By the time all of their daughters were in school, Lou and Jo had each been married over a dozen years. They needed a break from their city lives, from their husbands, from their parents. Life for Jo was always a struggle and Lou’s existence had become dull and monotonous. But in the summer they could leave it all behind.

Jo recalled that one of her best summers was when Beverly, her youngest, was eight and Roy had a good job. He worked construction and it was hard work but the pay was good. He was exhausted and dirty, but he only drank on the weekends. Carl drove them both to the lake on Friday nights and when he arrived Roy needed a beer, a shower and a back rub, in that order. Nothing brought Jo so much pride as seeing her handsome Roy come in wearing those tight jeans and dirty work shirt, his eyes tired, his hands roughened by calluses. He’d held down this job for months and even Carl was more animated and talkative. It was such a great summer, Jo and Lou even talked about whether it was possible to just stay at the lake year-round.

It didn’t last. The school year started and they were back in the city. Carl became quiet and distracted by the heavy burden of his company; Roy was laid off a few times and unemployment not only made him irritable and Jo cautious, but the judge and Grandma always had opinions about how the sisters conducted their marriages.

In the spring of ’89, Roy got a job in sales in Rapid City. He wanted Jo to move to Rapid City with the girls and she really didn’t want to, but she still nurtured hopes that her husband could break through his personal cloud of perpetual failures.

“Oh, God, you can’t be serious,” Louise said. “When has Roy ever kept a job for more than six months! You’ll no sooner get there than you’ll be headed back here! Or somewhere else!”

“Maybe if we start fresh, somewhere new, somewhere he’s not carrying the load of his past reputation, maybe it will make a difference,” Jo said.

“You’ll have no one!”

“Roy complains that I value my relationship with you more than my relationship with him,” Jo said.

“He doesn’t complain of that when he needs money!”

“Don’t throw that in my face,” Jo said. “It’s cruel.”

“Think about the winters, Jo,” Lou pleaded. “If you think they’re tough here, wait till you try South Dakota!”

Jo played the middle ground. She told Roy she refused to move anywhere until he’d been in that job long enough for it to be a secure position. She told Lou she hoped to move to Rapid City for Roy as soon as he could offer her some reassurance he had a solid, long-term job.

“That’ll be the day,” Lou said.

“Nice,” Jo said. “Can’t you at least say you hope my marriage can recover and last?”

“I’d love to,” Lou said. “If I thought there was a chance in hell.”

Roy was only able to get back to Saint Paul for a couple of weekends in more than three months, but he looked great. Or maybe Jo was looking through the lens of a woman missing at least the illusion of a happy marriage to a handsome, sexy man. She may have lost the glow of true love but she never forgot the fairy-tale quality of meeting him and falling for him. It had seemed that her dream man appeared out of nowhere and shook her to her core.

“I think maybe Roy has really changed,” Jo told her sister.

“How many times have you believed that?” Lou said sourly.

* * *

“We should have something to eat,” Louise said.

Jo looked at her watch. It was getting late. The summer sun was low. She knew she had to pay attention to the time and think about catching that last bus. In this part of town they stopped running at ten. “I didn’t mean to stay so long. I know it’s going to take more than one conversation. I can come back tomorrow, after I’ve been to the hospital. I’m sure after tomorrow the girls will be gone—home with their father. Hope’s going to be another story.”

“But she’ll be okay?”

“I don’t know,” Jo said. “I’m not even sure what’s wrong with her, other than the fact she’s been lying to herself for so many years she believes her fantasies. Charley said Hope was telling herself some nonsense about coming home to hear about Mother’s will.”

“Will?” Louise said. “What about her will?”

“Apparently she thinks there’s a fortune to be left to her.”

Louise laughed. “By the time it gets down to her, she’ll get enough to be able to take herself out to a nice dinner.”

“I had no idea she was suffering from a serious mental illness...”

“It’s not your fault. I’ll scramble us some eggs, make some toast.” Lou pulled out a frying pan, a couple of plates, a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread. And a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. “Since we’re getting to the serious stuff. Say whatever you like about me, I don’t think I’m ready to talk about that summer without a little of this.”

“I was the one to say we’d need something stronger,” Jo reminded her. “May I have an ice cube, please?”

“Would you like a glass with that?”

“No, no. I have a perfectly good teacup.”

Louise cracked eggs into the pan, her back to Jo. “Do you still think about it?”

“When I can’t stop myself,” Jo said. “You were so angry with me before anything went wrong. We barely spoke on the way to the lake.”

“I couldn’t believe you’d leave me. Us. Move away? I knew it was a stupid idea.”

“See, you always do that,” Jo said. “I’m well aware of all my shortcomings. Calling me stupid isn’t going to help us now.”

“I didn’t call you stupid!” Louise said, sliding bread in the toaster. “I said it was a stupid idea and I stand by that. Roy had let you down and disappointed you for over fifteen years—I couldn’t believe he was actually going to come through for the first time, do right by you and the girls. I couldn’t believe you’d be happy.”

“I knew I wouldn’t be happy,” she said, pouring a small amount over an ice cube in her teacup. “I thought I’d probably cry every day, but I was going to give it one more go, make the ultimate sacrifice, move away and devote myself to my marriage and my family. And then, when it didn’t work, I was going to be finished. I was going to admit I’d done everything I could and leave him for good. But I just couldn’t do that until I knew I’d tried everything. One more ice cube, please. No, two more.”

“You never said that,” Lou said, handing her the ice cubes from the freezer. “You never said that,” she repeated.

“No, I didn’t. Because it would have put a fire under you. You know how you are—when you want your way, you’re just so fucking relentless!”

“And you’re just so fucking stubborn!”

Jo took a tiny sip. “I’m still stubborn. I think things through for a long time. Sometimes too long. But you make up your mind in a second and that’s that.”

“Well, be grateful I could make a quick decision when you needed it most or who knows what would have happened.”

* * *

They went to the lake the day after school was out as usual. Roy said he’d come in two weeks, stay a few days. Jo hadn’t seen him in a long time, six weeks or so. They talked when they could and he sounded happy. Excited and motivated. He hadn’t been slurring. He’d even sent her some money! “Baby, this is it! This is what I’ve been looking for! I’m leading in sales for our team—time-shares everywhere.”

“I thought it was investment properties,” she said.

“It is,” he said. “Some people want to use the properties for vacation for a few years and then sell them and upgrade—it’s complicated. It’s a point system for those but we have some investment properties for sale. Big sales bring big commissions.”

“People want to vacation in Rapid City?” she asked.

He laughed. “Some do but our properties are worldwide. I can sell you a time-share in Maui from here. I can get you a summerhouse in Morocco! It’s real estate, just not the usual thing. We don’t sell them to live in so much as to invest in—buy and sell. This is the company headquarters but there are lots of offices. I’ve even looked into some transfers later, after I’ve proven myself. Maybe Florida. Maybe Hawaii. How do you think the girls would like to live in Hawaii?”

Jo was almost afraid Roy might pull it off, turn into a responsible man, though doubt and fear clouded her vision. She dreaded the idea of moving away. But to Lou she remained positive and optimistic. Lou was all too ready to condemn Roy and Jo wasn’t going to give her any fuel.

Lou and Jo were at each other. The strain it put on their relationship to dance around the idea of being separated by so many miles was tearing them apart. Nothing had ever kept them apart for very long—a week or two at most. They talked every day even if they didn’t see each other. Two or three times a day sometimes. The anticipation of Roy coming to the lake had them both a bundle of nerves.

He was making the long drive from Rapid City—over eight hours. By the time he arrived it was after eight. Jo wore her prettiest sundress and fixed her hair. When he pulled up to the house she flew across the porch, down the steps and across the yard and into his arms. He kissed her wildly and for a moment she was transported back in time and became that young girl who saw her prince appear in a formal ballroom.

But only for a moment. Roy was not alone.

A second car had followed him onto the property and a couple was getting out.

“Roy?”

“Oh, babe, this is Ivan and Corky,” he said, turning her toward the couple.

The man, who was about forty, was striking with his dark hair and eyes and a thin mustache. He smiled and she thought his teeth were so white they gleamed. He gave a small bow. “How do you do,” he said with a slightly foreign accent. “Roy has been talking about you for weeks. He’s so proud of you.”