“He’s an artist,” Minnie said, unperturbed. “We sit next to each other in art class. And, Mom, you should see this painting he’s working on. It’s a crow, and it really looks insane. It looks like a crow!”
Hannah laughed. Minnie had always been an artistic, soulful kid. It sounded like Viggo was the same. Minnie took a sip of hot chocolate, coating her lips with the dark liquid, which she licked off. She looked older than sixteen, but also much younger. Hannah told time to stand still.
“What did you talk about?” Hannah asked.
“Everything,” Minnie gushed. “Art. Music. Family. Travel. Miami. He’s never really been anywhere, and he wanted to know everything about the South. He wanted to know how different the ocean looked. And it looks so different, Mom. I can’t believe it.”
Sometimes Hannah couldn’t believe it either.
But what Hannah really wanted to know was how the kiss had gone, how it had built up, and how Minnie had convinced herself to be brave enough to receive it. She also knew that she needed to ask what she’d neglected to ask back in Miami—if Minnie was considering taking any of her romantic relationships to the next level. Hannah hoped and prayed that her teenager would be careful, that she’d decide she was too young to sleep with someone, especially this early in a relationship. But Hannah also knew that it was the twenty-first century. Teenagers were going to do what they wanted. It was up to Hannah to protect her as best as she could.
Maybe that conversation could happen at another time.
For now, Hannah listened happily as Minnie talked about Viggo, about Viggo’s laugh, about Viggo’s car, and about Viggo’s solitude, which she found “incredibly interesting.”
“He used to date the granddaughter of Thomas Bard,” Minnie said off-handedly.
Hannah’s head rang. Did her daughter know about Thomas Bard, too?
Minnie read Hannah’s expression. “Everyone is talking about it at school. Viggo said that Nantucket is full of secrets. It all sounds so scary. Like a movie.” She took a sip of hot chocolate. “But you’re staying out of it, right, Mom?”
Hannah tried to laugh. “I’ll stay out of it if you stay out of it, sweetie.”
“I’m not the one who gets myself involved with messes.” Minnie continued to smile, as though she were trying to tell Hannah that soon, she would forgive her.
Hannah prayed that this night, as the wind howled outside, as she stirred another mug of hot cocoa for both of them, would lead them back to one another. She prayed that they would finally find peace.
Of course, Nantucket Island had other plans for them. But Hannah didn’t know that yet.
12
The day after Minnie and Viggo’s first kiss, Minnie was suddenly too terrified to go to school. She woke up with a weight on her chest and heart palpitations, and she went down the hall and snuck into her mother’s bed, where she curled into her and cried. The rain still hadn’t let up since last night, and Minnie felt that all the joie de vivre she’d gained last night had left her.
Hannah scooped her in her arms in bed and asked her, “What’s wrong, my girl?”
But Minnie could verbalize what was wrong. She supposed it had something to do with Viggo, with everything moving so fast, with missing her father, with everything she’d lost. After the hot cocoa and conversation she’d shared with her mother, she wished that she could find a way to keep that communication going. But instead, she wept and said, “I’m sick. I’m sick.”
Hannah seemed to understand, at least a little. Minnie listened as she called the school to tell them she wouldn’t be coming in today. After that, Hannah tugged at Minnie’s feet and said, “Why don’t we go downstairs and get cozy on the couch? I can make banana pancakes. We can watch movies all day.”
Minnie poked her head out from under the comforter. “All day?”
“We have nothing else to do,” Hannah promised.
Downstairs, wrapped up in blankets, Minnie listened to the sounds of her mother in the kitchen, humming and pouring batter and setting out plates. Minnie had initially gravitated toward a rom-com, but then she’d panicked, thinking of Viggo, of all she hoped would come after their kiss. She hated the idea that she’d go to school, and he wouldn’t be waiting for her. She hated the idea that she’d sit alone in the lunchroom while he sat at his private table alone, ignoring her.
She wasn’t sure how anyone fell in love. It was the most painful thing.
She wondered why it hadn’t been like this with Gavin. She guessed it was because she’d always known Gavin. She and Gavin had grown up together, so their love had felt organic. There was so much she still didn’t know about Viggo, obviously. And more than that, she was sort of afraid that he’d turn around and fall back in love with Stacy, who had long legs and blond hair and money, so much money.
Eventually, Minnie selected a movie she knew her mother liked,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which turned out to be disastrous. It was about two people who couldn’t get over one another, so they erased their memories to forget about each other, only to find their way back to one another, because their love was inevitable. It was meant to be.
But it was proof of how painful love was, too. For the first time, Minnie allowed herself to think about her mother and father’s love. As the credits rolled, she turned to look at her mother, then dared to ask, “Would you erase Dad if you could?”
Hannah looked at Minnie for a long time, as though she wasn’t sure how to respond. She reached for Minnie andwrapped her arms around her. Minnie could feel her mother’s tears on her cheek.
“I loved your father for a long, long time,” Hannah said. “Honestly, I still love him, in many ways. I would never want to erase that. I would keep all the bad, so long as I could keep the good.”
Minnie’s stomach flipped. She told herself not to burst into tears.
