Page 77 of Summer Light on Nantucket

Blythe laughed. “I’ll bet she can.” She knew what he was trying to do. Once, if he’d mentioned Jessica, Blythe would have gone wild. Now, not even one small drop of jealousy stung her, and that made her sad.

“Aaden. I’m sorry, but I really need to get some sleep.”

He nodded. “I do, too. I have the key to Arnie’s, but I hate to wake him…”

Blythe stood up. “You can’t sleep here. We’ve got a full house.”

Aaden rose. He smiled down at her, his eyes teasing. “Not even the sofa?”

“Not even the sofa,” Blythe told him.

For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, or try to, but she walked away from him, down the hall to the front door.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said.

“Good night, Aaden.” She shut the door.

bothersome bodies

It was light outside when her phone pinged. She answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Where are you?” Bob demanded.

Blythe pulled herself up to a sitting position.

“In my house, Bob,” Blythe croaked. “Where are you?”

“We’re at the airport. Kate said you would pick us up.”

“Kate said that? All right, I can do that, but it would be quicker if you took a cab to the hospital.”

Bob’s voice was harsh. “You mean this is too inconvenient for you to do even if it’s for Celeste?”

“Why can’t Kate pick you up? I’ve got the kids here.”

“Miranda’s seventeen. I think they can survive a few minutes without you.”

“Why are you being so cranky?”

“Because I’m frightened for my mother.”

It all came back in a rush: Celeste was in the hospital. Why was she even arguing? “Fine. I’ll be right there.”

She gave herself a minute to shower and slip into a clean sundress. She wrote, in large letters, on the chalkboard:I’M GOING TO THE HOSPITAL TO SEE GRANDMOTHER. CALL ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING.

She quietly left her house, stopping for one luxurious moment to breathe in the new morning air. Birds chirped and rustled in the trees. Her willowy cosmos stood tall and cheerful, with their slender stems and colorful petals. Down the street, carpenters were already working up on the roof of someone’s home.

At the small island airport, Bob and Teri waited on the edge of the sidewalk. Blythe slowed the car. Bob got into the passenger seat and Teri sat in the back with their two duffel bags.

“How is she?” Bob asked.

For a moment, Blythe felt caught in a time warp as her ex-husband’s familiar voice asked the question he’d asked so many times over the years.

How is she?When Miranda, at six months, had colic and cried constantly. Blythe had cried a lot, too.

When two-year-old Daphne put an eraser up her nose and Blythe had to take her to the doctor, afraid if she tried to get it out herself, she’d only push it farther in and their daughter would need an operation to extract it.

When Teddy, at a Little League baseball game, got hit in the head with a ball and developed an enormous lump on his forehead, as wounded and proud as if he’d won the baseball game single-handedly.

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