Page 92 of Summer Light on Nantucket

Teddy didn’t look at her, but she could see how his face brightened. How he got it that she trusted him to take care of himself. How she didn’t see him as a baby anymore.

She heard him thud up the stairs to the children’s bathroom.

He would be fine. Thank heavens Azey had been there.

Now, what had she been doing before Teddy came home? Blythe’s mind had become like one of those Escher staircases that never go anywhere. She was accustomed to being spontaneous in the summer, but this summer was more complicated than usual. Celeste, Teri, Miranda, Brooks, Teddy, Nick, Aaden.

Aaden.

Oh, what a puzzle. It was exhausting.

She went to her bedroom, took a shower, put on a sundress, and called to check on Celeste. Kate told her Celeste was still sleeping. Blythe offered to take her place to give Kate a break. Kate politely refused. Teddy had gone, leaving a scribble on the blackboard:Kayaking maybe.Daphne was on a nature walk.

Holly had fallen asleep in front ofLoud House.

Blythe went out to the back porch and settled on the wicker swing, curled up with a pillow behind her back and a novel in her hand. She couldn’t concentrate. She worried about Teddy. She worried about Celeste. She worried about Miranda. She even worried about Teri. Bob used to criticize her for what he called “pre-worrying” about things that hadn’t happened yet.

Focus,she told herself. She needed to center her mind. She should prepare for teaching in this technological age. She opened her phone and read about common changes in grammar and punctuation. When she read the example of why commas were needed, she laughed.

Let’s eat Grandma.

Let’s eat, Grandma.

When Nick returned to the island, he called Blythe.

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“Let’s drive out to Great Point,” he suggested. “Boston is so hot and humid and the traffic is jammed and everyone’s cranky. I want fresh air.”

Blythe agreed and packed up a cooler of food and drink and a tote filled with beach towels and sunblock.

He picked her up in his Bronco and headed out to Wauwinet. They stopped at the Trustees of Reservations’ gatehouse to let air out of the tires and trundled past the handsome Wauwinet hotel and onto the soft sandy road leading to Coskata and Coatue. The farther they went, the wilder it got, the landscape swept clean of buildings, the ground thick with beach grass growing next to beach roses twined with poison ivy. The air was sweet and as clear as crystal.

Nick gunned the engine when they arrived at the steep dune dividing ocean from harbor. They flew up the hill and suddenly they were at the end of the world. All they could see in any direction was dazzling ocean and deserted sand. A long stretch of beach extended for miles over the narrow slip of land leading to Great Point, where Nantucket Sound met the Atlantic Ocean in a great clash of waves. Gulls swooped and argued, and oystercatchers, tiny manic birds with long orange beaks, scurried back and forth at the water’s edge.

Blythe said, “Welcome to heaven.”

Nick grinned and focused on keeping the bucking Bronco fixed in the tracks already cut into the deep sand. The closer they came to the point of land where the tall white lighthouse stood, the more seals they saw in the water. Along the shore, fishermen were casting their lines. Finally, they followed the curve of sand to a calmer stretch of beach and Nick brought the Bronco to a stop.

“That was a crazy ride!” Blythe said. “You were really wrestling with the steering wheel. You deserve a beer and a sandwich.”

Nick turned toward her. “Sounds good.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt and moved closer to him. He wore aT-shirt and board shorts and had impressive muscles everywhere, and as he undid his seatbelt, a giant wave of desire crashed over her. Her eyes met his and he reached out to pull her to him, and they kissed.

His stomach rumbled and they both laughed.

“I am so hungry,” he admitted. “I’ve had nothing but coffee so far. I was in too much of a hurry to get here.”

“I’ve got lots of food for you,” Blythe told him. She was glad his stomach had rumbled, interrupting what was almost the best kiss she’d ever had in her life, because she wasn’t ready for more than a kiss, especially not out here with bros in trucks racing past and families gathered together having cookouts on the beach nearby.

They spread the blanket near the water. Blythe handed out sandwiches, chips, and iced tea, with chocolate chip cookies in a Tupperware bowl and red grapes in another. The breeze was perfect today, just enough to cool them off and tease the edge of the blanket, but not so strong it blew sand in their food.

“We’ve got company.” Blythe pointed to a group of seals who had stationed themselves in the water right in front of them. As they watched, the waves rolled, bobbing the animals up and down.

“What’s a group of seals called?” Nick asked.

“My favorite name for that is abobof seals.”

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