Page 45 of A Nantucket Wedding

Noah didn’t like her to phone him at work, so she waited until he came home to talk to him about Nantucket. As usual, he didn’t get home until the children were in bed, but she had kept his dinner warm. She sat at the table with him, sipping a mug of green tea, when she brought up the idea.

“This weekend?” Noah said. “Sorry. Can’t.”

“Oh, sweetie, you work so hard. It would do you good to have a little fun in the sun.”

Noah took another bite of his macaroni and cheese with lobster—one of his favorite meals. He sipped some wine. “I thought I’d put it on the calendar. I guess I forgot. Ingrid’s birthday is Saturday, and we’re taking her out to dinner.”

Felicity bit her tongue. After a moment, she said, “Oh, well, then I should stay home, too. I’ll get a babysitter.”

“No need. Spouses aren’t invited.”

“Spouses aren’t invited,” Felicity echoed. “Why not?”

“Because you all would be miserable and bored while we make inside jokes and talk about work. You and the other wives shouldn’t come. You don’tgetwhat we do. You don’t understand how important it is.”

“But Ido—”

“And I’m aware that you don’t like Ingrid, so why would you even want to attend her birthday party?”

“I’ve never been unpleasant to Ingrid!”

“No, but it’s clear that you don’t like her.” Noah leaned forward. “Be honest.Doyou like her?”

Felicity toyed with her mug. “All right, fine. I don’t. Because she’s a woman who gets to spend so much time with you. More time than I get most weeks.” She looked up at Noah. “I guess I’m jealous.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Felicity waited for her husband to elaborate, to tell her there was no kind of competition at all, but Noah simply finished his meal, tossed back the last drop of his wine, and set his napkin on the table.

“Noah, stop.” Felicity seldom spoke this way to her husband. “Don’t dismiss what I’m saying. I don’t mean I’m worried about you doing anything…romantic…with her. I mean that the children hardly ever get to spend time with you.Ihardly get to spend time with you.”

“You shouldn’t be jealous, Filly,” Noah said, and his voice was softer. “Ingrid is a workhorse, and that’s all. She’s also a stockholder, so she has a lot to gain if we can get this off the ground and go public. The time I spend with her is all about work. You know,I’ve told you,these first few years will be crucial. Nothing less than saving the planet is at stake here.”

Felicity bit her lip so she wouldn’t smile. She loved Noah, she admired and adored him for his idealistic goals. At the same time, she found him slightly, maybe even embarrassingly, naïve. Noah took several science-oriented magazines, and from time to time Felicity read an article. She learned that he was not the only scientist working on “green food,” and certainly not the most highly esteemed. She learned that the problems facing the future needed more than green food for the planet to be saved.

But after all, what did she really know? Noah attended a great many scientific conferences. He had to be as aware of his competition as she was. She knew she should prop him up, not bother him with minor issues.

“You’re right, Noah. I do understand. But I wonder—couldn’t you come to the island some weekend? I’ve read that a vacation is helpful, even necessary. It allows the mind to rest and reboot. You haven’t had a vacation for months.”

Noah sighed. “Yes, I’ve read about that, too. You’re right. Look, I’ll try to clear off a weekend later this summer.”

“Oh, Noah, thank you!” Felicity moved around the table to embrace Noah.

“Look,” he said, pushing her away, “calm down. It’s not definite yet. And I need a shower and bed. I’m beat.”

“Of course,” she said. And she removed her arms from around his shoulders, and began to take his dishes to the sink.

fourteen

Saturday morning, as Alison boarded the ten-seater plane from Boston to Nantucket, she gave the other passengers a quick glance, wondering if she knew any of them. And wondering if any one of them flying to the daydream island was as cranky about it as she was.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like people; she did. She loved her daughters, in spite of their occasional tendency to squabble. She adored her grandchildren. She felt real affection for Ethan, who wasn’t coming this time, and she enjoyed Poppy’s husband, Patrick, who was coming. She was fond of Poppy’s two children, but she was nervous about any interaction with Poppy herself, because David hadn’t yet found the time to discuss his will with Poppy. Felicity’s husband wasn’t coming, and Alison knew Felicity was sad about that, especially because Jane’s husband was coming. But Alison was glad she’d have some time with Scott, who’d always seemed a bit aloof. Maybe she’d get to know him better this weekend.

Really, she was just a bit angry with David for making her face this weekend alone. He claimed the necessities of work, and when Alison had asked, reasonably and pleasantly, whyPoppywasn’t doing the work, David had simply replied, “Exactly.”

Alison felt like her life had become a chessboard with the pieces all tossed up into the air, landing in incomprehensible patterns.

Then she saw the island, an emerald jewel set in the sapphire sea. Each time she flew in, she was mesmerized by the sight of the shoals extending out from the island, and the three lighthouses, and the harbor where sailboats clustered. A ferry was slowly pulling away from the island and into the deeper waters on its way to the mainland.

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