Tio Angelo had moved to Nantucket Island three months ago, and the tail end of another season was approaching. Alexander was up to his ears in hard work. Every morning brought a different set of tasks, many of which involved the horses, the stables, and closing down parts of the hotel for the impending frigid winter. Alexander’s alarm rang at five thirty, and he charged through the day, weary in mind and body and angry that his life remained the way it was.
But he knew his father expected him to uphold the White Oak Lodge above everything.
Regarding payment, Alexander never felt he was given enough for the number of hours he worked. Benjamin made sure that a certain amount was deposited into Alexander’s account bi-weekly, but it was an amount less than Alexander might have made at a Nantucket restaurant or as a lifeguard at the local pool. Alexander suspected that Benjamin paid him so littlebecause he wanted to keep him stranded on the island. This made Tio Angelo’s proposition—that they work together in some vague way and make a great deal of money together—all the more inspiring.
But since their initial conversation, Tio Angelo hadn’t mentioned plans to work together again. Alexander felt himself lying in wait, aching to speak to his uncle about the future. Almost daily, friendless and exhausted, Alexander found himself at the edge of the Nantucket pier, watching planes flying overhead, an urgency in his chest that reminded him of how desperately he wanted to free himself from the island and get into the air. Because he saved what he could, he figured he’d be able to leave the island and set up camp elsewhere in five or six years. By then, he’d be twenty-six or twenty-seven, his life halfway over (at least, that was how it felt to him). Things were grim.
To make matters worse, Alexander noticed that Tio Angelo had taken a liking to his brother Jack. Every afternoon after Jack’s high school let him out, Tio Angelo and Jack worked together at the hotel, laughing, cracking jokes in Italian, and teasing the hotel guests. Alexander could tell from the guests’ eyes that they found Jack and Tio Angelo incredibly captivating. They probably expected that kind of treatment from Alexander. But when Alexander tried to be charming, he felt stiff and nervous. It didn’t come naturally, maybe because his heart wasn’t in it.
Once, when Alexander was cleaning out the back of the stables, using a pitchfork to scoop hay, he realized that Tio Angelo and Jack were out front, putting saddles on three horses for guests who wanted to ride. The guests weren’t here yet, so Jack and Tio Angelo could speak freely. Tio Angelo was begging Jack for details about his love life, which turned Alexander’s stomach. Wasn’t Jack only fourteen years old?
“Come on, Jack, my boy. You’d tell me if you were in love, wouldn’t you?” Tio Angelo pushed it. “You’d tell me about your girlfriend, wouldn’t you? I haven’t been in love in ages, Jacky-Boy. Being in love is the greatest. You have to go after it, Jacky. Show them what you’re made of!”
Alexander felt as though Tio Angelo was buttering his brother up for some reason. He remained still, not wanting to alert them to his presence. What was his uncle up to?
“When we get started on our operation, Jacky, we’re going to be rich,” Tio Angelo continued. “The girls won’t be able to resist you!”
Jack cackled. “You said it’ll be better than the Whitmore treasure?”
“Man, if I hear about the Whitmore treasure one more time, I’ll go crazy!” Tio Angelo cried. “I have to get my hands on it. You really don’t think it’s down there?”
Jack giggled. “Our parents don’t let us go far through the tunnels. I always wondered if it was somewhere down there. But Mom said it’s an old story.”
“Stories always come from somewhere, Jacky-Boy,” Tio Angelo said. “But you’re right. First things first, and that’s our business plan. You remember what I told you?”
“I already found a kid at school who could be good,” Jack said. “His name is Amos. I think he’s desperate for cash.”
“And aren’t we all?” Tio Angelo said. “We all need cash to get by in this world! Bring your friend Amos over. He can work at the Lodge and work for us. He’ll be raking it in. Maybe we’ll all have girlfriends by the time the year is through!”
“I definitely want a girlfriend by the time I’m fifteen,” Jack asserted. His voice was stern, as though he’d thought about it a lot and decided that not having a girlfriend was a terrible crime.
“You don’t want to be like that older brother of yours,” Tio Angelo agreed.
Alexander’s eyes widened with surprise. In the months since Tio Angelo had come to the island, he’d felt his uncle’s love for him dry up. But he hadn’t expected Tio Angelo to bad-mouth him to his little brother! What had he done to Tio Angelo to receive this treatment?
“Alexander had girlfriends in the past,” Jack said, sounding loyal.
“Sure, but now he just walks around, moping,” Tio Angelo observed. “He isn’t the kind of guy to change his life. He’ll do whatever your daddy tells him to, whenever he says.”
“He loves the Lodge,” Jack said, as though Alexander did everything for the love of that old building.
Tio Angelo sighed with fake exhaustion. Alexander flared his nostrils.
“You have to understand,” Tio Angelo said after a long time. “Your brother isn’t like us. He doesn’t go after what he wants, like we do. It’s why I don’t want to cut him into our business. Remember, when we get started, we can’t tell anyone about what we’re doing because they’ll want to take what’s ours and marginalize what we make. We have to focus. You get it?”
Jack said he did. Alexander’s heart was dark and bruised and throbbing with curiosity. But before he could reveal himself and demand answers from his uncle, the guests arrived and needed help getting on horseback. Tio Angelo put on his sweetest voice and spoke in English. Because they were distracted, Alexander was able to slip through the side door of the barn and hurry back home. Maybe he could talk to his mother and tell her that something was going on with Tio Angelo. That he had a plan, one that might endanger Jack.
But what could he possibly be up to? Alexander staggered to a halt near the porch, his hands on his hips, blinking up at the massive White Oak Lodge. The trees surrounding the property were aflame with orange and red leaves, and the air was blusteryand frigid. It was mid-September, but it might as well have been late October.
Suddenly, his mother appeared on the front porch. Always a beauty queen, she wore a fur coat and her dark hair in a twist, and she looked down at him with an air of dominance, as though she were an Italian queen. To Alexander, she was. He popped up the steps and joined her, his forearms pressed against the railing. She smoked and watched the water, and he followed her gaze. How could he tell her that her brother was a creep? She loved Angelo.
Finally, he said, “I’m worried about Jack.”
Francesca made a soft noise in the back of her throat and touched his shoulder. “Jack’s just fine. Everyone’s just fine. It’s been a long season.”
Alexander bowed his head and studied his cold fingers. All he wanted was to go upstairs and burrow himself under the covers.
“If I had it my way,” Francesca continued, “I’d close down the Lodge all winter long and hibernate. But you know your father. He wants to soak up as much money as we can all year long, no matter what it does to his family. No matter what it does to his eldest son.”
