Page 15 of The White Oak Lodge

Sarcasm rippled across Tio Angelo’s face.

Nina had heard Alexander and Benjamin discussing something in earnest, but she hadn’t given much thought to it.

“Why wouldn’t Alexander want to take over?”

Tio Angelo relished her questions. “Do you think there is life outside of Nantucket Island?”

Nina furrowed her brow with confusion. “Sure there is,” she said because she thought that was what Tio Angelo wanted to hear.

He erupted with laughter as though all this were a game.

“What about Jack?” Nina said, naming the only other Whitmore son.

“Jack! Now that’s an interesting proposition,” Tio Angelo said, seeming to mull it over. “Why do you think Jack would make a good hotelier?”

“Um. He’s so kind?” Nina suggested. But even a moment after she said it, she recognized how silly it sounded. Kindness didn’t make a good hotelier.

“Sure,” Tio Angelo said, nodding as though she’d made a profound point.

Nina’s heart cracked open. With her finger, she drew a line in the sand between them and studied the particles that filled her fingernail.

“You’re a good girl, Nina,” Tio Angelo said gently.

Nina’s throat was tight with sorrow.If I’m so good, why did everyone forget my birthday?

Instead, she asked, “Why doesn’t my mother like me?”

Tio Angelo’s eyes widened. But unlike any other adult might have, he didn’t gaslight her about her feelings. Instead, he said, “Italian mothers are difficult, Nina. They try and try and try, but they can’t overcome their emotions sometimes. Do you know what I’m saying?”

Nina nodded, although she had no idea what he meant.

“She takes care of you, doesn’t she?” Tio Angelo said.

“Yes.”

But, Nina wanted to say,she seems to love everyone else except me.

“She didn’t want to be a mother so late in the game. After five others!” he said with a light shrug. “But you’re getting older now. Maybe you and Francesca can find common ground. Maybe she’ll see that you’re the best of the lot.”

Nina wasn’t sure. But as the waves lapped up on the shore and tickled her toes, she let out an exhilarated laugh and jumped up. Tio Angelo jumped with her, smiling exuberantly in a way that made her see what he’d looked like as a younger man, a boy in Italy with his whole life ahead of him.

“Tio Angelo?” Nina cried out mid-laugh. “Can I tell you something?”

“Nina, you can tell me anything!”

Nina forced herself to stop laughing and finally blurted out, “Today is my birthday. Everyone forgot.”

Angelo’s face melted with surprise. He put his hand on Nina’s shoulder, shook his head, and said, “This won’t do, Nina. This won’t do at all.”

He sprang back to the house to tell everyone.And this, Nina thought later,was one of the best birthdays of her life.A birthday edged with guilt that forced everyone to smile extra big, made their “Happy Birthday” songs extra bright, and halted all construction on the preseason White Oak Lodge. A birthday of three grocery-store-bought cakes, dancing around the bonfire with Jack, and her mother and father holding hands and kissing beneath the stars. Everyone said sorry over and over again. Everyone hugged her extra tight. It was all because of Tio Angelo, she knew. And when the night was ending, she hugged him close and whispered, “Thank you, Tio Angelo.” She told herself not to cry, but later in her room, she couldn’t help it. Shewas eleven years old and felt as though everything was about to change for good. Maybe it already had.

Chapter Eight

Amos

June 2025

For the second night in a row, Amos sat on the back porch of Nina’s rental cabin with a glass of wine and a feeling in his gut that he couldn’t fathom. Nina was inside, paying a delivery driver, and he could hear her light words of thanks, the shuffling plastic bags, and the drawer opening and banging shut. She returned with forks, plates, and a nervous smile. It’d been eight hours since they had burgers and fries at the diner, and Amos felt depleted. But he couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared two meals in a row with someone like this.

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