Page 76 of The Summer We Started Over

Barrett sat on the bench. Thank heavens, it was in shadow now, cooler than the other side of the wharf. She watched Paul coming back with the cold drinks. He was wearing work boots, cargo pants, and a white T-shirt. He was tall and muscular and sunburned.

“Thanks,” she told him when he handed her the iced coffee. When he had settled next to her and they had both sipped their drinks, she asked, “Why are you wearing your work boots today?”

“Because I’ve been at work.” Paul rolled his shoulders.

His very big, very handsome shoulders.

“But you’re here now?” Why couldn’t she keep her eyes off of him? When he moved his arm to drink his coffee, she saw the ropes of his veins over the swelling muscles. She wanted to put her hand on hisarm, to feel its strength, its sturdiness. She’d always thought Paul was sexy, but this felt like more.

She was confused in so many ways.

“I started work at five,” Paul told her. “I wanted to take an hour off to come see you.”

Was it hot out here? Barrett wondered.Why am I so hot?“Oh, right. To bring me your paperweights.”

After a moment, Paul agreed, “Right.”

“How is it going?” she asked. “The building, I mean.”

“Good. We’re working from sunup to sundown, with only a half hour lunch break. But I get it. Everyone wants a fancy new house on the island so they can live here for two weeks and brag about having a place on Nantucket when they’re in the city.”

“I’m amazed at how much money everyone has,” Barrett said. “The island’s changing.”

“It will be fine,” Paul said. “I grew up here. Change happens, but the island is still here. Still the island.” He changed the subject. “How are the sales at the Book Barn?”

“Slow. Still, enough books are getting sold so that Eddie can cull more from the house to put on the shelves,” Barrett said.

“Good. That’s good. Let me know if you need anything else. Like more shelves.”

“Thanks. Oh, how was the gala with Janny?” Barrett was surprised at how her pulse quickened when she mentioned his date. Was she jealous?

“It was okay. Lots of good champagne, great food.”

Barrett couldn’t keep herself from pressing, “Did you have fun with Janny?”

“I guess. She’s young. I met her brother and his date.” Paul took another swig of iced coffee. “Well, I’d met Drew before, here at your opening.”

“So,” Barrett said slowly, as if figuring out a puzzle, “you and Janny and Drew andhis date?”

“You know.” Paul turned to Barrett as he spoke. “I didn’t want to take Janny. I wanted to take you.”

Barrett sat there, confused and elated.Paul wants to be with me.

“I’m going to another gala in a few weeks,” Paul continued. “A benefit for the Nantucket Safe Harbor for Animals auction. It’s at theNantucket Yacht Club this year. Cocktails, lots of hors d’oeuvres, live music, and a silent auction. Starts at six, goes till eight. Would you come with me?”

Barrett heard herself reply almost before she thought of her answer. “I’d love to,” she said. “If Janny can’t work for me that night, I’ll close the shop.”

After Paul went back to work, Barrett was glad to be busy. Her emotions were in turmoil. Drew had taken another woman to the gala and then had picked up Barrett after the gala for a booty call? She needed to talk to Eddie. And really, she needed to talk with Drew.

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Eddie was enjoying the summer more than she’d imagined possible. She held the fort at home. She bought groceries, made crockpot mealsso anyone could eat at any time, stocked the refrigerator with watermelon, seedless grapes, and lemonade. Some evenings, she accompanied Dinah to dinner and a concert or play and on a rare occasion, she coaxed her father into going with them. She ran into old acquaintances—could she call themfriendsif she’d only been on the island for one year?—and went to their barbecue parties. Some evenings she spent with Jeff, and those were the loveliest times of all.

During July, the island reached its peak population of summer people as well as its fiercest heat. The island’s narrow and often one-way roads were crowded with Mercedes SUVs, Range Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, and every kind of van known to mankind. Summer people without helmets steered bikes in and out of traffic, disregarding stop signs, or strolled in front of moving cars as if cars didn’t exist on Nantucket. People honked, yelled, and cursed. The valiant drivers of UPS and FedEx delivery trucks rumbled along the streets without plowing into the convertibles that ignored the signs and zipped in front of them.

And yet, Eddie realized she was happy. This traffic was nothing compared to New York. Once she turned off Main Street or wentaround the rotary onto Milestone Road, she headed for secluded places, like the moors in the middle of the island. Here, the dirt paths winding between green fields were bumpy and curvy, and surrounded by heath, ivy, beach plum bushes, and flowers so small they could make a bouquet for a doll. She often ate her lunch sitting by the “Doughnut Pond,” a hidden round pond with a round island in the middle. There it was so quiet, she could hear birds calling and watch iridescent blue dragonflies flitting near her. Rare, endangered wood lilies, their orange petals speckled with black dots, grew for only a few weeks a year, mostly hidden in the high grass and blueberry bushes.

This was an area she hadn’t known about during her first year on the island. She hiked up and down the low hills, surprised at all the various shades of green and the enticing wink of blue water from small nearby ponds. This was an island of peace in the middle of Nantucket, and it spoke to her, it enchanted her.

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