Page 14 of A Novel Summer
Eleven
Justin Lombardo got the call late in the afternoon: hundreds of fish washed up on Herring Cove beach. He worked for the Center for Coastal Studies in marine research and coastal conservation. His team was on-site within twenty minutes.
“They’re Atlantic saury,” said his boss, the director of research. She stood from her crouched position. A species ofScomberesocidae, the saury were needle-nosed fish that swam in large schools. In the summer and fall, they migrated to continental shelf waters.
Dead or alive, marine life was washing ashore more frequently. Every incident raised questions and it was his job to answer them: What caused the event? What could be done to prevent it from happening again? What was the environmental impact?
“Looks like a red tide situation,” Justin said. Red tide algae sucked the oxygen out of water, a harmless part of the underwater ecosystem at normal levels. But contaminants that made their way into the water or that were dumped there could cause the algae to reproduce in dangerous quantities.
“We’ll do some sampling,” his boss said. “As soon as Doug gets here.”
Doug MacDougal was their chemical oceanographer. He was also one of Justin’s close friends.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Doug said, running down the beach. They’d been casual, friendly coworkers until Doug started dating Colleen Miller, who was best friends with Justin’s ex, Shelby Archer. When they all started hanging out three years ago, he never imagined that Doug and Colleen would be the ones whose relationship lasted. He’d been so blindsided when Shelby ended things, it had been hard for him at first to even hang out with Doug and Colleen anymore. But he eventually got over it.
Doug was prepared with his testing kits and seemed to have his usual let’s-get-’em energy. But Justin knew he’d had some sleepless nights lately. Colleen was unexpectedly pregnant, and while Doug always intended to end up with her, things were moving a lot quicker than he had anticipated. He’d missed a few days of work for her doctor’s appointments, but Justin doubted anyone else in the office realized how distracted he was.
They got to work, anticipating that soon the seagulls would descend en masse, turning the blanket of dead fish into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
His phone buzzed with a message from his sister.
Why aren’t you picking up?
He ignored it. Mia had been high-maintenance lately. She’d gotten terrible grades last semester of junior year, refused to talk about college, and seemed to be pushing back against their mother over everything. His parents had asked her to pitch in at the restaurant—they were having a problem staffing up that summer because housing in town had become so expensive—but she’d turned them down. She was fixated on working at the bookshop.
Doug handed him a clipboard.
“I’m going to do some sampling here and then let’s get out on the water,” he said. From a boat, they would collect water for testing and try to put the puzzle pieces together. Their colleagues busied themselves photographing the site and taking notes.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Justin said, just as he noticed his sister walking through the sea grass, making her way towards them. So much for ignoring her phone calls.
“What’s up?” he called out. “Kinda busy here.”
“Yeah, I can see. But you’re not answering your phone.”
She traversed the uneven sand quickly in her Converse shoes, holding her hand up against her forehead as a sun visor.
“So you thought I’d have more time to talk in person?” he said.
“Trust me: you want to hear this,” she said, a little out of breath when she reached him.
“Mia, stop being so dramatic. And look around: this isn’t a good time.”
She glanced at the dead fish and turned back to him. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but those fish aren’t the only things washing ashore. Shelby’s back in town.”
Okay, that was news. And yes, something he appreciated hearing from his sister instead of finding out by running into Shelby on the street. But the truth was, while there was a time this would have bothered him, he was over it. He’d finally moved on.
He’d met his girlfriend, Kate, at a fund-raiser in Boston, an event to raise awareness of the threat to sea life caused by offshore wind turbines. Things moved quickly (they affectionately dubbed their relationship a “whirlwindromance”). Sure, it had been long-distance. But that was changing now. He’d convinced her to take some time away from Boston, to give summer on the Cape a try. She had a business to manage, but they’d even worked that out. She was going to use the summer to test Provincetown as a potential new market for her family business. Kate Hendrik was opening a summer bookstore.
The lease was short-term, and she viewed the shop as exploratory. But he couldn’t help but hope that once she’d spent the summer there, she’d find a way to make it permanent.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Justin said to Mia. “But it’s irrelevant. I haven’t thought about Shelby Archer in a long time.”
“Really?” Mia said with a shrug. “Okay. But you don’t have to say that, you know.”
“Mia, look around,” he said, glancing pointedly at the beached fish. “I’ve got work to do here.” Also, she was wrong: of course he had to say that Shelby meant nothing to him.
If he didn’t say it, how else would it become true?
