Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
I t was the most beautiful night of Frankie’s life so far. There, across the railing at the Nantucket Harbor, Zane leaned her over and kissed her passionately, his hands around her waist and his breath hot on her neck when he pulled away. “I can’t stop thinking about you,” he whispered. “You drive me crazy.”
Frankie remembered what Nellie had said late last night. Just take it slow. Promise you’ll take it slow?
Frankie thought, Slow is boring. I don’t want slow.
Frankie giggled and leaned against the railing. Zane joined her, and they watched tourists milling past, sunburnt and overstuffed with delicious seafood and ice cream. Eventually, Zane suggested they grab ice cream cones, so they stretched their legs down the boardwalk and bought two cones. Frankie sprang for lemon; Zane got dark chocolate.
They hadn’t said anything in a few minutes. Frankie felt they existed in a bubble of romance, as though they’d transcended words. Who needs linguistics? she thought. Maybe I just need this.
“So,” Zane said as they ate their ice cream cones and wandered. “Technically, this was supposed to be a business meeting.”
Frankie giggled. “It’s been very professional so far.”
Zane shot her a funny look and smiled. “I can see you take your career very seriously.”
“Very.”
Frankie didn’t feel funny or clever. But her heart felt wide open. She felt she could say anything to him, and he’d laugh or appreciate it. We’re on the same wavelength.
“I do have a job for you,” Zane said. “Tomorrow. If you’re up for it.”
“I’d love to do it. Copywriting?”
“Not this time,” Zane admitted. “I need to be in three places at once tomorrow, but I can’t seem to figure out how to break the space-time continuum to do that.”
Frankie laughed. “I can’t help you with the space-time continuum. But I can be wherever you need me to be.”
“That’s so great, Frankie. Really.” He looked like he meant it. “I need a few packages picked up from The Wild Lily Inn.”
Packages? Am I a mailwoman now?
Who cares! Just a few packages. It’s easy.
“I’d need you to get there at three,” Zane said, “and deliver the packages to the ferry departing the docks at three thirty. Someone will be waiting for you.”
“Who is it?”
“An associate of mine. His name is Greg.”
“How did you get involved with Greg?” Frankie asked.
“We’ve known each other for years. I wouldn’t call him a friend, but I trust him in every conceivable way.”
“And what are in the packages?” Frankie asked.
“It sounds crazy, but The Wild Lily Inn exports flower seeds,” Zane explained. “They sell them in shops in Boston, Manhattan, Bangor, and Providence. They sell them in these fancy shops where the term ‘Nantucket Flower Seeds’ counts.”
“So I’ll be hand-delivering flower seeds?”
Zane laughed. “I know. It’s probably beneath a college graduate like you.”
Frankie blushed and struggled to maintain her big smile.
“But I’ll pay you,” Zane said.
“I guess I thought the job would be more, like, computer stuff?”
A shadow passed over Zane’s face. His smile was gone for just a hair of a second before it returned brighter and more sensational than ever. “It will be,” he said. “But like I said, tomorrow I need to be in three places at once. And you said you’re up for anything.”
“That’s true,” Frankie said. “All right. I’ll do it.”
That was when Zane pulled her closer to him, wrapped her tighter than ever in his arms, and breathed, “You’re a lifesaver, Frankie. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met you last week.” He swallowed, and his eyes glinted with tears. “You know how it is, right? You’re going through life alone, lost, afraid of everything. Then one person comes along who reminds you that there are beautiful things in the world. You just have to be brave enough to claim them.”
Frankie felt herself swooning. I want to be brave enough. I want to be strong enough. I want this.
Zane dropped Frankie back at home at ten thirty that night. Frankie floated in the front door, her lips sore from kissing, her heart thumping. To her surprise, she found her mother and Nellie on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and diet sodas. Frankie had the sudden and beautiful urge to jump into their sofa blanket pile and tell them everything about Zane.
“Hi!” Nellie called. “You’re back!” She paused, giving Frankie a mischievous smile. “I didn’t tell her anything! She saw you!”
Frankie’s heart thwacked. She caught her mother’s eye, and Ida smiled knowingly.
“Come over here,” Ida said, patting the sofa. “We want to hear all about your date.”
“But we’re going to need more soda,” Nellie said.
Frankie went to the kitchen to retrieve more diet sodas and a few slices of cheese, which Nellie and Ida welcomed with happy cries.
“Where did you see us?” Frankie asked as she settled on the sofa.
Nellie turned down the volume of a travel show. On-screen were beautiful Japanese mountains and low trees.
“In the Historic District,” Ida said. “I was getting veggie burgers with Shelby.”
Frankie’s lips twisted into a smile. “It’s not like we were hiding ourselves away, I guess.”
“No, you most certainly were not.” Ida laughed.
Frankie searched her mother’s face for some sign of her anger or distaste. Frankie had been so sure her mother would be enraged at Zane’s age. But she found nothing in her mother’s eyes but excitement for Frankie. Joy that she was opening herself up to new experiences.
“What’s his name? Nellie won’t tell me anything,” Ida said.
Frankie gave Nellie an appreciative smile. “His name is Zane.”
“He’s super cute,” Ida said. “Where did you meet him?”
“On the ferry coming back from the city last week,” Frankie said.
Ida cocked her head. “How serendipitous! Wow. And to think, I thought you girls would stay the night in the city. Good thing you didn’t, huh?”
Nellie made a strange noise in her throat, one that meant she wasn’t fully over missing out on a wild night in the city. Frankie couldn’t have cared less.
“Zane used to live in the city,” Frankie explained. “But he says there’s nothing for anyone there now unless you’re really wealthy.”
Ida raised her eyebrows.
“It’s just that,” Frankie scrambled to add, “I’ve felt so much pressure to get a job in the city. And maybe I don’t even want one?”
“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do,” Ida assured her softly, with such love in her eyes that it gave Frankie pause. “And I certainly would prefer that you were here with us in Nantucket than five hours away in the city.”
Frankie’s heart ballooned.
“And now that you’re doing things online and working for yourself,” Ida continued, “you could probably just build a business here. Right?”
Frankie stuttered into saying, “Yes. I mean, that would be amazing.”
Maybe I don’t even have to tell my mom I didn’t get that job. Perhaps I can just pretend that the interview never happened.
Ida tapped her thigh. “Building your own business is crazy hard but so rewarding. Let me know if you need any help. I’m here.”
“Thank you, Mom.” Frankie placed her head on Ida’s shoulder.
Nellie turned back up the volume of the travel show so they could hear a young woman taste test different types of sakis from Japan. Frankie fell into the soft cadence of the traveler’s words, her mother’s soft embrace, and her sister’s calming presence. It felt like a wonderful reprieve after the chaos of early summer. It felt like payment for all the pain she’d gone through.
It’s going to be all right, she told herself. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time.