Golden Girl(119)

“I’ve had a lot of time on my hands,” Carson says.



Vivi rocks back and forth, hands brought prayer-like in front of her heart, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so proud of my girls,” she says. “They came to that conclusion on their own. I didn’t have to use a nudge.”

“Which is a good thing,” Martha says. “Because you’re out of them.”





Nantucket




With the investigation closed, the body of Vivian Howe is returned to Nantucket. The family gathers on the Friday of Labor Day weekend to bury Vivi in the cemetery on Milk Street. At some point, we know, this will become a popular pilgrimage for Vivian Howe readers across the country. They’ll lay bouquets and seashells and pillar candles by the headstone. They’ll take selfies of themselves in their Lilly Pulitzer dresses and Mystique sandals standing at Vivian Howe’s grave. But for now, it’s just the family and close friends.

Rip and Willa Bonham have their arms wound around each other as they lead the way toward the gravesite. Willa has just had her seventeen-week prenatal appointment and ultrasound and everything looks great. She has finally been able to share the news: she’s pregnant with a little boy and due on February 11.

The elder Bonhams are over the moon, especially Tink. When Tink asks Rip if it would be appropriate for her and Chas to come to the burial, Rip asks Willa her thoughts.

“Tell them we’re keeping it small,” Willa says. “And pass that on to your sister as well. She and Zach and Peter don’t need to come.”

Carson attends the burial with Marshall Sebring, the bartender from the Field and Oar Club. Carson and Marshall have become something of an item. A few of us saw them out to dinner at Lola and still others of us noticed them anchored off the second point of Coatue in a Boston Whaler.

When Dr. Flutie, a regular at the Field and Oar bar, asked Marshall what he planned to do when the season was over, Marshall told Dr. Flutie that he and his girlfriend were going back to Portland, Oregon, for a while. His girlfriend had never seen that part of the country. It might be just a visit, or, if they can both find restaurant jobs, it might become something more permanent.

Dr. Flutie says he’s jealous. He may be old (and a bit of a drinker), but even he knows the restaurant scene in Portland is top-notch.

Leo attends the burial with Cruz DeSantis and Cruz’s father, Joe. We’re all happy to see that Leo and Cruz have made up and are back to planning Cruz’s trip out to Colorado after his first quarter at Dartmouth.

“We’re friends for life,” Cruz said when he and Leo reconciled. “Nothing’s going to change that, man.”

Leo has a hard time shaking the feeling that the accident was his fault. When he went to his father and Savannah and told them everything, they assured him he had done the right thing in breaking up with Marissa. Her reaction to the news was beyond his control.

“I should have broken up with Marissa a long time ago,” Leo said. “I should never have been dating her in the first place. If I had just been truthful about things.”

Savannah gave him a squeeze. “You had nothing to do with it, Bear. Your dad and I are both proud of you and love you more than you will ever know. Your mom does too, I promise. The love doesn’t go away. She’s looking down on you every second of every day.”



Savannah is leaving for Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday and JP realizes how much he’s going to miss her. He’s had dinner at her house once a week since Vivi passed and those are nights he looks forward to. More than a few times, he’s found himself wanting to kiss Savannah, but he’s held back because he’s afraid of muddying the waters of their newly formed alliance and he doesn’t want it to be confusing to the kids. He would love to go with her to Manaus and volunteer, but it’s still too busy at the Cone for JP to travel. By the time Savannah gets back, summer will officially be over and JP will be getting ready to close the shop.

He’ll make his move then, maybe. See what happens.



Lucinda is attending the burial with Penny Rosen. “Someday that will be us,” Lucinda says, nodding at the coffin.

“Someday soon,” Penny says. “I woke up this morning with the worst chest pain.”

“Well, for goodness’ sake, see a doctor!” Lucinda says. “If something happens to you, who will I beat at bridge?”

Penny smiles and decides not to tell Lucy that the tightness in her chest remains to this very minute or that she has been having vivid dreams about her late husband, Walter. She knows that beneath Lucy’s joke about the bridge, there’s genuine concern. Penny will try to hang on for Lucy’s sake. Maybe she’s just hungry. Rumor has it that Joe DeSantis is catering the lunch after the burial. Joe’s chicken salad with pecans and dried apricots in mustardy dressing is as good a reason to stay alive as any.

Marshall Sebring, of Gaston, Oregon, grew up with a mom, a dad, a sister, and a dog—a regular, happy American family—and although he wouldn’t change a second of it, there’s something about Carson’s family that is fascinating in a way that Marshall’s family is not. Her father, JP, owns the Cone; her sister, Willa, works at the Nantucket Historical Association; and her brother, Leo, just graduated from Nantucket High School and is going to the University of Colorado, Boulder. Then there’s Carson’s grandmother and Mrs. Rosen; they’re two tough but elegant ladies—Marshall has served them dozens of times this summer at the club. And there’s Savannah Hamilton, who founded Rise and whose family has owned their house on Union Street for something like three hundred years. Marshall has just met Leo’s friend Cruz and Cruz’s father, Joe, who owns Marshall’s favorite sandwich shop, the Nickel. Marshall feels like he’s standing in a cluster of real Nantucketers, people whose attachments to this island run as deep as tree roots into the soil of the island.