Page 41 of Summer Light on Nantucket

She walked down the hall and looked in.

“So, the sea gerbils leave their caves at the exact moment the sun disappears, which makes it impossible for people to see them. They gather beneath the water and flash out like shadows.”

“I see.” Brooks was listening carefully to Holly as she explained a page in her graphic novel.

Holly was dressed in a swimsuit and shorts. Brooks was dressed in swim trunks—Under Armour dark gray with compression liner—she’d bought a pair for Teddy—and a T-shirt. Brooks had folded his sheets and blanket and put them in a corner with his pillow on top. His blond hair stuck out in all directions, and bristles covered his jaw. He would have to shave, Blythe thought, and soon Teddy would be shaving, too.

Brooks spotted her at the doorway. “Good morning, Mrs. Benedict.”

“Hi, Brooks. Hi, Holly.” Blythe waved and turned to leave.

“Hi, Mom,” Holly said, but she didn’t look up from her sketchbook. She had a captive audience and she wasn’t going to let him go just yet.

Blythe went into the kitchen and set out boxes of cereal and a dozen pastries she’d bought at Born & Bread yesterday. Only when it was raining or windy did she make a full eggs and bacon breakfast. The children rarely all got up at the same time. Food would grow cold. And sometimes someone was in a hurry to get to the beach or the tennis court and skipped breakfast entirely. She topped off her coffee and went back to the porch.

Through the open door, she heard laughter, and then she heardHolly, Miranda, and Brooks enter the kitchen. She could tell by his voice that Brooks was happy. She knew he was an only child, and probably often lonely when his parents traveled to other countries and left him with the live-in housekeeper, even though she was perfectly nice.

“MOM!”

“I’m here!”

Miranda stepped out on the porch. “I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Well, now you have.”

“Can me and Brooks have the car to drive us out to Sesachacha? We want to pick up a couple of friends and spend the day there. We’ll stop at Something Natural and get food on the way.”

Blythe took a moment.

“Mom.” Miranda was using her sweetest voice. “You know we’re both good drivers.”

“Give me a minute. I’m trying to think whether I’ll need the car today. Wait—when will you be back?”

“Well, me and Brooks want to stay out there at night, I don’t mean all night, I mean until maybe ten o’clock? Or eleven?”

“If I let you have the car, Miranda, will you promise me that next time you will say ‘Brooks and I’?”

Miranda frowned. “Brooks and you what?”

Teddy, fully dressed in white shorts and T-shirt, burst out onto the porch. “I’m going to the club to play tennis and stuff.”

Blythe asked, “Have you had breakfast?”

“Yeah, cereal. Bye.”

“Teddy, stop!” At least, Blythe thought, she could still get him to pay attention to her. “You have to give me a hug.”

“Jeez, Mom.” Teddy rolled his eyes but gave her the world’s quickest and fiercest hug—for a moment Blythe couldn’t breathe.

Teddy was stronger than he used to be.

“Mom,” Miranda said.

“Fine. Take the car. But promise me you’ll call me when you get there and check in sometime in the evening.”

Miranda shook her head. “You are so weird.”

“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” Blythe replied, and in a moment of happiness, she hugged her oldest daughter tight and kissed her cheek. “Have fun.”

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