Rafe toyed with his beer bottle, a Sam Adams, Maddie noted. She didn’t mention he might want to check out the history of the beer that she’d heard had been named after one of the founding fathers of America, a second cousin to the second president of the United States, and might not have had a great relationship with their Wampanoag ancestors. It would make for an interesting conversation, but not today. So Maddie kept it to herself and waited for his reaction to the current situation.
“You’re right,” he said. “You screwed up, Mom.”
Yikes. As with Rex’s announcement, she hadn’t expected that.
“It wasn’t intentional,” she said in her defense.
“Well, geez, I know that.”
“I tried to apologize.”
“What did he say?”
“First he said that all he ever wanted was for me to be happy. Then he said I must be tired, and that I should go to bed. This morning, of course, he said nothing because by the time I got up, he was gone.”
Again, Rafe swigged from the bottle.
“Give him time, he’ll come around.” He sounded like the older generation advising the younger one. He set down the beer and looked into her eyes. “But you’re excited, aren’t you? You didn’t want a bookshop only for Grandpa’s sake, did you?”
“No. I want it for us, Rafe. So we can carve out a life on the island. Your grandfather is an important part of our family. So, naturally, I want him included.”
“Okay, but if that doesn’t happen, don’t forget I majored in economics as well as environmentalism. I could help you with the books.”
“Well, then, there is hope. Though I already have you pegged for the website and social media.”
He laughed, then said, “Changing the subject, what’s the deal with you and Rex? Anything you want to tell me?”
The question came from out of nowhere, sort of like Rex’s announcement.
“Um … well … he’s become a good friend.”
“Huh. You two seemed a lot closer than when I was here in the summer.”
“We’d just met last summer. Since then, he’s been a bighelp, not only by letting Grandma and I use his cabin, but with lots of other things.”
He nodded again, smiled again. “By the way, nice bracelet. It looks like it matches the earrings you had on last night.”
She elbowed his arm. “The earrings were my mother’s. The bracelet was a Christmas gift. Before you ask, yes. Rex gave it to me.” She felt her cheeks flush.
“He’s a good guy,” Rafe said, then ordered another beer.
Then her phone pinged in her purse. She pulled it out and glanced at the message.
ARRIVED ATLAX. GOOD FLIGHT. MY NAMESAKE SAT ON MY LAP MOST OF THE TIME. She knew he was referring to Francie’s little boy called Reggie, whose formal name was “Reginald”—Rex’s legal name—because Rex had delivered the baby during an emergency.
Maddie sighed. Rex really was gone. She checked her pocket; the note was there. She couldn’t ask him what to do … he was in California to have fun, not to be interrupted by a drama queen. As soon as she got back to the cottage, she would put the note in the nightstand beside her bed, along with the first one she’d already stashed there.
With that decision, she turned back to Rafe and asked if he was looking forward to his last semester at Amherst College.
The next morning, Maddie drove Rafe to the boat, and Grandma went along for the ride. Rafe had wanted to go in Orson, but Maddie didn’t do well driving a stick shift, so she couldn’t guarantee that she and Grandma would get back to Menemsha with the ancient pickup in one piece.
“Joe will keep Orson in his garage until you come back,” Grandma told him. “He’ll take good care of the old boy.”
Maddie was relieved that the truck wouldn’t have to goback to the storage unit at the airport. Now that they were living in the cottage, she and Grandma would have the space to go through the items that were still there, bring them home, keep what was wanted and donate or recycle the rest. One thing Maddie knew was that she was going to hang some of her mother’s canvases in the bookshop. They would not be for sale.
“Let’s stop at the Black Dog Café for lunch,” Grandma said after they bid Rafe good-bye. He’d begged them not to wait until the boat pulled out of its berth; he said it made him feel like he was a kindergarten kid.
“The café it is,” Maddie said, and guided her car from the parking area. She was not, however, hungry. With her father, Rex, and now Rafe off-island, her stomach was queasy. Probably because she felt alone. And extremely vulnerable, because whoever had left the notes knew where she lived, and might also know that the men she trusted most had left the island. She wished she was more at ease with being independent; maybe, as Rafe had said about her father, she needed time.
