Jennifer finds Patrick standing with Leanne and Derek and Norah Vale in front of a buffet table that Jennifer hasn’t seen yet. It’s a taco bar. There is grilled fish, roasted pork, sliced sirloin, pulled chicken, and two kinds of shells. For toppings, there are tomatoes, lettuce, onions, cilantro, shredded cheeses, chunky guacamole, mango salsa, blistered peppers, and sour cream. Jennifer is suddenly ravenous, but she greets Leanne, Derek, and Norah, saying, “You’ve all met, then?”
“Yes,” Leanne says. “Norah was just telling us that she used to be your…”
Dealer, Jennifer thinks.
“… sister-in-law,” Leanne says. “I think it’s simply wonderful that you all are still friendly.”
“I’ve known Paddy since high school,” Norah says. “I was the lowly, troubled sophomore, and he was the big, studly senior.”
“That was me, all right,” Patrick says, and he raises his glass in a mock toast to himself, and everyone laughs.
It is wonderful, Jennifer thinks. She remembers when she met Norah Vale. It was summer, and Patrick had invited Jennifer home to Nantucket for the first time. Jennifer wore a Lilly Pulitzer sundress printed with yellow lions because she so badly wanted to fit in and impress. Norah, she remembers, showed up late for dinner at the inn wearing cutoff shorts and an Aerosmith T-shirt. When Jennifer noticed the python crawling up out of the shirt onto Norah’s neck, she nearly screamed.
Norah smirked. “Looks real, doesn’t it, princess?” she said.
For years they played those roles—Jennifer the good girl and Norah the bad—until… well, until Kevin and Norah divorced and Norah left… until Norah came back… until Jennifer was bad and Norah was enabling her to be bad. Their trajectory has been so bizarre. Someone could write a novel about it, but it wouldn’t be believable.
And yet here they are.
Patrick says, “As part of her business degree, Norah is doing an internship with SinTV in Fishers, Indiana.”
“Fishers, Indiana?” Jennifer says. Isabelle will be happy to hear that! Isabelle will be thrilled—Norah is leaving Nantucket and moving to the Midwest! Then Jennifer gasps. “Wait! Are you going to be working on—”
“Swing Set!” Leanne chimes in. She grabs Jennifer’s arm. “Can you stand it? I’m so jealous!”
EDDIE
The Christys return to Nantucket over Christmas Stroll weekend, which is both good news and bad news. The good news is Nantucket engraves itself onto the Christys’ hearts. Eddie sees it happen as soon as they step off the ferry. They’re smitten. No, they’re beyond smitten. They’re in love. They want this island to be their home.
All Eddie has to do is sell them a house.
“I love the wreath hanging on the lighthouse,” Masha says. “Who thought of that?”
“The Coast Guard hangs it,” Eddie says. It has become one of the iconic images of Christmastime on Nantucket—that and the little lit-up tree that sits in the red dory in the Easy Street boat basin. Nantucket doesn’t disappoint on Christmas. It combines the charm of a New England town with the ruggedness of a seaside village with the tasteful decorating that comes with money and tradition. The town glitters with white lights, evergreens, and velvet ribbon. There are Victorian carolers singing on Main Street. Eddie doesn’t know a single woman who can resist Victorian carolers, and certainly not one as impressionable as Masha Christy. She stands in a daze while the carolers perform “Once in Royal David’s City” in three-part harmony, then she claps like crazy.
She turns to Eddie. “I didn’t even recognize that song and I loved it,” she says. “My favorite carol is ‘The Little Drummer Boy.’”
“I like that one too,” Eddie admits.
“Can we go see the inn?” Masha says. “Please?”
The bad news about the Christys coming over during Christmas Stroll is that the Winter Street Inn will show much better than the house on Medouie Creek Road. Start with the name: the Winter Street Inn. Then take into account that the inn is in town, a stone’s throw from the Christmas magic, while Medouie Creek Road is way, way out in the boonies. Eddie will have to mention that in the chaotic summer months the Medouie Creek Road house remains serene, quiet, and breezy. There is no traffic, there are no crowds, no tourists in the street, no heat emanating off the cobblestones.
But to be fair to Masha, Eddie has arranged for them to see the inn at eleven o’clock. It’s just past ten thirty now. “Let’s go,” Eddie says. “We can walk.”
They start strolling up Main Street, past all the twinkling shopwindows. There are children and dogs and men in quilted hunting jackets, women in fur vests and woolen hats with faux-mink pom-poms, like the one Grace wears. Eddie stops at the corner of Main and Centre and takes a deep breath. The air smells like evergreen and peppermint.
Across the street Eddie sees a familiar figure in jeans, an Irish fisherman’s sweater, and a Santa hat. It’s Benton Coe. He’s by himself, holding a red Solo cup.
Good grief, Eddie thinks. This is the last thing he needs. He turns to check that the Christys are still behind him—Masha looked ready to be swallowed whole by every shop and gallery they passed on the way up the street—and his eyes dart left and right as he wonders which direction will be more effective in dodging what’s right in front of them.
“Hey, Eddie!”
Reluctantly, Eddie seeks out the source of his name. Benton is headed right for him, Solo cup hoisted. From the flush of his cheeks and the way his Santa hat is drooping over one eye, Eddie guesses Benton has been to a party somewhere on upper Main and has enjoyed more than one cup of cheer. Eddie thinks of Grace—but she and Allegra are at Academy Hill, decorating.
“Hello, Benton,” Eddie says. He has no choice but to shake Benton’s hand and introduce him to the Christys.
“Benton Coe, I’d like you to meet my clients, Masha and Raja Christy. Masha, Raja, this is Benton Coe. He’s my wife’s…” Well, here Eddie is tempted to say former lover, but he holds his tongue. “New employer.”
“Yes!” Benton says, grinning. “We’re happy to have Grace on board. She’s going to be a huge asset to our company.”
Masha bats her eyes at Benton. “What kind of company do you have?” she asks.
Eddie grits his teeth. Does Benton Coe have a mesmerizing effect on every woman he meets?
“I’m a landscape architect,” Benton says. “I design outdoor living spaces—gardens, of course, but also pools, walks, decks, patios, water features.”
Masha nods in awe, like he’s just told her he designed the space station, but then Eddie gets an idea.
“As a matter of fact, Masha, Benton designed the outdoor space at the house on Medouie Creek Road.”
“You did?” Masha says.
“Yes, I did,” Benton says, growing even more animated than he already was. “Are you thinking of buying that house? I love that house. I think that outdoor space is one of my favorites on the entire island. Maybe even my favorite.”