Girls of Summer

by Nancy Thayer

  “Do you want to say hello to anyone else?” Lisa asked.

  Juliet shook her head. “No, thanks.”

  They went down the curving stairs, out the tall white doors, and down the steps to the brick sidewalk.

  “How do you know Ryder Hastings?” Lisa asked.

  “I met him on the boat coming over,” Juliet said.

  “He seems nice.”

  Juliet shrugged. “His work is certainly important.”

  “I wish I had the time to help out.”

  Juliet said, “I would help if I spent more time here.”

  “You know you’re always welcome.”

  The wind was rising, whispering through their hair.

  “We should drive out to Surfside tomorrow to see the waves,” Juliet said. Immediately she corrected herself. “I mean, I should. I don’t want to mess up your schedule. I mean, if you’re planning something with Mack.”

  “Oh, I think Mack and I can resist each other for a day or two,” Lisa answered, laughter in her voice.

  “Good,” Juliet said churlishly. “Sorry to be so childish.”

  Lisa linked arms with Juliet. “You are a child. You are my child. I love you and Theo best of all. You know that.” As they turned the corner onto Fair Street, Lisa said, “Let’s get a pizza and watch a movie tonight.”

  “Great idea,” Juliet agreed.

  eight

  The next morning, Lisa and Juliet drove out to Surfside. The south beach had always been Juliet’s go-to place when she had a problem. The yielding sand, the flashing light of the waves, the whirling wind, all cleared her thoughts.

  Today, though, Ryder Hastings’s lecture ran through her mind. Of course when she was a kid in school she’d learned about the ocean, about plastics caught in fish stomachs, in turtle throats. She’d seen films of dead whales with a frightening assortment of human-created debris in their stomachs. She’d seen the birds and fish helplessly trapped in a thick coat of oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the BP oil spill. She’d taken tests on the information, and aced the tests, but she hadn’t become a crusader. Looking out at the gleaming blue waves that replenished her soul, she experienced a pang of guilt.

  She wondered what her brother thought about all this. Theo lived for surfing out there on the California coast. He must care. Maybe he was involved in some kind of protest or clean-water effort. He could act brainless, but he had a good heart. They talked or texted now and then, but they weren’t close. She kind of missed him. She’d text him sometime, maybe tonight.

  On their way from the beach, Juliet thought about bus schedules to Boston. She’d love to stay on the island, but she really had to get back to Kazaam. Although…she often worked at home when she didn’t feel like fighting through a blizzard, and that was never a problem. Maybe…

  When they walked in the front door, Juliet could smell the delicious aroma of tomato, garlic, and olive oil. Her mother’s spaghetti sauce was simmering in the slow cooker.

  “That smells fantastic,” Juliet said, giving her mother a hug.

  “Thanks, sweetie. I’ve made an extra batch for you to take home.”

  But this is home, Juliet thought.

  Before she could think twice, she said, “Mom, what if I came here for the summer?”

  Lisa was in the kitchen, stirring the sauce. “Could you do that? I mean, with your work?”

  “Sure. Almost everything I do is online, even communicating with the others in our office. Well, I’d have to okay it with the new boss, and I’d probably have to go back a couple of times, but I’m sure I could make it work from here.” As she talked, Juliet’s spirits rose. “I’d love to work all morning and swim all afternoon. I could see my old friends. And I could help you. Summer is the busiest time at your shop. I could take over buying groceries and cooking.”

  Lisa settled the lid back on the slow cooker. Leaning against the counter, she folded her arms. “Does this have anything to do with Mack? Do you feel you need to keep an eye on me in case I do something stupid?”

  “Honestly, that never crossed my mind.” Juliet grinned. “But now that you mention it…”

  “It would be nice to have you here for a while,” Lisa said. “But wouldn’t the noise of the carpenters drive you crazy?”

  “It gets noisy in the office, you know. And I could hole up with my laptop in my room and wear headphones.”

  “Well, think about it. You know you’re always welcome.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Juliet crossed the room and hugged her mother. Feeling the comfort of her mother’s embrace, Juliet said, “Going back into the office makes me so sad. It would be so much better if I came home for a while.”

  Lisa held Juliet away from her, but kept her hands on Juliet’s shoulders. “You’re a brilliant woman, Juliet. You can walk into that office like a star.”

  Juliet pouted. “So you don’t want me here?”

  Lisa gave Juliet one of her Mom looks—affection mixed with exasperation. “You know that’s not what I said.”

  Juliet smiled. “I know. And I will go back into the office tomorrow. But forget being dumped, it’s fun to think of spending most of the summer here.”

  “Then that’s what you should do.”

  * * *

  —

  Later, with a jar of her mother’s spaghetti sauce in a padded carrier, Juliet climbed the ramp to the afternoon fast ferry to Hyannis. She settled in a booth, set up her laptop, and worked all the way over. When the ferry pulled into the harbor, she packed up and got in line with the crowd of other passengers.

  As she was walking down the ramp, a familiar voice called her name. She turned.

  “Ryder!”

  She was glad he was a few people behind her so she could take a moment to pull herself together.

  “Hey,” he said. “Going to Boston? Want to ride with me? I’ve got a car in the lot.”

  “Oh, um, thanks, but I’m taking the bus.”

  “But I’ll get you there faster, and you won’t have to ride with a lot of smelly strangers.”

  Her natural sarcasm took over. She sniffed loud and long, pretending to recoil. “Well, not with strangers.”

  Ryder laughed. “Come on. I’m over here.” He went ahead of her, threading his way between other travelers with rolling suitcases, wailing children, and dogs making the most of their long leashes while their owners shouldered their bags.

  Juliet followed him, unable to resist studying his backside. He wore faded jeans, a white shirt, and a lightweight navy blue blazer. His thick shaggy hair covered his neck. His shoulders were broad, his long legs moved easily. She wanted to drop her backpack, race across the tarmac, and tackle him from behind, covering him with kisses right there in front of everyone.

  But she was done with men.

  I’ll bet he drives a Mercedes, she thought, trying to chill herself away from her heated emotions.

  Ryder stopped next to something resembling a spacecraft.

  He drives a Tesla, Juliet said under her breath. Of course he drives an electric car.

  Ryder turned, grinning, as if he’d heard her. “Ever been in one of these before?”

  “Oh, often,” Juliet retorted sarcastically, although why she had to be sarcastic she didn’t understand. It was as if her mind was trying to shove her away from this man while her body wanted to jump him.

  “You’ll like it. It’s quiet.” He reached out his hand.

  Juliet took a step back.

  “Let me put your bag in the back,” Ryder said, amused.

  Juliet slid the straps off her shoulders and handed it to him. She opened the passenger door and stepped into the car. “Wow,” she said aloud. The interior was impressively spacious.

  “Like it?” Ryder asked as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  “Very much.” Ju
liet tried to keep a hard edge. “It must have cost a fortune.”

  “Maybe. But every little bit helps the environment.” Ryder spoke casually, but met her gaze. There it was, that spark between them. With a smile, he added, “Electric is good.”

  Juliet wondered if he was acknowledging the connection between them or just talking about his car.

  They drove out of the parking lot, through Hyannis, and onto the highway, where the car accelerated swiftly and smoothly.

  “I feel like I’m in a vehicle that’s half Aladdin’s carpet and half spaceship,” Juliet said.

  “I know, right? It’s the car of the future. Within five years, there will be more electric cars on the roads than internal combustion cars.”

  Juliet didn’t respond. She always chose not to talk about matters she really knew nothing about, and sitting next to Ryder Hastings, it seemed she knew nothing about almost everything.

  After a comfortable silence, Ryder asked, “Music?”

  “Sure.”

  Ryder chose a classical station and the car filled with such lilting, peaceful music Juliet felt lifted to another sphere. What an irresistible man, she thought, who could combine the future and the past so effortlessly.

  “What did you think of my talk?” Ryder asked.

  “I thought it was great. Important. Your organization sounds like it will make a significant change around here.”

  “We’re certainly going to try,” Ryder said. “And not just on the East Coast.”

  “Isn’t there a new boat that trawls for plastic?”

  “There is. But it disturbs the ocean environment.”

  “Wow.” Juliet slumped, feeling sad. “The human animal is a bad creature.”

  Ryder quietly disagreed. “Not always. Not all of us.”

  She shot him a cynical look. “Like you, for instance?”

  “And like you.”

  Juliet snorted. “I work for Kazaam. I build websites about cute domestic animals. I keep the websites running and organize teams all over the country. Fun, but not what you’d call environmental work.”

  Ryder gave her a warm glance. “I read a study that watching cute animal videos can lower blood pressure. So you can consider yourself a health worker.”

  Juliet laughed. “Right. And what do you consider yourself? A saint?” As soon as she spoke the word, she cringed.

  “You seem kind of antagonistic toward me,” Ryder said calmly.

  Juliet bristled. She took a deep annoying breath as various yoga friends had advised her. “I suppose I do,” she answered honestly. “I apologize. I guess it’s the typical islander reaction to a wealthy new know-it-all setting foot on Nantucket and telling us what to do, and then doing it because you have so much money regardless of what we think.”

  “Yeah,” Ryder said. “I get that.” He was quiet a moment, thinking. “Or,” he said, “it could be something else.”

  With a smooth roll of his wrist, he steered the car into a rest stop. He shut off the ignition, unfastened his seatbelt, and twisted in his seat, facing her.

  “What are you doing?” Juliet asked.

  “This.” Ryder put his hand on Juliet’s chin, tilted her face to meet his, bent forward, and kissed her mouth.

  It was sugar. It was satin. It was fire.

  Juliet couldn’t pull away, didn’t want to pull away. She leaned into the kiss, closing her eyes, drinking in the pleasure with all her senses.

  Ryder sat back, giving her space, his eyes on hers. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I saw you on the ferry.”

  Juliet was trembling, and she’d never been quite so terrified in her life. “So this is the way you attract people to your causes.”

  “Right,” Ryder agreed with a grin. “I found it especially effective on Prudence Starbuck.”

  Juliet smiled at the thought of Ryder kissing the starchy old Puritan. “I don’t know you.”

  “You haven’t googled me?”

  Proudly, truthfully, she said, “No.” Had she ever wanted anyone this much? No. Not even Hugh Jeffers. Part of that attraction, she had to admit, had been that he was her boss. She’d believed he thought she was the smartest employee, the cream of the crop, a future team leader. Their relationship had been secretive and she’d liked that, too. It made her feel more special.

  But love? She wasn’t sure she’d ever really been in love, and what she felt for Ryder was like the achingly powerful crushes she’d had on Justin Timberlake and Chris Hemsworth. Part infatuation mixed with the knowledge that it was hopeless.

  Ryder told her, “I’m thirty-five. Divorced. Clementine has remarried and is happy. I live alone in my family’s house in Marblehead. Oh, Greta also lives with me.” He waited for her to ask who Greta was. When she didn’t, he continued “She’s our housekeeper. In her sixties, now, but my mother calls her ‘a wonder.’ I travel a lot, mostly up and down the East Coast, but really anywhere I can get a group to listen to me.” He paused. “I’m not seeing anyone else. I haven’t been interested in anyone for a long time. Not until I saw you.”

  “So you want to take me to bed,” Juliet said bluntly.

  Ryder’s gaze was intense. “Of course I want to take you to bed. But I’m in no rush. I want to get to know you.”

  I’m way in over my head, Juliet thought. She kept her tone light, sassy. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  Ryder turned on the engine and checked his rearview mirror. The traffic was steady but not congested. He pulled back onto the highway. “Tell me about your family. Your parents.”

  “This feels like a therapy session.”

  “All right, then, I’ll tell you about mine. They’re charming, cultured, well-traveled alcoholics. They both inherited money. They support each other’s drinking. They have friends who also drink. They live in Boston and Boca Raton and London. We are not estranged, but we’re not close.”

  “Do you have any siblings?”

  “I do. One sister. Two years older. She’s become a sort of free spirit. With her inheritance money, she bought a farm in Vermont where she raises alpaca. Her name is Eugenie, but she calls herself Engine, because she wants to be an engine of change. She’s living with a woman, Kate, now, but for a long time she had a male partner. She doesn’t drink alcohol but she certainly does eat food. She’s a big girl, and she says so herself, and she’s happy with that. Actually, she’s very beautiful, like the goddess of the harvest. Long black hair in braids tied with string or rope. No makeup, very tan even in winter, carries herself like a queen. She’s got lots of friends who stay in some of her guest houses and help with the farm.”

  “You love your sister,” Juliet observed with silent envy. How would Theo describe her? She could imagine: smart with sharp edges.

  “I adore her. She’s so emotionally strong. So certain. She wants to—well, what we jokingly call ‘save the world’—she wants to help the world, too, but she’s chosen to do it in a way that makes her happy. She has an idyllic home.”

  “Your own home isn’t idyllic?”

  Ryder drove for a while without speaking. “As I’ve told you, I’m divorced. It was a short, unpleasant marriage that made our parents ecstatic and made us miserable. So, I’ve been single for years. I’ve seen other women now and then. No one special.”

  An unexpected flash of jealousy surprised Juliet when Ryder mentioned other women.

  “Your turn now,” Ryder said.

  “Hmm.” Juliet leaned back against the headrest. “My mother, Lisa, well, you met her. She’s wonderful. Especially admirable because our father left her for another woman when were young. So basically, we’re a three-person family.”

  “Do you ever visit your father?”

  “No. We’ve never been invited. I haven’t even seen a picture of him for years. When we were kids, Mom used to show us photos of
our father holding us when we were babies, and she impressed upon us what an intelligent man he was. He’s a banker, and he also inherited a nice chunk of money, so he always made the child support payments on time. Mother appreciated that. But when you’re little, you don’t get it about the money. You don’t understand why your dad doesn’t want to see you.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Juliet shrugged. “It was harder on Theo, not having a dad around. It made us both feel…not exactly worthless, but not worth much. Theo had a tough time in high school and thank heavens, he discovered surfing. I think he got rid of his anger that way. Now he’s out in San Diego, a chill surfer dude.”

  “And you?”

  “Me.” Juliet thought. “You could say I have a problem trusting men. The last relationship I had was bizarre. He had to move to New York, and he didn’t tell me in advance or ask me to go with him. Well, I don’t suppose I would have wanted to go. We weren’t crazy for each other. I was hurt when he left, but mostly I was so insulted. So, well, there’s that.”

  “He sounds like an idiot.”

  “I think he was more of a user.” Juliet watched the road fly past, all the cars and trucks changing lanes to go faster. Something about Ryder’s words, the way he made her feel admired and comfortable, helped her think. “And you know? I’m not sure I want to love anyone. My mother, who is totally wonderful, got dumped by our father and we were abandoned, too. So I’m not comfortable trusting anyone. But I’m fine. I’m really good at my job. It’s fun. It pays well. I can work from anywhere as long as I have a computer. I’ve got a good apartment and great friends in Cambridge.” She paused, laughing. “Could I sound any more boring? All I lack is the cliché cat.”

  “I don’t think you’re boring. And from my point of view, I don’t think anyone on the island thinks you’re boring, either. I’ve seen people look at you with envy. Admiration.”

  “Really?” Juliet was shocked. “Where?”

  “At my lecture at the Atheneum. I saw some guys checking you out.”

  “Ryder, lower the volume, please. I know those guys. They were probably trying to see if I’ve become a lesbian.”