Page 20 of Summer Light on Nantucket

“Can adults attend?” Celeste asked.

“If they want,” Nick answered, and he looked back at Blythe.

“I’m not attending,” Hugh said. “My summer’s already booked.”

Sandy nudged Hugh. “Right. Golf. Tennis. Sailing.”

Hugh extended his arm over the back of Sandy’s chair in a playful hug. “You’ve reserved me for plenty of your evening activities. Cocktails. Dances. Parties.”

How lucky they are,Blythe thought, watching her friend and her husband talk.

“Isyoursummer booked?” Nick asked. He looked at her as if she were the only person in the room.

Inside her torso, just above her belly button, those chemicals were still fizzing around, ricocheting off her heart. They made Blythe coo, “Well, I know I’m going to attend a concert.” She sounded so flirtatious, she shocked herself. She reined herself in. “I mean, Sandy probably told you, I’ve got four children to feed and chauffeur, so that will keep me busy.”

“Maybe you can find some time to show me the island,” Nick said.

“I’d like that. But won’t Hugh be showing you around? You’re staying with the Greens, right?”

“I am. But Hugh’s island will be different from your island. I mean, we each have our own versions of the island.”

“I hadn’t thought of it quite that way,” Blythe said. If she leaned any closer to Nick, she’d fall right into his lap. She straightened. “I do have some favorite spots.” She blushed.Did that sound sexual?Because for the first time in months—years!—she felt sexually awake. “How long will you be here?”

“I hope to come back often. I live in a suburb of Boston, so I can come and go whenever I want.”

He had long eyelashes, the sort of eyelashes women always said should belong to a girl. He had a cowlick at the back of his head. Why were cowlicks so adorable?

“Let me give you my phone number,” Nick said. “And if you’ll give me yours, we can make some plans.”

“Good idea.” Now she knew she was blushing. When was the last time a man asked for her number? She reached into her small evening clutch and took out her phone.

“Give me yours and I’ll add my number.”

As they exchanged phones, their hands brushed. Blythe knew she was glowing like a candle.I have to stop smiling,she thought.

But she couldn’t stop smiling.

At her side, Celeste straightened in her chair, placing her napkin on the table. “I’m sorry to cut the evening short, but I need an early bedtime tonight.” She rose. “Sandy and Hugh, it’s great to see you again. Nick, I’m pleased to meet you. I hope you’ll come by the house often.”

Nick rose. “It’s been a pleasure.”

“A pleasure,” Blythe echoed, smiling.

The others at the table rose with Celeste.

Blythe pulled herself together. “Celeste, we’ll walk you out.”

Blythe strolled arm in arm with Celeste from the dining room into the large foyer with its walls hung with bulletin boards packed with sign-up sheets for doubles tennis and posters about the first summer dance.

They spotted Holly sitting by herself in one of the puffy navy-blue armchairs in the foyer.

“Everyone else went into town,” Holly said. “Carolyn had to go home with her family. I guess I want to go home, too.”

Celeste said, “Rose Waterstone’s over there. I’ll chat with her a little before I walk home.” She kissed Blythe’s cheek. “That was a nice turn of events, don’t you think?”

“It was a lovely evening,” Blythe said.

“And I haven’t seen you glow like that for a long time.” Celeste bent to hug Holly. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

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