Summary

They met almost twenty years ago, when Alice was twenty-two and Sam sixteen. Theirs was a loving relationship, intense and full of excitement—and hope. But in their small community, the age difference shocked friends, neighbors, and, especially, Alice's parents, who were still wringing their hands over Alice's recent emotional breakdown and hospitalization.

The death of a friend brings Alice and Sam back to their hometown to pay their respects. Alice delivers a moving eulogy, a stressful moment given the grief she has been carrying for much of her adult life: the loss of Sam, a promising classical music career, the recent death of her husband, and the secret she has never shared with anyone.

After the funeral, Sam invites Alice to meet with him the next day. On a bench beside the lake where they often sat together years before, he asks for answers.  Was her marriage a happy one? Did her four sons look after her?  Was she happy now? And why did she abruptly leave him when they were so deeply in love?

Alice tries to answer his questions as honestly as she can to him and to herself. But as far as her secret is concerned, she asks herself if this is, finally, the time to reveal it.