Girls of Summer(71)

Eddie Boyton, who owned an island outerwear shop, yelled, “This is OUR island, OUR property, and OUR shark!”

A little boy broke with the crowd and ran, zigzagging past the crowd, to touch the shark. The mother screamed as if the shark was attacking her son.

“Stand back!” the lifeguard yelled, deftly and gently scooping the boy up in his arms. The boy burst into tears.

The crowd shouted and waved their arms in the air.

“This could get ugly,” Alice said to Beth.

“Beth!” Ryder yelled. “Anyone who wants to help, come form a protective ring around the shark until Ocearch gets here.”

“What the hell is Ocearch?” called a woman.

“A collaboration of scientists studying the great whites,” the lifeguard told her.

“We don’t need to study them, we need to kill them!” another woman yelled.

Bill Blount, a town resident and working fisherman, strode down between the shark and the crowd. “Leave this poor creature alone! Don’t be so ignorant! Sharks are at the top of the food chain. If we didn’t have sharks eating the seals, human beings would have no fish to eat. Give this animal some respect!”

Prudence Starbuck, her shining white hair piled so high she seemed taller than her true six feet, stomped through the crowd. “I’ll help!”

   This drew a number of people to stand guard around the shark. Beth was among them. She didn’t see Theo or Juliet or Lisa although she continued to scan the crowd.

Ryder put his hand to his ear. Not until then did Beth realize he was wearing a Bluetooth device. “Everyone! Listen! Ocearch is coming with a boat. They’ve got a lift to take the shark from the water onto the boat. We need to get the shark out in the water. Who can help?”

“I will!” a man growled.

“Me, too!”

At least a dozen men came forward, and it took all of them to lift and pull the shark into the water.

“Beth,” Ryder said, tossing her his car keys. “Take my car back to the house. I’m going with the shark.”

“Sure,” Beth answered. She was secretly pleased to have the chance to drive a Range Rover SUV.

The crowd gradually broke up, trudging back up the beach to the road and their cars. A kind of fatigue came over them all, a letdown from the high of the shark finding. A real great white shark. They had been this close to a great white shark.





twenty-six


It was a good morning. Mack and his crew were pulling into the driveway when Lisa left for the shop. And miracle of miracles, Theo was already up, dressed, and out the door to help Dave and Tom unload Sheetrock. Lisa wanted to talk with Mack about the night before, but now was not the time. The summer day was hot and humid, and the streets were already busy with summer people doing errands. The Bartlett’s Farm truck was parked on Main Street, and women were unloading baskets of just-picked tomatoes, strawberries, and lettuce. Men strolled past Sail on the way to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee. They sat on the benches on Main Street, soaking in the sun and the pure clear sense of leisure, chatting with anyone passing by. For the summer, for the people from big cities, the small town was sweet with ordinary pleasures.

It was a quiet morning in Lisa’s shop. She caught up on paperwork, put out new jewelry in the display case, and tried not to check her phone every five minutes. She’d caught only a quick glimpse of Mack as she walked away from her house earlier. He winked at her. She smiled back.

   For a moment, Lisa allowed herself to lean on her counter, remembering last night, walking in the rain, with Mack. Before they saw his daughter and her son.

Moxie Breinberg, the unofficial town crier, burst through the door. “Did you hear about the shark?”

Lisa returned to reality. “No. Tell me.”

Moxie couldn’t speak fast enough, as if afraid someone else would steal the scoop. Moxie should have been a reporter, Lisa thought. She listened to Moxie prattle on about the shark for a solid five minutes without, it seemed, needing to breathe. Lisa was grateful when her best friend Rachel came in. Rachel was not only married to a lawyer, she was a lawyer herself, and she was six feet tall and willowy, with a self-assured demeanor. She rolled her eyes behind Moxie’s back and pretended to check out the new dresses. Finally, Moxie left.

The moment the door closed behind Moxie, Rachel said with a mischievous grin, “So, what’s new with you?”

“I suppose you heard about the great white out at Madaket,” Lisa said.

“That’s crazy, isn’t it? But not what I want to know about. How are you and Mack?”

“We’re wonderful,” Lisa said. She lifted a scarf from the counter and folded it for a few minutes. “He’s wonderful.”

“But…”

“But first of all, Theo is working for him now. Really working, and happy. But Theo is seeing Beth. The four of us ran into each other last night when we were walking in the rain. It was awkward. I was holding hands with Mack and Beth shot daggers at me. Theo and I talked about it as we walked to our house, and he’s okay with it, but you know Theo, he’s the yellow Lab of men.”

   Rachel snorted. “I take it that Beth is a rottweiler?”

“I don’t know if I’d call her that. She’s too lovely and kind. Plus, Rachel, Beth’s had a hard time, losing her mother at three, and then losing Atticus when she was a teenager. If she really cares for Theo as much as he seems to care for her, I don’t want to get in the way of that. Not for her, not for Theo. I want them both to have love and romance.”