The Lake House Lessons 12

After Dana graduated, with a double major of communications and marketing, cum laude, she rejected a few opportunities to model full time and Sarah hired her to be an assistant. She thrived, quickly getting a series of promotions. When Sarah's company, Lake House Promotions, opened, she gave Dana a 5% ownership interest. Over time, Dana's striking looks, friendly personality, ability to convince people to do what she wanted, and her talent for getting and managing information, led her to become Sarah's second in command, and Sarah gave her increasing equity in the firm, which proved to be shrewd. Dana received numerous offers to leave Sarah, or to start her own company, but she never did, out of loyalty and the relationship between our families, and her ownership interest in the company.

Dana never married, and was often seen in public, and occasionally in the tabloids and gossip sites, with attractive politicians, actors, athletes and businessmen—always single, because she vowed never to do to a woman what her father had done to Linda. Although she told me that some of them made her happy for some time, she never found the one for a long term, exclusive relationship. Our friendship continued to strengthen over the years, and we were always available to each other for support, or as sounding boards. I valued her insights about people and relationships, an area in which I had certainly improved since high school, but which was never my strength. Until I got married, Dana and I continued to hook up when we were both unencumbered, including a particularly memorable week at the company's villa in St. Bart's where we virtually never left the bedroom, and had all of our meals nude, in bed.

After college, I got my doctorate and worked at a few colleges before getting on the tenure track at the university where I have worked since. I love my research, and my teaching. I met my wife Rebecca, a brilliant physicist, although our areas of expertise don't overlap, at a symposium in Indianapolis, and when I saw her I thought that she was the most beautiful scientist I had ever seen and knew that she was going to be the woman I would marry. Our attraction was immediate, and we missed a few presentations getting to know each other naked. She took a position at my university when we got married. She is my best friend, and she has heard the basic details of this story. She gets me, even understands my unusual relationship with Dana, and has even become friendly with her. She is also sexually adventurous and satisfies me in ways I never knew existed before I met her, my time with Dana included.

Dana was right, all those years before—I would meet a woman who would satisfy all of my needs better than she did, but frankly not by much. Rebecca and I have 2 kids, a boy and a girl, and I truly hope that they don't suffer through their high school years the way I did. From what my wife tells me, she was both valedictorian of her high school, and prom queen, and I hope that she is able to help our children navigate their way through those potentially difficult years better than I did.

The lake house continues to be an important part of our family. Dad still goes there, sometimes with women, and Sarah and I both continued to use it, both before and after we were married. We have had family reunions there, and it is fun to watch the kids play in the lake. We have remodeled the downstairs and added on to it, so that there are now two big bedrooms downstairs, for when all of us are there, and 3 smaller bedrooms for the kids, each with its own small private bathroom. The rooms don't connect through the bathroom anymore, which was a little sad, but is more private.

My wife is amused at how being at the lake house seems to make me horny like a teenager, but has remarked that she doesn't need to be a psychiatrist to figure out why. Nor has she complained about it, either. Sarah and I have agreed that when the lake house passes to us, we will do whatever is necessary to keep it in good shape, so that we can continue to use it, and that our kids can use it. It will be interesting to see if the magic of the place will continue to the next generation, once they are old enough to appreciate it, of course.

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If you enjoyed these characters, I will be posting a version of these same events from Dana's point of view.