“I should ask my grandma,” Noah said, almost more to himself than to me. “She should know.”
“She certainly seemed more willing to talk about it than your grandfather was.”
“And maybe it wasn’t an heirloom,” Noah said. “But maybe, if he bought it for Ruth, if it was expensive, he still thought he could take it back if they weren’t going to be together.”
“Maybe,” I said. I wanted to follow up and say,And maybe they were lying,because part of meknewthe necklace had belonged to O’ma, how could it not have, how could I have come to Nantucket searching for a necklace of no importance?
But I tried to calm myself down. To remember O’ma didn’t have to be perfect. And besides, I wanted more than a fancy necklace. I wanted her past. And I was getting closer. Maybe Iwouldgo to Boston. “Are you excited? About being in Boston next year?”
“Cambridge, technically.”
I rolled my eyes. “Iknow. I’m the one who’s actuallyfromMassachusetts.”
He laughed. “True. Does western Massachusetts count, though?”
I sat up straighter. “Excuse me? What doesthatmean?”
He raised his hands. “Not in a bad way! I was thinking about sports. Doesn’t western Mass cheer for New York teams?” He grinned. “A good thing, since we have better teams.”
Okay. Wow. I drew my spine up as straight as it could go, the top of my head reaching toward the cloudless sky. “Excuseyou.”
“Am I wrong?”
“About literally everything in those statements.”
He sounded amused. “I didn’t think you were a sports person.”
“I am aMassachusettsperson.”
His lips twitched. “Okay, but you can’t deny the Patriots suck.”
“One, Ican, and two, I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“Why?” He openly grinned now. “Because you don’t actually have a defense?”
“Because people from New York will be mean about us no matter what, so it’s not worth engaging.”
“I didn’t realize you had the Boston chip on your shoulder.”
“I don’t have a chip.”
“Inferiority complex, then.”
I picked up the remaining half of the baguette and struck him in the shoulder.
“Ow!” Laughter spilled out of him, bright as the sunlight on the water. “Violence!”
“Youmalignedmy home!”
He fell backward on the boat, all mirth. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You take back your vicious insults.”
He grinned. “Make me.”
I launched myself at him. We tussled. I landed half on top of him, and he grabbed my wrists, trapping them between our chests.I became very, very aware of all his exposed skin and how close our faces were to each other.
God, he was beautiful. Beautiful and interesting and way too complicated and intense and I could not keep up with him, nope, not at all.
