam and Casper, out on the lake in their canoe, taking a cruise. Everybody waved to one another and Casper barked in return. They paddled away under a purple sky. It was heartwarming to see Sam happy and healthy.
Miles stood, took out his phone, and snapped a photo of the man and his dog. He picked up the base of his chair, turned it to face hers, sat down, and rested his elbows on his knees. His brow furrowed as he steepled his fingers. A sign he was considering her seriously.
“Back to this Maine thing. I’m confused. Are you asking to move here? Or visit more often?”
Avery bit her lip and met his gaze. He was so intently focused on her, she couldn’t read his emotion. And she didn’t know what she wanted. She’d never lived in Maine and the winters seemed long.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m trying this out. You have experience with winter here. Is this some pipe dream that ends with us snowed in and driving one another crazy? I don’t know if I would like it.”
“We don’t have to move here. One option is to spend more time here this coming fall and winter.
” His eyes were brightening. “You can get your feet wet. Well, hopefully not. It’ll be cold and you’ll want dry feet.
That’s what Bean boots are for. We can test it out.
See how we like it. And if we don’t, call it quits with little investment. ”
“I like that idea. I don’t want to make you leave the city. I like it there and I need to be there for my work.”
“You could travel up here with me when I come for camp business, and we could tack on a couple days. And maybe we try a couple extended work-from-home visits.”