I popped my head out, shivering. Salt clung to my lips and my hair to my head like seaweed. Stella emerged, too, whipping her long black hair back. “Brr!”
We warmed up by swimming, fast and sleek like seals, arms scooping water along and feet kicking away. When we adjusted to the temperature, we floated happily. “Is this your first time on the island?” she asked.
“Yeah. You too?”
Stella nodded. “I came out a few times last year to visit Lexi, but never for more than a night or two. This is going to be even better. This year, we’re going to have the perfect summer.”
I floated on my back, watching the rays of sun streak through the clouds. The perfect summer. I was in.
“So, what’s the deal with you and Pranav and his girlfriend?” I asked Jane later, as we stood over the twin sinks in our bathroom and readied for bed.
“What do you mean ‘the deal’?”
“Well. You weresonice when she arrived. You embraced her like a long-lost sister.”
“I don’t know.” She sounded miserable, or as miserable as one could be with a toothbrush obscuring half their consonants. “It’s a weird defense mechanism. Like if I’m super friendly with her, no one will notice I’m madly in love with her boyfriend.”
As expected. “Isn’t that a stereotype, though? If you inquire a lot about someone’s partner, it’s because you’re into the person?”
“Oh my god, what?” Jane sounded horrified. “No. That’s not a thing. Oh my god,isit a thing?”
I started giggling and couldn’t stop. “Pretty sure it’s a thing.”
We changed into our pajamas and turned off the lights. Moonlight spilled between our beds. I rolled over so I could see Jane’s silhouette. “Thanks for letting me come today.”
“For sure. It’s hard not knowing anyone. And I could use another friend.” She sighed. “I’m glad Stella came this summer—Lexi missed her so much last year. But—it used to be when Lexi and I had spare time,wehung out, and now she hangs out with Stella, which is normal and I’m happy for them, and I try not to be jealous. But I miss her.”
I got it. I’d been thrilled for my friends: for Brooke, who landed a job as a camp counselor in Vermont; for Niko, off coding at Stanford; for Haley, seeing Spain during her immersion program. But each time I’d learned one of them would be gone, I’d chewed at my nails until my cuticles bled. And I’d run off to Nantucket.
I stared at the moonlight on the ceiling. In the late darkness, it seemed obvious I wasn’tjustrunning from loneliness, or searching for knowledge about O’ma’s past, or fodder for a college essay. I wantedmore. An adventure. A sense of purpose.
How hard could those be to find?
Six
On the Fourth, I woke to the scent of sugar and strawberries filling the house. “Good morning, girls,” Mrs. Henderson said when Jane and I stumbled downstairs, lured by the scent, with no more will than Odysseus before the sirens.
“What are you making?” Jane asked.
Mrs. Henderson smiled with the serenity of a baker who knew her worth, and nodded to the cake sitting on the table. Dark ruby strawberries studded a yellow dough. “Strawberry cake for the bridge club’s cookout. My grandmother’s recipe.”
Both Jane’s and my shoulders slumped when we learned it wasn’t for us. “Oh,” I said mournfully. Ellie Mae twined her way between our legs, licked at our fingers, then abandoned us when it became clear we had no food.
Mrs. Henderson gestured behind her, and we realized a second cake sat cooling on the counter. “But I doubled the recipe, because why only have dessert after dinner when you can have it for breakfast, too?”
“And it’s got strawberries, so it’s healthy,” Jane said happily. The three of us pulled up our chairs and tucked in.
After Mrs. Henderson left, Jane and I swapped our pajamas for real clothes and slipped on our sandals. Ellie Mae saw us heading for the door and howled pitifully. Jane grasped my arm. “Stay strong.”
“We’re abandoning her.” I looked back, and Ellie Mae’s barks fell to a tragic whine. Her soulful eyes pleaded with me. “We’re evil incarnate.”
Jane faltered. Ellie Mae wagged her tail, low and hopeful.
“Dammit,” Jane said. “Fine, let’s take her.”
Leash in my hand, the three of us headed into town. Ellie Mae became more and more ecstatic with each new person she encountered, and there were many new people, an island full, shipped in from Boston and the Cape and who knew where else.
We found our group eating ice cream on a patch of grass. Lexi waved a tiny plastic flag printed with the stars and stripes as we approached. “Woo-hoo, America.”
