Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
The morning after Nora’s first-ever yachting adventure, she was back to her regular schedule.
After packing their food, towels, and supplies into the car, she drove the kids back to Madequecham Beach.
Her mind was buzzing with questions about yesterday.
She felt part of a story in which she wasn’t the main character.
She was on the sidelines, watching. Maybe something bad would happen to her because she was so unimportant, she thought.
But when they reached the beach, she kept herself upbeat, singing songs with the kids and smearing sunscreen on everyone’s cheeks, shoulders, and backs.
Sometimes she wondered if she and the kids would ever grow tired of spending every day on the beach.
But they never complained. She reasoned that they were beach kids.
All they needed was the big blue sky, that gorgeous water, and endless miles of sand.
They could be as loud as they wanted, without the Greenaways yelling at them.
They always tired themselves out, celebrating the beauty of summer.
And after growing up in New Hampshire, Nora wasn’t sure if she could ever get enough beach time either. She’d begun to let go of her visions of New Hampshire. She’d begun to put her dreams of going home to rest.
Midway through the morning, as Mona took a nap under the umbrella and the other kids made sandcastles, Nora heard a car engine sputtering on the road.
She turned to watch as it parked beside the one she’d driven here.
Her heart sank. They usually didn’t have to share this beach with anyone.
She’d begun to think of it as only theirs.
But a moment later, Max stepped out with a towel thrown over his shoulder. He swaggered over to her, smiling.
Nora hadn’t seen Max since their kiss at the party.
She scrambled to her feet, suddenly conscious of the way she looked in her bathing suit and how she’d styled her hair in a messy bun.
She wondered how Max had found her. She wondered if some higher power monitored everything she did on this island.
She thought of her uncle and his friends, how they seemed to control so many people, how they seemed capable of destruction. But Max wasn’t a part of that. Was he?
But when Max reached her, he smiled and said, “I thought I’d find you here. I mean, I hoped I would.”
Nora touched her messy bun, then pulled it down. “How?”
“I recognized the car when I drove by,” Max said. “I thought I remembered it from the Greenaway garages. I remember it because it’s their crappiest one.”
“They need it for the kids and me,” Nora said. “I wouldn’t dare touch any of their sports cars.”
Max laughed. “Never? We should steal one and run away.”
Nora’s chest opened with the glory of that idea. She pictured herself and Max against the world, speeding around the island in the Jaguar. Could they make it to the ferry and onto the mainland? If they sped away from Hyannis Port on the mainland, would they ever be caught?
The kids watched them curiously, having paused their sandcastle building.
Max hopped over and dropped onto his knees, eager to help them.
For a little while, Nora and Max did what they could, scooping sand and helping with architectural foundations.
Henry seemed to mimic everything that Max did, which made Nora laugh.
When Henry, Sarah, and Felix went into the water again to cool down, she said that Henry imitates both Max and his father.
“He doesn’t know who he wants to be,” she said.
“I hope he figures out his father’s nobody to imitate,” Max said darkly.
Nora wet her lips. Softly, she told Max that she’d seen Uncle Everett kissing Aunt Cynthia’s best friend, Margo. “But Aunt Cynthia’s having an affair, too. I mean, I think so.”
Max frowned, although he didn’t seem surprised. “That’s the kind of world these people create for themselves. Nothing makes them happy, so they keep searching and destroying. I guess they’ll eventually destroy each other.”
“Uncle Everett invited me out sailing yesterday,” Nora said. “I didn’t know how to say no.”
Max’s face transformed from shock to rage. “You went?”
Nora nodded, taken aback.
“It’s dangerous, Nora,” Max insisted. “I told you before. You need to stay away from these people as best as you can.”
“I can take care of myself,” Nora said, crossing her arms.
“Everybody thinks they can take care of themselves. But everybody underestimates the Greenaways,” Max said.
“They’re just loser rich people, cheating on their wives with women who hate them and use them for their money,” Nora said.
“On the one hand, yes.” Max offered her a small smile. “But they’re also so much more than that. Promise me you won’t go out on a boat with them again?”
But Nora wasn’t sure why she had to promise something like that to Max, a teenage boy she’d kissed once and hardly knew. Annoyance at him merged with her attraction, stunning her into silence.
Max touched her hand on the sand. “Promise me, Nora. You’re not like them. I don’t want you to get involved with them.”
“I won’t get involved with them,” Nora shot back, surprised at how angry she sounded. “They’ve made me a servant. I know they don’t care about me. But the more I understand who they are, the better I can protect myself.”
Max remained quiet, as though he knew he’d struck a nerve.
“I’ll be out of here after I graduate from high school,” Nora continued. “Maybe even before that, if they get sick of me. Maybe I’ll leave all these beautiful beaches far behind in my memories. Perhaps I’ll put all of this in a novel someday.”
Max brushed sand from her cheek and drew a curl behind her ear. “I don’t want you to be a part of my past, Nora.”
Nora shivered with desire. All she wanted in the world, just then, was for him to kiss her, to draw him into his arms and whisper secrets about their shared future, a future she wanted to believe in.
But just then, Mona woke up, crying and angry, and Nora had to tend to her, then to all the kids, who scampered in from the waves, begging for snacks and juice.
Max did his best before chasing the older kids back into the water and throwing them into the waves.
Nora watched with Mona on her hip. Max’s muscles rippled each time he tossed them.
His smile was the brightest thing she knew.