Alexander was touched that his mother noticed how exhausted he was. Before he could say anything more, before he could mention what he’d heard between Tio Angelo and Jack, Francesca took a pull of her cigarette and said, “Take the rest of the day off. Go upstairs. Sleep, if you want to. Or go out. Find some people on this godforsaken island. Befriend them. Fall in love!”
Alexander was momentarily shamed. Did his mother think the same about him as his Tio Angelo? Did everyone think it was pathetic that he wasn’t dating anyone?
The reality was that he was always emotionally preparing for life after Nantucket. He didn’t want to get too close to a womanwho’d keep him on the island and force him to abandon his dreams. He’d seen that happen to numerous classmates, many of whom had their first children on the way.I’m going to go to flight school, he imagined telling his mother now. But it sounded silly and foolish and like nothing he could manage. How would he ever get out of the White Oak Lodge?
Alexander went upstairs and got into bed, cursing himself for his own weakness and telling himself that what he’d heard between Tio Angelo and Jack was just a game. Everything would be all right. More than that, he had to think about himself first.
Throughout the following nine months—from September to June—Alexander kept loose tabs on his brother and Tio Angelo’s budding relationship. It felt fishier and fishier, although Alexander couldn’t put his finger on why. During a December Christmas celebration, Alexander drank a glass of wine and sidled up next to his uncle to ask about that “budding business plan” Tio Angelo had hinted at all those months ago. To this, Tio Angelo clapped Alexander on the shoulder and said, “The position’s been filled, my boy. But we’ll check back in with you if we need you. Keep up the good work for your father. I know how much you love it!”
Alexander’s cheeks steamed with shame.
By the spring of 1996, Alexander realized that Jack’s classmate Amos was hanging around the White Oak Lodge, working and spending his breaks with Tio Angelo. They already seemed to have a better relationship than Alexander did with his uncle, which made Alexander suspicious. They were fifteen years old and entirely too chummy with that sinister man.
Something was going on. But did Alexander really want to involve himself? He checked his bank balance and counted the potential days, weeks, months, and years till he could leave for flight school. He researched flight schools at the Nantucket library and set his sights on Purdue University in Indiana. But it felt like a thousand light-years away.
But one morning toward the end of the school year, Alexander caught Jack coming out of the basement with a stuffed backpack and a furtive expression. Nobody else was in the adjoining kitchen or the hallway, and Alexander sensed that Jack had thought he wouldn’t get caught.
“Hey, Jack.” Alexander raised a single eyebrow, curious. He was on his way from his bedroom to the kitchen for a slice of toast. “What’s up downstairs?”
It was rare for any of them to go into the basement tunnels, maybe because they still thought of them as “dangerous” from all the stories their parents had told them back in the day.
“Um? I dropped something. Down there.” Jack skittered to the far end of the hallway, as though he thought Alexander would chase him.
“You dropped something down the steps?” Alexander asked. And when Jack didn’t answer, he pushed it. “What’s in your bag?”
“Books. For school.” Jack scuffed his shoulders on the hardwood and eyed the door. It was clear that whatever was in his bag was not something he’d willingly show Alexander.
Alexander imagined ripping across the space, opening Jack’s backpack by force, and causing a massive scene. He imagined his mother crying and his father yelling. Alexander slumped against the wall, too exhausted to say anything but, “Go on. Get to school.”
Jack took off, running as fast as he could for the school bus, which nearly left him behind.
But this left Alexander alone in the hallway, looking at the cracked door that led to the basement tunnels. It was impossible to know how far the tunnels went and what they contained. His guess was old supplies for the Lodge, long-lost bottles of wine, mattresses that hadn’t been slept on in years, and junk. There was so much junk that someone would have to clear out one day. Would it be Alexander? Would it be Alexander’s son?
But it was clear, somehow, that Jack knew where he’d been coming from and knew the landscape of the tunnels, as though he’d been spending real time down there.
Alexander had a bad feeling. Slowly, he pulled open the door and was grateful when the hinges didn’t scream with rust. Alexander wondered if someone had painstakingly oiled the hinges for this very purpose because they didn’t want to be caught coming and going. Did he really want to follow wherever this led? But before he knew it, he was on the steps, descending into the darkness. Far, far down the tunnel, he saw a soft orange light toward which he now walked, his heart pounding. He was almost twenty-two years old now, but against what he’d assumed would happen, it was as though everything was even more frightful. He knew too much.
Just as Alexander had assumed, many of the rooms down here seemed set aside for the storage of junk that nobody needed. He wondered how many basement rooms were filled with junk. It was like people were trying to escape their pasts by living on top of their secrets.
When he reached the light, he breathed a sigh of relief because nobody else was down here. He wasn’t sure why, but he’d pictured Tio Angelo doing something sinister. But the room was empty, save for a bunch of cardboard boxes. It was impossible to tell what had been inside them. Alexander pushed his nose into the space and breathed in, but he couldn’t smell anything.
Still, his heart pounded with a single, awful idea.Is Tio Angelo forcing my kid brother to deal drugs?
It all added up when Alexander thought about it, although he didn’t exactly have proof. He remembered how Tio Angelo had wanted to cut him in, how he’d wanted Alexander’s help on his big business idea. But maybe after a week or two of studying Alexander, he’d decided Alexander was too moral or too old or too devoted to the Lodge, or something. Perhaps he’d decided that Jack was better suited to the role because he had access to the high school and was younger and therefore looked less threatening. Alexander’s pulse quickened. He needed to tell Tio Angelo he knew what he was up to.
Alexander cut the light and hurried back upstairs. Jack, Charlotte, and Nina were all off to school, while his sisters Allegra and Lorelei were working the front desk of the Lodge, greeting guests and directing them to the breakfast room. Alexander hurried to the desk and muttered to Allegra, “Do you know where Tio Angelo is?”
Allegra snorted. “Do I look like I know where Tio Angelo is?”
Lorelei interjected, “I think I saw him go out to the stables.”
Alexander gave Allegra a pointed look. “Thank you, Lorelei.”
Alexander sped through the rainy morning to the stables, his heart pounding. He couldn’t fathom what he’d say to Tio Angelo when he found him. Something threatening and alarming was needed to force Tio Angelo to stop working with his brother. Maybe he could say something so sinister that Tio Angelo would be frightened of him and head back to Italy.We don’t want you here! Go back where you came from!
Alexander stormed into the stables, pulsating with adrenaline. He found Tio Angelo speaking with his father, his hands on his hips, using purely English because it was easier for Benjamin that way. They were talking about repairs needed to the stables. It felt like the hotel was constantly trying to fallapart, like the Whitmore family had to tend to every nook and cranny to keep it upright. Sometimes Alexander wondered what would happen if they all gave up at the same time. Would the hotel crumble?
“Alexander,” Benjamin said when he noticed him, “have you had a look at the garden by the pool? It’s a mess.”
