“So what?” Nicola is exasperated.
“I don’t expect you to understand. But I need to go. Tell them I’ll be right back, okay?”
“You told them.”
“If they forget.”
When Nicola gets back to the group Mo is whispering something to Michael. He communicates to her with a shrug that whatever she is saying is of no consequence. Nicola doesn’t like any of what’s going on. She doesn’t like the whispering. She doesn’t like the version of Juliana that emerged in front of Taylor. She’s physically smaller in size, yes, they all are, bothMs included, because Taylor is so tall, but Juliana has made herself emotionally smaller too, and Nicola doesn’t like that. She doesn’t like how eager she is, how desperate to be included, like a middle schooler on the outskirts of a friend group.Act like who you are!Nicola wants to say.You’re Juliana Fucking George! Flex a little.
Taylor stands up, turns to Michael and hisses, “What did youdo?”
“What?”
“You can’t just... I mean, we were going to hangout,the three of us, you can’t just invite an outsider without completely changing the vibe.”
Michael holds up his hands in the defensive posture, palms out, and says, “We’re at her house! And you’re the one who wanted to come here.”
Taylor starts to answer, then she must remember Nicola, and maybe remembers that she’s not sure where Nicola’s loyalties lie, so she clamps her mouth shut.
Several awkward seconds pass, then Nicola can hear her say, “I’m not waiting more than ten minutes. And it’s already been four.”
Michael says, “But who’s counting.”
“You know what?” says Taylor. “There’s no such thing as a ten-minute call with Asia. I take calls like that too.”
“This could be just a quick check-in,” Michael tries.
Nicola can see Mo wavering, then, deciding to come to Taylor’s defense, she says, “Come on, guys. Let’s stick to the original plan. Cocktails await.”
Michael says to Nicola, “Tell her we couldn’t wait, would you?”
“But—”
They’re off the dock and walking around the side of the house before Nicola can figure out how to keep them there.
The mopeds start up just as Juliana flies out of the double back doors, in flared black stretch pants, perfect for The Oar, holding a cardigan in one hand.
Thursday of that week Nicola’s phone pings, late.
U UP?Jack is away through the weekend, but here he is anyway, on her phone.
She checks the time: 1:23. She’d been fast asleep. Nicola remembers when she was just a preteen, her oldest sister, who had experience in such things, told her that nothing good happens after midnight. Many nights in her life have borne this out—college nights, messy post-college nights, even a night or two during law school—and they are words she now, on the cusp of thirty, tries to abide by.
But she taps back with a thumbs-up. The day before, she’d had one of the most exciting workdays she’d had all summer. Scratch that! One of the most exciting workdays she’d hadever.She and two of the interns had assisted in the rescue of a seal, along with the animal rescue people from Mystic Aquarium. They’d been out by the North Light, doing a seal count. It had been foggy, so it had taken a while to figure out that one of the seals had a fishing line wrapped around its neck, and that it needed human intervention.
Does Jack, perchance, want to hear about the rescue of this seal, which weighs as much as five Bernese mountain dogs?
No, Jack does not. She knows that without asking.
WHAT R U WEARING?comes the next text.
She turns on the lamp on the night table and looks down. She’s wearing herEVERYTHING WHALE BE OKT-shirt, a gift from her mom.
SOMETHING SUPERHOT,she texts back. She doesn’t tell him she means rising-sea-temperature hot. He’ll see it if he FaceTimes her.
Which he does. He’s lying in a bed in somebody’s summer home, looking rumpled and sleepy and gorgeous.
They stay on for a long, long time, and when he asks her to take off the whale T-shirt she does, and eventually she goes to sleep with her phone next to her on the pillow, thinking that maybe sometimes whatever happens after midnight isn’t all bad.
