Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
When Lizzie arrived the parking lot was already filling up, and there were excited children everywhere.
Glancing at the clock on the dashboard, it is 8:44, or 8:45-ish. She pulls on her hat, gets out of the car and looks around for Jack. As she starts walking toward the pier, decorated with a red carpet, the railing is covered with greens and red bows and she sees him walking toward her.
“You’re not wearing sweatpants,” she says as they get closer to each other. “I’m so disappointed.”
He smiles and throws his hands in the air. “Sorry to disappoint, I just couldn’t do it. I do still have some pride.”
“Fine, I hope my outfit isn’t an embarrassment for your sartorial sensibilities, I wanted to be warm.”
“You look great, as always.” He turns toward the pier, “Shall we, madam? I believe there is an arrival happening very soon that we need to be there for.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to take a few photos for my dad, so I have to be there when they pull in.”
The two of them hurry across the parking lot and run down the pier and join all the others anxiously waiting for Santa.
“Oh my gosh it’s cold!” Lizzie says, “I did not really factor in the being right on the water part of this activity!” She gently bobs up and down trying to warm herself.
Jack pulls her in and rubs her arms briskly, she feels both happy and unsure about the gesture. “It shouldn’t be long. I saw Brady, Jess and Tom getting into Tom’s lobster boat as I was driving here. They were about to head off.”
“Ah, so they roped Brady into being Santa this year? I’m glad they’ll be here soon,” she says, still shivering.
And just then the kids all start yelling, “It’s Santa! It’s Santa!” As the boat gets closer to the pier.
A little girl standing next to Lizzie is so excited she starts crying. “He’s really here! I’ve been waiting for Santa for my whole entire life!” she exclaims.
Jack and Lizzie look at each other and smile.
“I can’t imagine being that excited about anything, it’s so sweet.” Lizzie says to him.
“I might get that excited if someone gave me season tickets for the Red Sox,” Jack says. “Or the Pats.”
“If I am ever in the position of seeing you get that gift I am going to hold you to that,” Lizzie says. She has her phone out and quickly takes a handful of photos. The look of happiness and excitement on the children’s faces is priceless, and she hopes she’s doing it justice.
As the lobster boat pulls up, Santa, aka Brady Simms, one year ahead of them in high school, begins “Ho,ho,ho” ing very convincingly. There truly is nothing like seeing Santa Claus, and Mrs. Claus of course, surrounded by fishing gear and lobster traps on a boat. Lizzie hoped her photos captured it all well.
“Look at all of you who came out to greet me on this cold, cold morning!” he says. “Thank you! Are all of you ready to go inside and have some pancakes and cocoa?”
“Yes!!!” they all yell.
“Well, let’s get inside, and then you can all tell me what you want for Christmas!”
And another yell of excitement.
“It doesn't take much to get this crowd excited does it?” Jack laughs as they head to the club house.
“Yeah, I think it’s a safe bet that cocoa, pancakes and presents are kind of a slam dunk.”
“Well, he had me at cocoa,” says Jack.
“Me too!” They follow the running children to the door, which Jack holds open for the littler stragglers, and then gestures for Lizzie to go in ahead of him.
“Thank you sir,” she says, giving him a curtsy, “You are so very kind.”
The inside of the town clubhouse is decorated within an inch of its life. There is garland hanging from every possible fixture, two Christmas trees, a faux fireplace that is lit up, and little lights twinkling everywhere.
“Wow, is it just me or have they really upped their decorating game since we were kids?” Lizzie asks Jack as they both drink in all the Christmas.
“No, it’s not just you. I remember one very Charlie Brown Christmas tree, some of those large Christmas light bulbs strung around the windows, and the pancakes on a very plain table. I also remember the crankiest Santas one year–”
At the same time they both blurt out, “Ernie Payne!” and laugh.
“Oh my gosh, he told me that dolls were dumb and he’d bring me something more useful, like a tool kit,” Lizzie says laughing.
“Well, he told me I had a terrible arm and it was useless to bring me a new glove, that he’d be better off giving it to someone who could actually play the game.”
“Clearly they did not vet the people they strong-armed into the role back then.”
The kids were all lining up to sit on Santa’s knee, so Lizzie and Jack took the opportunity to grab some plates and pile on some pancakes before they started clamoring for breakfast. Lizzie puts two on her plate, and a moderate amount of butter and syrup.
“I have to say I am incredibly disappointed in that poor showing, Ms. Martin. I would have taken you for at least four, maybe a five pancake stack.”
Lizzie looks at him and narrows her eyes. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult?” she says laughing.
“Oh, it’s totally a complement,” Jack says. “You just kept talking about how much you love these pancakes.” He points to an empty table a bit removed from the crowd.
She puts her plate down, “Be right back,” she says as she runs over to get a few more photos of the kids and Santa.
She rushes back and plunks herself into the seat. “Anyway...I made a stupid mistake at home and had a bowl of cereal completely not thinking about eating pancakes.” She picks up her fork, cuts into the little stack and takes a bite. “Hmmm, these are just as good as I remember.”
Jack takes a bite, chews and nods in solidarity. “You are quite right.” He takes a knife and cuts through his much larger stack of about six pancakes. “I can’t believe you wasted valuable stomach space on something as pedestrian as cereal.”
She holds up a finger as she chews, then swallows and says, “Oh, this wasn’t the least bit ordinary, it was organic raisin bran covered in organic oatmilk” She gestures to their plates, “As yummy as this is, I’m thinking, not organic, and I hate to break it to you, not even real maple syrup.”
“Fine, you have me there, but maple flavored corn syrup can be quite delicious,” he says, having put a big dent in his stack.
Lizzie looks around the room, half the kids are done with Santa and have moved over to the pancake area, and are being delighted by Mrs. Claus.
“Jess makes a lovely Mrs. Claus,” Lizzie says. “It’s so weird to think back to when we were the little kids coming to this, and now we’re old enough to be Santa and Mrs. Claus!” She takes a couple of more bites, but she’s full even before finishing her paltry two pancakes.
“The sad thing is though, there’s so few of us around anymore who remember these traditions, who are here to make sure they continue. I hate to think of a bunch of people who didn’t grow up here doing these things. It just doesn’t feel right.”
Lizzie looks around at the mostly older retired folks who are volunteering. That is often the case since younger people are working, or have little kids, but she knows Jack is right. The median age of Cranberry Harbor is 65, and if something doesn’t change in the next few years they are going to find themselves living in a retirement community, not a thriving small town.
As the children all sit down to eat, the adult volunteers start singing Jingle Bells . Never one who liked to sing, Jack finds himself swept into it too. The two of them get up and join the other adults as they serenade the kids. Normally Lizzie and Jack would have felt very self-conscious, but somehow singing along with Santa and Mrs. Claus has given them a big shot of Christmas spirit. Jingle Bells leads seamlessly into We Wish You a Merry Christmas, then Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and before they know it an hour has passed.
Jack and Lizzie are laughing as they head back to their table. “Oh my goodness,” Lizzie says, “I do not remember the last time I sang one Christmas carol, nevermind an hour’s worth! That was actually really fun. Somewhere my teen self is rolling her eyes. But I don’t care, I liked it, darn it.”
“Oh, we’re hiding this from young Jack as well. He would be appalled that this is now what passes for fun on a Saturday morning.” He sits back and takes a sip of his now-cold cocoa. “But you know? I don’t care if it’s hokey, it was fun. Really fun.”
Lizzie nods and smiles. “Yeah, I’d kind of forgotten how much fun simple things can be. Why is it when we get to be adults we think happiness has to be elaborate, or expensive?” She sits back and sighs. “Bring back simple, is what I say.”
“I like it. Let’s make it happen–hashtag–bringbacksimple. It’s going to go viral!” he laughs.
“No!” she scolds him. “You’re thinking like a tech guy. Simple means unplugged, no hashtags allowed!”
“Yes, ma’am!” he laughs. “No, I hear you. In my world it’s always all about scaling things up, making things bigger, and bigger isn’t always better.” They’re both quiet. “I’ve got some notes in my car that I worked on last night that I wanted to show you, are you doing anything after this? Would you be free to get some coffee?”
“Yeah, no, I’ve got a bunch of nothing on my plate. Let’s go.”
Both of them offer to help clean up, but are shooed away by a trio of older ladies dressed like elves. Both Lizzie and Jack decide they did not want to mess with those elves, and head into town in their cars, meeting up minutes later at Sea Coast.
They walk in together, Jack once again holding the door for her. She had to give him points for never having lost his manners in all the years she’d known him. Even as a teenager he was always respectful and just, nice. And funny, and smart...The kind of guy it wouldn’t be bad to spend the rest of your life with, she’d thought.
They snag a table, and put their things down, and head to the counter.
“What are you having?” Jack says, getting out his wallet.
“No, you treated last time, let me get this,” Lizzie says, getting out her wallet.
“Lizzie, in all the unfairness in the world, one is that I make a ridiculous amount of money doing something I’d do for free–don’t tell anyone that–while people in professions like journalism, which is incredibly important to our society, don’t. So let me assuage some of my guilt by treating you to tea, or whatever you want.”
“So it’s a pity tea, huh?” she says, smiling at him. “Fine, you can work out your income guilt on me, I’m down with it.” She looks up at the tea menu. “Now that you mentioned tea, that is sounding really good. I think I will have some Earl Grey, thank you very much.”
“Earl Grey it is, and yeah, now I think I want tea too,” he pauses for a moment and then says to the barista, “Two large teas, please, one Earl Grey, and one English breakfast. Thank you.”
They step aside and as they wait for their order. Alexis spies them from the back and comes around.
“Hey you two, fancy meeting you here! Jack, nice to see you again,” she gives him a hug. “And you lady, I just saw you last night!” she jokes giving Lizzie a hug.
“Are you working?” Jack asks. “If you’re not, you're welcome to join us, we’d love to hang out.”
“You sure? I wouldn't be crashing? I am due for a break.”
“Absolutely not crashing. Grab something and come sit down,” Lizzie says.
Jack’s name is called, they get their teas and head back to the table.
“I think Alexis might be someone good to run some of my ideas by, what do you think?” Jack asks her as he blows on his tea. “You said she was getting a Master’s in community development, right?”
“Yeah, I think that could be perfect, she’s really interested in trying to find a way to build a career and make a life here. Let’s see what she has to say.”
Within a few minutes Alexis is back and pulls up a chair. “You two look like you’re up to something,” she says, looking back and forth between them. “Spill!”
Lizzie and Jack both laugh, “Boy, you are nothing if not perceptive,” Jack says. He clears his throat, and pulls out his notebooks. “Okay, so you know that I tried to create this software start up here that went belly up-”
“Ancient history,” says Lizzie. “Sorry, go on.”
He smiles at her and continues. “But the thing is, nothing has changed here in terms of people needing jobs and housing.” Jack sees Alexis looking at him like tell me something I don’t know . “So I’ve been working on some ideas, a couple I ran by Lizzie, and I have some new ones as well. Could I bore you both for a few minutes?”
Both of them nod, “This is far from boring, Jack, you had me at having some ideas,” says Alexis.
He pulls out a sketchpad. “Okay, so the first thing I talked to Lizzie about was that land on the outskirts of town–”
“The one that developer was going to put McMansions on, right?” Alexis asks.
“Yeah, it was not at all what Cranberry Harbor needed–more wealthy people and nothing for locals. So the town did the right thing, nixed that idea and took back the land.” He flips open the pad. “So I’ve been working on this idea of melding the tech world with the growing farming and local business population here. It’s completely self-sustaining energetically, between a couple of well-placed, discrete turbines, solar panels, and state-of-the-art battery technology. Farmers can lease out some of their property for solar panels, providing them with a passive income year-round, and we can build ecologically sustainable tiny houses, and regular-sized houses. The tiny houses would be perfect for college students who may come here for an internship, or single people who don’t need the space or expense of a whole house.” He takes a deep breath. “You bored yet?” he laughs.
“No, not at all. I feel like we’re witnessing the future of the town right here,” says Lizzie.
“Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this, and talking to some friends and colleagues out in California, and one company has been talking with the Cape Cod Marine Studies Center on a project they’d like to bring here, there’s actually two things. These ideas are farther down the road, but good things to be thinking about. So these friends of mine, Max and Marnie, have a system for removing nitrogen from wastewater, a huge problem on this sandbar. I know, not exactly a glamorous business, but–”
“Could help save the Cape,” says Alexis. “It’s good for the environment and would provide good jobs too. That’s amazing, Jack.”
“But wait, there’s more,” he says, joking. “When I was in California I was working on some side projects, and there’s an angel investor who wants to help us get this other project going.”
“Okay, what’s that?” asks Lizzie.
“I just talked to my friend and he said that they’d like to find a spot on the East Coast to coincide with the building of their Northern California facility for carbon capture, to help with global warming. And I was thinking of–”
“That old abandoned base down-Cape?” says Alexis.
“Exactly! We are at the forefront of climate change here on the Cape, and we need to do something, and this would bring really good jobs, and hopefully help the planet.”
“Wow,” Lizzie sits back. “This is amazing. And you really think you could get the money to actually do these things?”
“Yes, there are lots of people out there with lots of money who truly want to do good things with it. This is of course a one step at a time thing, we won’t try to do everything at once.”
“Well I’m interested, that’s for sure,” says Alexis. “Sign me up!”
“Be careful what you say, I could come knocking and want to hire you. We’re going to need someone with community planning skills. What I really want to work on first is the project right here. I want to start with housing, energy and working with local farmers and artisans, introducing the tech world to the local one.”
“Well, I’d be very interested. Not that I don’t love Hope, but I’m almost done with my Master’s and I’d like to be doing something in my field, and hang up my barista apron for good.”
“We will definitely talk,” says Jack, sitting back and taking a big sip of his tea.
Alexis’s alarm on her phone chimes. “Ugh, I hate to, but I have to run,” she says. “I told my granddad I’d help him pick out a Christmas tree,” she stands up and pushes her chair in. “I am definitely very interested in this, please keep me in the loop. And thank you so much for thinking of me! I’ll see you both soon, I hope,” she says, gives them each a hug, and then heads off.
“I will certainly be in touch,” Jack says. “Thanks for listening!”
“See you soon!” Lizzie calls after her. “Jack, this is amazing. I cannot believe what you’ve pulled together in such a short time. It’s incredible.”
“I want to make up for the last time. The promises I didn’t keep,” he says looking at her.
Lizzie isn’t sure what he means. Personal promises? Business? Both? Suddenly she feels very nervous. “I hate to, but I should go too,” she says, getting up and putting on her coat. “When you’re ready, talk to my dad, he’ll be able to tell you all the right people to reach out to. He’d love to help I’m sure.”
“Okay,” he says, unhappy that she’s leaving. “Will I see you later? The scavenger hunt starts soon.”
“Maybe? I’ll shoot you a text, thanks so much for the tea,” she says as she exits quickly. She doesn’t know why, but she just couldn’t stay one more minute. If she was part of his grand plan she honestly didn’t know what she’d say. How could she ever trust him again, and what if he did in fact have a girlfriend back in California? There were just too many questions.