It was during the spring of 2001 when my cousin, Dave, asked me to be the best man at his wedding. He was an only child and we also grew up as good friends. The wedding was to be in a small town in New Hampshire, where his wife-to-be, Katie, was from. The locale was so rural, that the small chain motel had no rooms left so Dave got me the keys to Katie's Uncle Jack's fishing cabin located on a lake about 15 miles out of town. As it turned out Uncle Jack had to be in Germany on business and much to his regret would miss the wedding.
On the Friday morning before the wedding I loaded my Volkswagen Golf with both my suitcase and my tuxedo on a hanger and headed north. I followed the directions that Dave had e-mailed me and after going down a dirt road finally found the cabin in the early afternoon. I located the key and let myself in. Calling it a cabin was a bit of an understatement because it was beautifully appointed albeit small. The living room had a huge stone fireplace with impressive overstuffed leather furniture. When I looked around, the bedroom had a very nice king size bed and the kitchen had all the necessities including an impressive liquor cabinet. Being this far north, the weather still had a bit of a winter chill to it so I started a fire in the fireplace, got a glass from the cupboard, and availed myself of some of Uncle Jack's bourbon.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was after 4:00 pm so I got up, went to the bathroom where I showered and shaved, and got dressed. By 5:30 I was at the church listening to the pastor give directions to everyone about the ceremony scheduled for the next day. It was not a large wedding with only me, two groomsmen, the maid of honor, and two bridesmaids. It all started at the church when I became aware that one of the bridesmaids, an exceptionally attractive woman at that whom was perhaps a year or two older than me, kept glancing in my direction. Moreover, it continued during dinner when it became even more obvious that she was flirting with me. Earlier we had been introducedβMartha was Katie's older sister, who I learned had been married for just a short time and was recently divorced.
After dinner I went back to the cabin, parked the car, and let myself in. The fire that I had started earlier had been reduced to embers so I put a couple of logs on and went back to the bedroom to change out of my suit into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. On my way back to the living room I stopped by the kitchen to pour myself another drink, but then heard a car drive up. Moments later Martha came into the cabin. "Can you believe that the motel screwed up my reservation?" she exclaimed with a certain air of dissatisfaction mixed with disgust.
"It's not that big a place so I assume that they're booked for tonight."
"Yes, they are and Uncle Jack's cabin was the only option I could think of."
"It's OK with me," I said thinking that she also knew that I knew that the cabin only had one bed.
"Great!" she said. "Let me go change, but in the meantime you can make me a drink. I'll have what you are having."
I made Martha her drink and took it into the living room. Several minutes later she joined me and was wearing a long plaid flannel bathrobe. I handed her the drink and then raised mine in a toast to Dave and Katie. We clinked glasses and took a sip.