Heat Wave: Sunapee

By Nanisi Barrett D'Arnuk

Nicole never really came out as a lesbian to her friends, family, and colleagues, and now her relationship with Katie is on the rocks. Katie is tired of being a "dirty secret" and moves out of their shared apartment on a hot Friday in August. Devastated, Nicole goes to her grandmother's farm on the shores of Lake Sunapee, a safe place where she spent happy summer holidays as a child.

Nicole hopes for a quiet weekend to reflect, but between her gran's new lodger, the sexy redhead Melissa, and Sally and Bud, two of Nicole's childhood friends, she is quickly roped into an evening's entertainment at the Lodge Saturday evening. Her well-meaning friends try to fix her up with a guy, and in the heat of the moment she blurts out she is a lesbian.

Havoc ensues. But in a conversation with her grandmother, Nicole begins to understand her secret hasn't been hidden as well as she thought, and she learns she isn’t the first lesbian in her family.

With the new sense of freedom that comes from being true to herself, she has only one thing to wish for, and that is to reach Katy and make amends. But is it too late?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Aug 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611528114

Nanisi Barrett D'Arnuk

Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk first published in 1996. In 2000, she and her partner were victims of a hate crime which burned their house to the ground, destroying everything. She has since rewritten her first series, The Cameron Andrews Mysteries. For more information, visit facebook.com/nanisibarrettdarnuk.

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Heat Wave: Sunapee

By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2015 Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

ISBN 9781611528114

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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For Ti.

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Heat Wave: Sunapee

By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk

It was a hot Friday in the middle of August. Actually, not just hot…it was sweltering. New Englanders aren’t prepared for this much heat, but like most Yankees, we trudge on. What good would complaining do? No one could change it.

The heat in Hartford was beyond belief for the Northeast. It would set records this weekend. In addition to that, I’d had a truly bad day: Katie had told me she was leaving me. She was moving out. She’d made plans with her friend Anne to stay there until she found a place of her own. So, I did what any red-blooded American lesbian would do: I ran away.

I’d stopped by my grandmother’s house. Well, not stopped by; more like crashed. I’d always gone to my grandmother’s if I needed to get away from something. I knew she wouldn’t ask too many questions. Oh, she’d asked some but she knew I’d talk if I wanted; if not, I wouldn’t.

I suspected that I was her favorite grandchild because I visited her more than my brother or two cousins. All four of us had stayed with her and Gramps during the summers when we were young. We played with the local kids, swam in the lake that bordered their property, and went hiking around Lake Sunapee. We’d had a wonderful time. As the oldest, I was always in charge. Of course, I loved being in charge.

When I was a teenager, I had this crush on a local boy, Bud Johnson. I couldn’t wait to go to Gran’s so I could see him. He had a crush on me, too, so we spent a lot of time together, and we sent notes and post cards to each other during the winters. I fantasized about marrying him. Of course, that was before I realized I was gay. I never told him that, though. I never told anyone.

I ended up going to the college my grandfather had gone to, The University of Hartford. My cousins went to bigger schools. My brother got married instead. He had to. He’d gotten Jenny pregnant. I wish I’d had his skill…well, luck…in seducing women.

When I graduated from college, I’d gotten a job with a local head hunter and excelled in it. I had skills I never knew about: I could match people up and sell them to each other. I loved my job. I got paid well and I enjoyed going to parties with the corporate big-wigs. They liked me, too, of course, because they didn’t know I was gay. I was very good at ‘playing the game.’ I’m not a slouch when it comes to looks so a lot of the men asked me out. I always refused. I told them that I didn’t want a work-related relationship. I didn’t tell them the real reason.

When I met Katie at a conference, I fell in love. I’d commute every weekend to New Haven to stay with her or she’d come to Hartford. We talked about finding a place halfway between so neither of us would have to drive that far, but we never did. Finally, after the distance seemed crazy,