I don’t think I’m ever going to like him calling her that. “She doesn’t want to work here anymore, and I can’t make her. Her family is leaving soon anyway.”
“She told you that?”
I squeeze my push rims reflexively. “Last time she was here.”
“Well, damn.”
“Yeah.”
“She know that you and Eryn are over?”
“Eryn and I only talked last night.”
He nods, but I can tell he’s thinking. “You think she’d want to know?”
“I was a jerk last time I saw her.”
“Well, she’s used to that, and it didn’t send her running before.”
“Yeah, but this time I was trying to be.” I meet his eye so heunderstands the difference. She’d killed me when she told me she couldn’t come back to the museum, and I was willing to say almost anything to get her to stay, willing to fight with her if it meant she didn’t leave, but I went too far.
“I drove her away and I don’t know how to get her back or what it would even mean if I could. She’s supposed to go off to college in the fall, earn a history degree so that she can work somewhere like the Whaling Museum or the damn Smithsonian, places like that. I may not like everything about Nantucket, but leaving would feel like losing a limb.” I lift my arm. “I don’t have enough working ones left to give up another.” I take a breath. “Even for her.”
Tate whistles. “I know you liked her, maybe more than liked her, but damn.”
I look around the gift shop “It doesn’t matter. What could I possibly offer her here?”
“A lot,” he says. “From where I’m standing.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not standing. And I know what happens when you try and make people stay.”
Tate refuses to even acknowledge the first part of what I said. “She’s not your mom. And you’re not your dad.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Because from what you’ve told me, your mom never wanted to be part of this place, and Lili clearly does. She might even want something else too.” He reaches out and claps his hands down on my shoulders like he’s done a million times before, but this time he gives me a shake. “So stop sitting here and feeling sorry for yourself and figure out a way to fight for your girl.”
Thirty-Seven
Lili
I pedal down Main Street, my awareness of every cobblestone and each blooming flower less desperate than it had been at the start of summer. Back then, Nantucket truly felt like the Faraway Land. Now, the sun is warm at my back, as though it’s gently guiding me forward, and I don’t feel the need to stop and stare at each and every detail like I need to grab hold of it all while I still can.
I pass the Whaling Museum without a second glance, its iconic brick façade quickly fading from view. I don’t stop to read the hand-painted signs hanging from shops or slow to admire their colorful awnings. They blur together as I speed up, the wind against my face, until I end up right back where I started all those weeks ago.
It took me all weekend to figure it out. Mom even let me skip lunch at Graham’s after church yesterday, especially since he’d been finding excuses to stop by the house every day anyway. I’d seen enough to know that he may be the key to helping her fall just a little bit in love with Nantucket too. He’s taking her and Goldie on a picnic today, followed by a stroll down Sconset Bluff Walk. When I left, she was humming to herself while getting ready.
But I did figure it out, and I made the only decision I thought I could. I talked with Goldie and she agreed. Now there’s only one person left to convince.
It had felt like the right choice last night, but as I push open the heavy door of McCleave’s, my certainty falters.
It’s late morning, and the place is bustling with people. Even so, it’s easy to spot Tate behind the counter at the gift shop. He’s ringing up a few small plush mermaids, tossing each one in the air before catching it in a bag behind his back. He catches two in a row before noticing me and dropping the third.
The wide-eyed shock on his face instantly snuffs out the hesitant smile I’d tried to muster. He hastily finishes with his customer, then pulls out aBe Right Backsign from under the counter before vaulting over it to reach me.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m not staying. I just need to give something to Wren, and then I promise I’m gone.” Tate and I were on the verge of becoming friends before everything happened, but it still stings to know we’ll never get the chance now.
