Page 53 of Swan Song

“Looks like someone beat us to it,” Romeo says with a chuckle. He’s directing Golden Girl toward the shore at Whale Island, and Sharon is thrilled. In all her years on Nantucket, she has never once been to Tuckernuck.

“Beat us to what?” Sharon says, then she sees the couple on the beach kissing. That’s exactly what Sharon wants to be doing! She’s so distracted by this idea that it takes her a moment to notice the boat—it’s Decadence, the speedboat that belongs to the Richardsons. Sharon blinks. Who is that on the beach? Once she gets closer, she sees it’s the Richardsons’ assistant, Coco, and their boat captain, Lamont Oakley.

Ahhhhh! Sharon thinks.

An instant later, Sharon hears shouting. There’s a third boat approaching, a fishing boat called Beautiful Day—and the person yelling is none other than Kacy Kapenash. “Coco!” she says. “Coco!”

Sharon can’t believe that she is once again stumbling across these two. It’s almost as if some unseen force keeps bringing them together. Sharon’s notebook is in her beach bag and she’s tempted to reach for it now. What is going to happen?

When Kacy sees Coco and Lamont making out on the beach at Whale Island, she thinks, Is this a joke? Has another woman Kacy trusted lied to her so she could be with a man? And why? Coco could have said she had plans with Lamont; Kacy would have understood. This is… disappointing.

“I thought you told us she had to work,” Eric says.

Avalon says, “Looks like she’s working on Lamont.”

Kacy hands Avalon her beer and dives off the side of the boat.

“Whoa!” she hears Eric say. “A little warning would be nice.”

A little warning would be nice, Kacy thinks as she swims to shore.

Romeo seems indifferent to the scene taking place on the beach. He’s all business as he drops the anchor and makes sure Sharon climbs down the ladder safely into the thigh-deep water. Sharon holds her bag over her head; she can’t let her notebook get wet.

“You pick a spot,” Romeo says. “I’ll bring the towels and the picnic.”

Romeo is handsome and thoughtful—and seafaring. Sharon loves watching him move around the boat, testing the lines. But Sharon can’t shed her natural curiosity. When she chooses a place on the beach, it’s close enough to Coco and Lamont that she can eavesdrop.

Sharon drops her bag, unbuttons her cover-up, and wades back into the water, acting like a person who is interested only in the vista of Nantucket in the distance.

“It’s fine,” Coco says. “She didn’t see anything.”

Lamont’s mouth is set in a grim line as he watches Kacy swim ashore. Coco throws back the rest of her French 75 as though the situation is casual. Friends bumping into friends. What a happy coincidence!

Kacy emerges from the water, squeezes out her hair, and smiles at Coco and Lamont.

Coco exhales. It’s fine.

“Hey, guys,” she says. She looks at Coco. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I know,” Coco says. “I unexpectedly got the afternoon off. I know this probably looks bad…”

“Bad?” Kacy says.

Coco swallows. “I told you I had to work, and I did, but then Leslee went to play pickleball—”

“In a dirty car?” Kacy asks.

Coco deserves that. She lied; she got caught. Kacy is the first real friend she’s had in a long time and she’s out of practice at friendship.

Kacy looks at them. “You know it’s fine with me if you guys hang, right?”

It should be fine. But Coco broke the girl code. She almost wishes Kacy would be angry so she could accuse her of overreacting, but of course she’s as cool and gracious as ever.

“Would you like me to make you a French Seventy-Five?” Coco says, holding up the remaining Amalfi lemon. “They’re really good.”

“Actually,” Lamont says, “we have to go.”

“But—” Coco says.

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