Girls of Summer(78)

At her office, Beth turned on all the lights, settled in at her computer, and tried to focus on Ocean Matters.

But her mind kept wandering. Theo hadn’t called for three days, not since they walked in the rain and saw his mom with her dad. They needed to talk about it. Even if they broke up—although, were they even together?—they needed to talk. It had been great discussing it all with Juliet. Maybe Juliet had said something to Theo?

   After a while, she realized the room had become cool, so she left her chair to find the thermostat on the opposite wall, and as she did, she glanced out the window.

Still raining. The sky was almost black, and she could see the waves bouncing around in the harbor. In the distance, boats were rocking up and down and tugging at their moorings. The fast ferry Iyanough was still in its dock at the Steamship Authority, which meant the ferry hadn’t made its eleven o’clock run to Hyannis.

Okay, so that wasn’t good. That meant the seas were choppy and the wind near gale force, with powerful gusts. Beth wondered if she should close the office. Last year the town had added a foot of wood to the small Easy Street bulkhead where people sat on benches to watch the boats come and go. So far, no waves were breaching the wall, so all the water flooding the street was from the rain.

She returned to her desk. A note in the inbox from Ryder.

Beth, if you’re in the office, go home. This storm is more serious than was predicted.

Well, Beth thought with a smile. That was nice of Ryder and funny, too. He wasn’t from Nantucket, so he didn’t know that the Weather Channel and all weather stations very seldom got Nantucket’s predictions right. Something about being a small lump thirty miles from the continent seemed to amuse the weather gods, so gale force winds that were predicted often appeared as minor breezes and two inches of snow became twelve.

Still, she should close up and go home, or maybe over to the library to check out a good book. She closed the files on her computer, and then, before she could shut it down, the power went out. The computer went blank. The ceiling lights died. The light coming from outside was gray and shadowy. It was spooky.

She stood up. Why did the gray light make her feel so lonely? Walking to the window, she could barely make out through the splatter of rain the way that waves were now surging over the bulkhead and onto the street.

   Wow. But okay, don’t panic, she told herself. Easy Street often flooded. No big deal. Returning to her desk, she picked up her cell and called her dad. He didn’t answer.

She called Theo. He answered at once.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“In the office on Easy Street. Theo, it looks scary out there. I didn’t realize the waves were coming in so fast. I don’t know whether to stay or go.”

“Stay there,” Theo said. “I’ll come get you.”

“You can’t drive on the street, it’s flooded.”

“Yeah, I’ll drive as far as I can, then I’ll walk down. Don’t worry. I’ll be there soon.”

They disconnected. She’d been fortunate that her cell still worked. The last time her cell had quit was during the long winter blizzard that shut down the town’s power and its cell towers. She hoped the cell towers didn’t go down. She stationed herself at the window, watching the waves swell over the bulkhead and into the street, washing up against the building.

A powerful gust of wind hit the glass window fronting the office, causing her to instinctively jump backward. It was as if a superhero had slugged the glass with a giant fist. The glass didn’t break, but it shivered. As she watched, heaving water rose in Easy Street, covering the sidewalk in front of her building. She’d have to wade through it to get to higher ground.

She shouldn’t wait for Theo. She knew how the traffic into town could be on a day like this. People wanting to get home or to the grocery store for staples would have Orange, Union, and Washington backed up for blocks. This water was coming at the island like a machine. It wasn’t going to stop soon.

She’d be lucky if she could even open the door against the weight of the water.

She shouldn’t wait another minute. She’d call Theo when she got up to higher land.

   Beth put her phone in her bag and looped the bag diagonally over her body so that her hands were free. She remembered all the times in high school when she and her friends drove out to Surfside to watch the waves swell and crash, giving off a crazy natural energy that made them dance on the beach.

Same kind of storm, she told herself. She should enjoy it. She only had to go around the block and up one street to get to safety.

She opened the door, stepped outside, and turned to put her key in the lock. The lock clicked shut. At the same time, waves exploded against her, drenching her from head to toe, pushing her against the door. Water surged up past her ankles. Looking around, she saw the familiar landscape vanish. The bulkhead was merely an irritant for the harbor waves that swept up and over and onto the street, washing so high around the benches on the sidewalk that the water hid the legs and slapped against the seats.

It was still day, but the sky was an angry black, turning the heaving water gray. No lights shone, not from any of the other buildings around her, not from any of the boats bouncing in the harbor. The wind screamed like witches, high piercing wails that seemed supernatural and alive.

The OM office was in the middle of the block. It would be a short walk either right or left to one of the streets leading up to Water Street and dry land. But Oak Street and Cambridge Street were flooded, too, she was sure. They always flooded in storms like this. Which way should she go?