Meet Me at the Lake

Will Baxter is Fern’s romantic interest. His character is explored through Fern’s perspective. When Will and Fern first meet at 22, Will immediately catches Fern’s interest; he’s “too pretty to look at directly” and is “Hot plus tall” (19). Young Will has shaggy hair, and he’s “lean but not skinny. Broad shouldered with a long torso” (58). He’s passionate about his art, especially his comic strip, and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. As Will reveals more of his playfulness, wisdom, and sentimentality, Fern’s attraction deepens. Will tells Fern about his mother and how he doesn’t want to be like her. He feels she acted selfishly when abandoning his family. These feelings run deep to Will’s core, impacting his life decisions. Will’s one-year plan includes focusing on art and not working nine to five or wearing a tie. It’s Will’s idea for him and Fern to meet up again in a year, but he apparently fails to show when the day finally comes.

In the present, Will has changed dramatically. He wears suits and ties, and he slicks back his hair. He’s working a high-profile job, and he hasn’t made art in years. It takes Fern a long time to trust Will after his abandonment of their plans nine years prior. Still, Will persists, making himself present for Fern and available for consulting—a job he set up with Maggie in secret with the hopes of encountering Fern again.

Though Will truly cares about Fern, he keeps his home life private from her. He initially doesn’t reveal that he is the acting father figure for his niece, Sofia. He lives with his sister, Annabel, and Sofia full time. He works the job he does because he wanted to support Annabel so she could raise Sofia in a stable environment. Will feels that having things for himself is selfish, and he fears being like his mother. As a result, he stifles his own pursuit of happiness—in this case, a relationship with Fern. Will ends up hurting Fern again because of fear.

Fern shows that she is a worthy partner for Will and helps Will resolve his concerns. She helps him realize that he can have his family and happiness by letting her into his reality. Their story ends with engagement, and in the Epilogue, Fern is pregnant with her and Will’s daughter.

Peter is the pâtissier for the Brookbanks Resort restaurant. He has worked there since Maggie was a teenager. Peter is Maggie’s best friend and Fern’s acting father-figure. In the present, Peter has a “salt-and-pepper beard, [a] propensity for plaid and [an] aversion to overt displays of emotion” (50). That said, Peter’s feelings run deep. His character is developed through Fern’s perspective of him as a father figure and through Maggie’s diary entries about their youth.

In the past-tense chapters, Fern tells Will that she always suspected and hoped Peter was her biological father. Peter “came to my soccer games, […] taught me how to drive, […] taught me the art of the perfect mixed CD” (231). Part of Fern’s anger as a teen came from the death of that dream. Additionally, Fern never knew that Peter and her mom had any romantic relationship until the present tense chapters, as she and Peter work through their shared grief together.

In Chapter 19, Peter reveals that he and Maggie had been in a complicated, pseudo-romantic relationship since Fern was 10: “I fell in love with Maggie the first day I met her” (225). Peter’s love for Maggie is evident in Maggie’s diary entries, which detail Peter’s jealousy toward Eric, Maggie’s suspicion that Peter has feelings for her, and Peter’s nurturing behavior once he learns of Maggie’s pregnancy. Fern worries that Peter never got what he wanted from Maggie, which was a full commitment, but Peter explains in Chapter 25 that marriage wasn’t what he wanted—“It was Maggie” (268). He was satisfied with the time he had with her.

Peter’s grief over Maggie is shown by how he stops playing music, which Fern recalls was a fixture of the kitchen. The music reminds Peter of his dynamic with Maggie and is too painful for him to hear. However, in Chapter 28, Fern observes Peter playing music again for the first time, showing that he’s moved on enough from his grief.