“Damn, that’s awful,” Nick said. “Poor Sheila. Wow. That’s, like, epic.”

  On a TV above the bar, a baseball game was in progress.

  “Who’s your team?” Nick asked.

  Wyatt was shocked that Nick would jump immediately from the accident to a baseball game, but then Wyatt had come to learn that Nick liked skating on the surface of life. Plus, Wyatt had moved fast from the accident to making love with Ariel, and now she was mad at him. What they said was right: Men and women were different. They watched the game and ordered another beer.

  “I want to play polo someday,” Nick was saying. “I can sit a horse pretty well and I’m good at hockey, so when I get rich enough to do it, I’m going to try. What about you?”

  Wyatt laughed. Nick was such a prick. Polo. “I’ve ridden a lot, in Missouri. Friends have horses and I go out with them. Quarter horses. Western saddles. Sometimes guns in case we come across rattlers.” Wyatt was trying to sound as Midwestern as he could, because Nick was all about being continental, and he knew this would irritate Nick.

  Four young men entered the bar. They wore button-down shirts with the tails hanging out over their madras shorts, loafers without socks, Rolex watches, and fifty-dollar haircuts. They were tanned and handsome and laughing, and Wyatt hated them on sight. They were such a type.

  And what a surprise. They knew Nick.

  “It’s the Nickster!” one of them yelled.

  They surrounded Nick in a swarm of arrogance, pounding his back, shouting everything they said, ignoring everyone else. Finally, Nick introduced Wyatt to them, and they all found a waitress who pushed two tables together for them.

  “I went to school with these guys,” Nick told Wyatt.

  “Where’d you go to school?” a man asked Wyatt.

  “University of Missouri,” Wyatt said, knowing what was coming.

  “Missouri? What’s that? Is that a place?”

  “Do they serve that as a drink?” a guy asked.

  Much laughter and back-pounding took place. Wyatt knew they weren’t trying to be rude, but by the time the drinks were served, and then the nachos, he was tired of them. They were obnoxiously loud, as if trying to call attention to themselves, to their wealthy, tanned, private club selves. Nick got into an animated discussion with them about a teacher they’d all had who had just retired, and Wyatt tossed back his third beer, or maybe it was his fourth.

  “Excuse me, guys. See you later.” He slipped away from the group, and no one tried to stop him.

  * * *

  —

  He walked slowly through the small town. It was a hot August night and people were out having fun. On Easy Street by the harbor, a couple sat on a bench kissing passionately. Lucky kids. Wyatt knew he was being an asshole, he knew it was the heat and craziness of August that was throwing him off, but he couldn’t stop brooding over Ariel refusing to make love with him. She’d told him she loved him, she would marry him, but she wouldn’t have sex with him. Okay, this morning after she told him about the accident, he had moved too quickly, wanting to have sex, but wasn’t that one way people consoled each other when they heard about a death?

  Whatever. He didn’t like himself much, and right now he was enjoying a good sulk. He shut himself in his basement room, took the latest Marine and Petroleum Geology journal, and lay on his bed, reading. Soon his emotions disappeared as his mind disappeared into the mysterious solace of science.

  twenty

  This Summer

  “Look,” Liam said.

  Penny was bent over her iPhone, checking for messages. She sensed that the boat had stopped moving. When Liam spoke, she rose to look toward the west.

  “Ohhhh,” she said, enchanted.

  “That’s Boston,” Liam told her. “We won’t enter her harbor. Too crowded right now. But I wanted you to see it.”

  The sun shone down on the towers of the city, a long cluster of skyscrapers seeming to rise from the water. Boats were entering and exiting the harbor. Majestic cruise ships were slowly moving forward among small sailboats, their white sails skimming the blue.

  “It looks like a golden city,” Penny said.

  “It does.”

  “It’s magic.” Penny couldn’t look away.

  “I thought you’d like it.”

  Liam put his hands around Penny’s waist and she leaned against him. For a long time, they stood together. Occasionally, Liam would point out a building that blazed in the sun’s light. The tall, blue-glass-windowed Hancock building. The historic Boston Custom House Tower with its clock and triangular peak. The glittering windows of commerce.

  “I’m in heaven,” Penny said.

  “Just wait until I prepare your breakfast,” Liam told her.

  She settled on the deck, watching the ever-changing view, and Liam prepared scrambled eggs and bacon and brought them to her.

  “With service like this,” she joked, “I may never go home.”

  “I hope you don’t,” Liam said.

  She knew she couldn’t take him seriously. And really, she didn’t want to.

  Later, he told her to watch her head while he came about, so that the long wooden boom didn’t hit her. The sail billowed with air, Liam turned the wheel and adjusted the sheets, and slowly they sailed south, returning to Nantucket. Penny washed their dishes in his dollhouse kitchen sink, then returned to the deck. Now she took pictures without hesitation, photos of the coast, and the sun on the water, and Liam, tall and suntanned and handsome.

  Liam pointed. “See that land in the south? We’re near the tip of Cape Cod.”

  “Oh.” Penny shook her head. “Almost back.”

  Liam recognized the yearning in her voice. “We could drop the anchor and go below.”

  She turned to him, put her arms around him, and smiled up at him. “Yes, please.”

  After they made long, slow, lingering love, they lay curled together in the bunk.

  Penny asked, “Could we have dinner, on land, tonight?”

  Liam shifted slightly, but kept his arms around her. “I’ve got to be in Newport this evening. Maybe another night.”

  “Ah.” Her disappointment made her brave enough to ask, cheerfully, “Are you the man with a girl in every port?”

  Liam was quiet. Then he said, “I don’t have to be.”

  “We leave tomorrow,” Penny told him.

  “Do you have to?” Liam asked.

  Penny blinked. “Maybe not. Maybe I could stay on the island for the summer…I could get a job…”

  Liam gently put his thumb beneath Penny’s chin and tilted her face up so she could meet his eyes.

  “You should get a job. You should stay on the island.”

  * * *

  —

  Friday morning, Jade-Marie and Jason came down the corridor from their rooms and met at the elevator.

  “Hi,” Jade-Marie said, sounding, she thought, way too chirpy. That was how she felt, though. Penny was gone, leaving Jade-Marie and Jason alone, the only two newbies. Jade-Marie thought she looked good in her tiny polka-dot pink-and-white dress and flip-flops. Her dark hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. Her face was bronzed by the sun.

  “Hi,” Jason croaked. He wore board shorts and a rugby shirt and flip-flops. He hadn’t shaved yet, and the second-day beard looked good on him. “You look nice.”

  “Thanks,” Jade-Marie said. “You look…”

  “Like I need a shower,” Jason admitted. “I promise I’ll take one after I have breakfast.”

  The elevator door opened. Jade-Marie stepped inside. Jason joined her. And there they were, only two of them, alone in the small space.

  “I’m glad you’ll be here all summer,” Jade-Marie told him.

  Jason smiled. “I’m glad you’ll be here all summer, too.”

  “There are lots of fun things to do on the island,” Jade-Marie said, and started to apologize for sounding so lame.

  Jason interrupted her. “I can’t wait.” He stepped close to her, close enough to kiss. “I mean it. I—”

  The doors slid smoothly open. Jade-Marie and Jason stepped out, grinning.

  They walked together to the bistro bar and piled their plates high with scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit. And coffee. Jason almost inhaled his. They sat next to each other at the empty table.

  “Maybe we should go swimming this morning,” Jade-Marie said. “Just the two of us. I mean, Penny is off sailing with Liam.”

  “Good idea,” Jason said.

  The elevator pinged. The door slid open. Jade-Marie’s parents came toward the long table of breakfast foods.

  “Good morning, chérie.” Francine kissed the top of Jade-Marie’s head. “Good morning, Jason.”

  “I’ve got good plans for today,” Nick said. “I’ll wait until your parents come down, Jason, to announce them. You kids might want to go with us.”

  “Dad, I think Jason and I will just hit the beach,” Jade-Marie said.

  Her father frowned. The elevator pinged again and Jason’s parents arrived.

  “Good morning, sweetie,” Ariel said, kissing his cheek.

  His father didn’t say a word to Jason. Clearly, Wyatt was still furious about Jason’s decision to work on the island this summer. Jason watched the way his mother fluttered around her husband, bringing him a napkin and extra little plastic cups of syrup for his pancakes. Wyatt showed the intensity of his anger by going Antarctica cold. It seemed that his father lowered the temperature in the room simply by being there.

  “Okay, troop!” Nick said cheerily. “The plan for the day is to go to Tuckernuck. For you young ones, Tuckernuck is a small island to the west of Nantucket. It’s really natural, environmentally pure, trees, grasses, deer, great beaches, and a lagoon. You all will be some of the very few people in the world ever to set foot there.”

  “I don’t think I want to go to Tuckernuck,” Francine said. “The Nantucket Historical Association is giving tours of the most famous old houses on the island, built by whaling captains, furnished with gorgeous antiques. Maybe you’d like to go with me, Ariel? And Jade-Marie, too? The men can go tromp through the bushes and use up some of their testosterone.”

  “Do we need tickets?” Ariel asked.

  “We can get them at the door. Then we can go out to the Summer House in ’Sconset for lunch. It’s on the water. The climbing roses will be everywhere on the small cottages. After that, maybe pedis and manis? I’ll call Sheila and ask if she wants to join us.”

  Jade-Marie spoke up. “Jason and I are going to have a beach day.”

  “Well!” Ariel said.

  “Ooh-la-la!” Francine said, laughing. Nick looked crestfallen. “All right, Wyatt. Want to go to Tuckernuck?”

  Wyatt said, “Absolutely.”

  * * *

  —

  Sheila lay in blissful silence in her room, drinking a Diet Coke and eating several candy bars she’d bought from a machine yesterday. The sun was so bright it hurt her eyes, but she was too comfortable to get up and pull the heavy curtains closed.

  But really, she should get up.

  Or not.

  This was the rarest of times, being absolutely alone, with no household duties to perform, no sons to root for at some sort of ball game, not even a daughter to attend to. She hoped Penny was having a good time with Liam. She really did. Now that she’d had a night to sleep on it, she understood how romantic Penny’s adventure was. Sailing alone with that handsome Irishman? Penny would remember it all of her life.

  Sheila’s friends had warned her that she worried too much, but how could she not? She was raising four children in a difficult world. And it was unsettling to be here, where she’d once worked as a chambermaid, and now was the guest of a man who owned a chain of hotels. She liked the other women, although Francine was still a snob. Jade-Marie seemed nice enough, especially for a child with Nick’s genes.

  Sheila had wakened this morning and made a decision. Today she would spend in bed. She’d doze and watch television and eat like a teenager. She had this lovely, beautifully furnished, private hotel room wrapped around her like her own personal fort.

  She could rest.

  Her phone rang. Sheila wasn’t going to answer it, and then she thought: Penny! She had to rise from the bed and dig her phone out of her purse. The caller ID named Francine. She let the message go to voicemail.

  * * *

  —

  That afternoon, as they arrived back at the hotel, Wyatt was in an unusually good mood. He’d enjoyed the outing more than he’d expected to, and felt tanned and toned after their expedition through the high grasses.

  Most important, as they were in the Jeep riding back to the hotel, Wyatt’s phone had buzzed. One of his interns had figured out the problem they’d been having with the computerized printout of an experiment with a specimen of a geologic deposit. It would take a few days to resolve, and by the time Wyatt returned to the lab, it would be ready.

  “Listen,” Wyatt said. “I want to treat us all to dinner tonight. I’m going to make a reservation for all of us at, what, seven-thirty? Eight? Let’s go to Dune. Their menu looks interesting and we can sit outside if we want.”

  Nick said, “That sounds great, Wyatt. Thanks.”

  A few minutes later, Wyatt said, “Reservations made. Seven-thirty. I’ll text everyone.”

  * * *

  —

  Sheila stepped out of the shower, pulling on the thick white terrycloth robe as steam billowed around her. Just as she entered her bedroom, a knock came on the door. She looked out the small peephole.

  “Penny! You’re back!” Sheila threw the door open. “Come in. Tell me everything!”

  Penny was radiant. “The trip was wonderful, Mom. Liam is wonderful.”

  “I want to hear all about it, but first I have to tell you that we’re all going to dinner tonight at Dune. Wyatt is taking us.”

  “That’s nice,” Penny said. “I’ll have time to shower, won’t I?”

  “Yes, but quickly, do you like Liam?”

  “Oh, Mom, I like him a lot.” Penny followed her mother over to the mirror where Sheila was brushing her hair.

  “Ask him to join us for dinner,” Sheila suggested, wondering which dress she should wear.

  “He’s going on to Newport tonight.” Penny sat on the end of the bed.

  “So, you’ll never see him again,” Sheila concluded. She walked across the room, sat on the bed, and hugged her daughter. “It’s all right, darling. There are lots of fish in the sea.”

  “I’m sure I’ll see him again. I’m going to get a job on Nantucket and he’ll be back and forth.”

  Sheila felt a twinge of anxiety, remembering her summer experience. Still, she said, “Summer loves are so sweet.”

  Penny groaned. “It’s not a summer love, Mom, and it’s not like love. It’s not serious. I’m not going to tie myself to a husband and children so soon. I want to explore, live my life.”

  “I understand, Penny, but let me warn you. Summer loves are often life-changing.” Sheila paused, wondering if she should tell Penny about Frank.

  “Well, this summer love isn’t changing my life,” Penny announced. “He’s wonderful, but I’m young.”

  “When I was your age, I had a summer love,” Sheila began.

  “Of course you did,” Penny said carelessly. “I’m hungry. I’d better go shower and change. What time is dinner?”

  Sheila relaxed. “We’re meeting downstairs at six-thirty.”

  * * *

  —

  All of them, five parents and three adult children, sat at the long table at the back of Dune’s patio. It was the perfect summer night, warm and slightly humid as fog drifted onto the land from the warm evening sea. Everyone except Sheila was glowing from the day’s sun, and Sheila, even with her creamy-white skin, was bright-eyed and rosy from the day’s rest.

  The excellent cocktails and food had kept them happy and talkative. Nick described the men’s hike over the small wild island of Tuckernuck as if he were Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel. Francine raved about the décor of the house tours, the vases and chinoiserie wallpaper inspired by the whalers’ visits to the Pacific.

  As they were finishing their desserts, Ariel said, “Hey, everyone, remember Hump Night?”

  “Hump night?” Jade-Marie repeated.

  “Not in that way,” Ariel replied. She was a little tipsy after all the cocktails and wine and champagne. “That’s what the four of us called it when we were working here. Because it meant the work week was half over. Everyone uses that expression now.”

  “Oh, I remember,” Sheila said. “Back then, Nick’s hotel looked nothing like it does now. It was under renovation so there were only a few rooms on the ground floor with lights and electricity, like Sharon Waters’s office. We scavenged a table and every Wednesday night the four of us ate dinner there.”

  Ariel added, “We alternated cooking. Men versus women. Obviously, Sheila and I made delicious dinners. The men heated up beans and franks from cans. I’m not sure they ever served anything green.”

  Jade-Marie laughed. “It seems you all survived that summer nicely.”

  Francine asked, “Penny, tell us, how was your trip with Liam?”

  Penny blushed. “It was perfect. From the water, Boston looks magical.”

  Jade-Marie grinned. “And was Liam magical?”

  Penny absolutely did not want to talk about sex in front of her parents, so she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind. “Liam is nice. But he had an odd childhood. When he was a little boy, he was on Nantucket, riding in a car with his father and mother, and his dad’s car and another car ran into each other. His father died.”