Lakeside Park

But he'd left me that option. He'd left me a way to leave Lakeside Park as Mrs. Roth, HOA lady and town ambassador, so I could go home to my comfortable house and my shattered marriage and my life of lies. He'd given me the chance to go back, to save face, to forget I'd been turned on when he called me a MILF and said I was hot and kissed my stomach.

I should have been grateful, but I was...

I was disappointed.

Slowly, very slowly, I started to smile, and then had to press my lips together to stifle a laugh, and when that wasn't enough, clapped a hand over my mouth.

Lakeside Park held so many memories. It was the place where my marriage began to have its downfall at that birthday all those years ago. It was a place I'd spent time with my daughter before she hated me. I'd laughed with friends and had picnics and enjoyed the little slice of nature in the middle of town. It was the place of so many memories that I couldn't even remember all of them.

It was also the place I tried to keep perfect against its will. The place I'd watched from my window, the place I'd sent cops time after time to clear away people who weren't playing by my rules. And it never worked, did it? It never stopped people like Justin from returning, from rolling their eyes as someone told them to move along. It never stopped being a place of memories, even if those memories didn't fit the little box of perfection I thought they should.

Justin was giving me the option to be Mrs. Roth again, but he hadn't needed to. I didn't want to be her. I had almost wanted the officer to discover me, to see me lying on my back on that table with Justin, living my life and breaking out of the box I'd placed myself in. I wanted to be discovered so I didn't have to be Mrs. Roth anymore, and didn't that just say everything?

I would always be the person who wanted my little town to be beautiful, safer, and more welcoming. I loved Minwack Falls and I loved what it represented, even if it wasn't what I had. But I was not going to be the woman who stayed with a husband who didn't love her. I was not going to let my daughter see the woman I'd become and risk having her follow those footsteps. I was not going to let her learn that it was okay to be unhappy.

In fact, I was going to learn from her.

The memory of Ramona running across the street in the rain, naked as the day she was born and gleefully giggling with someone who I had to at least hope had slightly stronger morals than his mother, swam into my mind. I swallowed hard, then wriggled out from under the tree.

So she'd been naked. So she'd been running across the street in a storm. So she'd had sex in her car and hopefully had used a condom though it wasn't really my place to lecture her about that since I had just had unprotected sex with a total stranger.

So she'd been happy, and I could be, too.

I stood up, drawing my shoulders back and holding my clothing against my hip. I brushed the leaves and dirt and twigs from my skin, glanced around the clearing, and then began to march towards the path.

It was time to be Liz again. It was time to show the world who I was, and what I could do, and that I didn't need Scott for any of it. I was the HOA lady, the town MILF, and the badass bitch who was going to walk down the street to my house completely naked, completely untouchable, completely in control of myself and my life and the world around me. I was Liz Roth and I could do anything.

At least, I could until I whimpered in terror and froze at the exit of the clearing, shaking like a leaf until I hurriedly tugged my clothing on with my face so red that I swore it was glowing in the darkness.

Once I had covered myself, I took a shaky breath. Maybe walking home naked was a little too much, but that was okay. It would take a little time and a lot of work, but I was going to be happy.

After all, it was the second-best time to plant my tree.

**

Special thanks to norafares, chasten, and OneAuthor for proof-reading, as well as all the amazingly awesome people who beta read. Paul M, Kevin Matheny, centralsquareguy, KW, AG, PM, N, K, ED, KJ, MidNyt, and RP - thank you all for your support.

This story is part of the When The Lights Go Out universe but is also further connected to two companion pieces. If you enjoyed this story, you may also enjoy Save World Get Girl and Lips of an Angel (coming September 2021).

Thank you for reading!