Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
T ina, the event planner, agreed to meet Lucas on the afternoon of June first to discuss the fast-approaching Nantucket Whaling Museum street festival. They’d decided to meet at the coffee shop directly beside the Whaling Museum to visualize the street festival spread out from one corner to the other. Tina said she was bringing an assistant, so Lucas brought Jefferson along to make things seem more official. Nobody needed to know how ragtag they were.
“But that’s how we are,” Jefferson joked as they walked over from the Nantucket Historical Society. “Historians aren’t stuffy. We need to spread the word!”
Lucas laughed and rolled his shoulders back.
“I forgot,” Jefferson joked, “ you went to Yale. You’re stuffy. You’re giving the rest of us historians a bad name.”
Lucas raised his eyebrows. “You think?”
Jefferson considered this. “When was the last time you had a really good time?”
“I’m having a really good time right now.”
Jefferson gave him a look that meant he didn’t believe him. “Okay. When was the last time you experienced something new? Or went on vacation?”
“Why would I go on vacation? We have everything we need on Nantucket.”
“Man, you’re helpless.” But Jefferson was smiling. He enjoyed teasing Lucas. It was one of his favorite daytime hobbies although they rarely extended it to the evening. Jefferson had three young children at home. His wife needed him.
Jefferson and Lucas reached the coffee shop ten minutes early and ordered snickerdoodle cookies for the table and cappuccinos for themselves. Lucas was jittery, his knee jumping up and down beneath the table. Monica had always asked, Do you have ants in your pants? And she’d laughed and laughed as he’d tried to calm himself down. He couldn’t help it; he existed at the edge of himself sometimes.
“You’ve never worked with these women at all?” Jefferson asked. He took a sip of cappuccino and lined his upper lip with cream.
“They come highly recommended,” Lucas said. “And what other choice do we have?”
“Not to do the festival,” Jefferson suggested. “Because we have a bucket of other things to do. We shouldn’t obey old women’s requests at the drop of a hat.” His eyes sparkled.
How could Lucas explain his allegiance to Rhonda? That it was based on his love for his mother? That he was doing this to honor his memory of her friendship? He couldn’t. But there wasn’t time anyway. Two women in their forties walked up the sidewalk and turned to enter the glass door. One of them was startlingly pretty, with a complexion he was sure they called peaches and cream and hair the color of carrots, persimmon, or a sunset. The other one Lucas had met before. Tina was an islander and one of Stella’s Salt Sisters. For all he knew, the beautiful one was also a Salt Sister. Maybe she was a new one. Maybe they were recruiting.
“Good to see you again, Lucas,” Tina said as they approached. “This is my friend and colleague Gale.”
Gale smiled nervously and shook his hand. Lucas’s heart pounded. He wondered if she could feel it through his hand.
“Thanks for meeting on such short notice,” Lucas said. “I know you probably think I’m insane.”
“Stella told me to hear you out,” Tina said with a smile.
Tina and Gale ordered drinks and sat down. Tina got out a notepad, and Gale followed suit.
“I want to get a feel for your vision,” Tina began. “How many people do you see at this kind of festival? How do you want to bring in the whaling element?”
Lucas stuttered. “To be honest, throwing events like this is not my strong suit.”
Tina’s face fell. Lucas felt he’d disappointed her.
But Gale jumped in to add, “Have you seen those old whale skeletons? The enormous ones kids can crawl through?”
Jefferson, Lucas, and Tina turned to look at her. Gale held both of her arms up as though she were sculpting an image of a whale’s skeleton. She let her arms fall, then added, “My twins used to like playing in this old whale sculpture in a playground in Providence. I was thinking—maybe we could put something like that up for the kids. If we bring in the tourist kids, we bring in the parents. And there’s plenty to love about the Whaling Museum for all age groups. At least, that’s what I remember. I haven’t been in a while.”
Tina hurriedly scribbled something onto her notepad. “That’s good, Gale,” she muttered although she sounded slightly jealous that Gale had come up with that herself.
Gale blushed. Clearly, she was just there to support Tina, not take over.
“I’ve been reading Moby Dick, ” Lucas said suddenly.
“Don’t go too literary on me,” Tina begged. “Book themes do not allow for good parties. Trust me. I’ve tried that several times over. The only book-to-party that works well is Gatsby, and that’s so overdone.”
But Gale said, “ Moby Dick is one of my favorite books!”
“Really?” Lucas laughed. “I’ve avoided it for years. I thought it would be too tedious. But I moved into this little cottage a few years back, and the book came with the house.”
Gale cackled. “I’ve never heard of a book coming with a house before. That should be more of a thing, don’t you think?”
“It definitely sets the stage for the next part of your life,” Lucas said. “Imagine you move into a castle, and the only book there is Dracula. ”
“Or you move into a windmill, and the book is Don Quixote ,” Gale said.
Tina clapped her hands, startling both Lucas and Gale from their fantasies.
“We have like ten seconds to get this planned,” Tina said, sounding frantic. “Let’s not talk about books. Okay?”
“I’m just saying,” Lucas hurried to add, “that we can take ideas from the book. We can…”
“Let’s talk about food,” Tina said, flaring her nostrils.
Jefferson rapped his knuckles on the table. “She has your number, Lucas. She knows how distracted you get!”
“All I know is, this is a tall order,” Tina said. “I can get it done in time. I really can. We just can’t dally.”
Lucas pressed his palms together. “Anything you need me to do, I’ll do.”
They dove into “real work” after that. Lucas, Jefferson, Tina, and Gale brainstormed “whale-themed” snacks, and Tina shared which contacts she had in the food truck market here in Nantucket. Although Lucas attempted to reject corn dogs, Jefferson talked him into it because of the “kid-friendly” element, and because Jefferson was a self-described “corn dog addict.” At that, Gale laughed so raucously that tears streamed down her face. Lucas thought she was always on the brink of a big emotional breakthrough. She seemed so present.
The meeting lasted a little more than an hour and a half. Tina looked relieved when they packed up.
“We have a lot of phone calls to make, but we’re moving in the right direction,” she said.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Lucas said.
“He’s trying to please a woman friend,” Jefferson explained.
Gale tilted her head with curiosity. “Is your woman friend a whale?” she quipped.
Lucas erupted with laughter.
“Then again, I guess the Whaling Museum is largely anti-whale since it celebrates hundreds of years of hunting them,” Gale continued. She smiled mischievously at him, catching his eye.
Is she flirting with me? It was the first time he’d thought someone had noticed him romantically in years. He touched his glasses, then remembered what Jefferson had said about him being stuffy.
“We’ll let you know what happens next,” Tina said, collecting her things and shaking Lucas’s and Jefferson’s hands. Gale did the same. They turned and left the coffee shop together. Lucas watched them walk down the sidewalk, chatting evenly until they disappeared around the corner.
He noticed Jefferson giving him a look.
“What?” Lucas demanded.
“Who was that woman?” Jefferson asked.
Lucas raised his shoulders. “You just met them. They’re Tina. And Gale.”
“I’m obviously talking about Gale. ”
“Jefferson. You’re married.”
Jefferson pressed the tip of his first finger to Lucas’s chest. His eyes glinted with meaning. “But you’re not.”
Lucas bit his tongue to keep from sobbing. It was incredible how quickly everything could crash in on him. Jefferson sensed the shift change in his mood and removed his finger. He shrugged nervously and added, “It’s just been a while, Lucas. Since she…”
“I know,” Lucas said. “It’s okay.” He swallowed. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
“You’re my dude, Lucas,” Jefferson said. “I just want you to be happy. Reading Moby Dick alone at home won’t cut it. Not for too much longer anyway.”
Jefferson hated that he was right. It didn’t make approaching someone like Gale any easier, though. That felt lightyears away.