Chapter 24
Lily resisted the urge to curl her hair, given what a disaster it had turned out to be the last time she’d tried.
She sprayed her hair with a shine serum, and when she finished blow-drying, it was smooth and silky.
She did her makeup, then climbed into her dress and admired it in her full-length mirror.
She’d fallen in love with the color, such a soft pale blue-green shade.
She wore the same size shoe as her mother, which was convenient, as she had access to a lot of options now.
She went with a strappy silver pump with a three-inch heel.
She didn’t trust herself to walk, let alone dance in anything higher than that.
It would bring her from almost five four to five seven, just a few inches shorter than Teddy, who she guessed was around five ten or so.
She looked forward to going with Teddy and meeting Kenzie and Luke there.
She considered both Teddy and Kenzie her best friends, and both were better friends to her than anyone she’d known in Manhattan.
That had been an unexpected and welcome surprise.
She’d expected that it would be more difficult to make friends in high school, especially since she’d arrived in the middle of the school year.
Both of them had been so welcoming though, and she felt lucky to have met them.
“Honey?” Claire tapped on her bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. “Teddy’s here. I’ll let him know you’ll be out in a minute?”
“I’ll be right there.” Lily added lip gloss and ran a brush through her hair a final time. She took a deep breath, feeling a mix of nerves and excitement for the night.
She walked into the living room, where her mother and grandmother were chatting with Teddy.
He looked so handsome. He was in a dark gray tux and a tie that matched her dress.
She’d sent him a picture of it, as he said his mother wanted to try and match if possible. He turned and smiled when he saw her.
“You look amazing,” he said softly.
She felt suddenly nervous in a way she hadn’t felt around him before. “Thank you. You do too. I love the tie.”
He grinned. “We did pretty good, right?”
“You did wonderfully,” her mother said. “Now please stand by the window, and we’ll get a few pictures with the ocean in the background, and then we’ll do some on the front lawn.”
They spent the next half hour or so taking what felt like a million pictures. Both Claire and Nana were posing Lily and Teddy and snapping away. Finally, they were satisfied, and Lily and Teddy said their goodbyes.
Once they were in Teddy’s car, Lily apologized. “Sorry for all that. I didn’t know they’d go overboard with the pictures.”
But he just laughed. “No worries. I expected it. My mother asked us to stop by on our way. She might want to take a few shots too.”
Lily smiled. “Fair enough.”
Teddy’s mother oohed and aahed over Lily’s dress when they arrived. “The picture Teddy showed me was pretty, but it didn’t really do it justice. That color is gorgeous on you.”
Lily could feel herself blushing. “Thank you. And you did a great job with the tie and tux.”
His mother nodded proudly. “I did, didn’t I? Okay, let’s take a few pictures.”
Twenty minutes later, they were on their way and arrived at the Nantucket Yacht Club soon after. Luke and Kenzie pulled into the lot right ahead of them.
Kenzie stepped out of Luke’s Jeep and ran over to them.
“You both look amazing!! We are going to have such a great night!” Her enthusiasm was contagious as always.
Kenzie looked beautiful. She wore a shimmery chiffon dress that had spaghetti straps and fit closely around her waist and hips, then floated in layers to her ankles.
It was a pretty soft peach color that made her skin glow.
Luke was in a black tux with a matching peach tie.
They looked like a golden couple with their similar blond hair.
Kenzie’s was styled half-up, with wispy ringlets framing her face.
They all headed in together, and the rest of the night was magical to Lily. They ate and then danced all night. The music was fast and fun, and they were only a few songs in when both Lily and Kenzie took off their heels and danced barefoot for the rest of the night.
Everything with Teddy felt somehow different in a way that Lily was a little confused about.
Why was she feeling butterflies suddenly around Teddy, who she’d always considered one of her best friends?
Was it just the excitement of the night?
She thought it was all in her head until several times she noticed Teddy smile more when he caught her eye, and he held her gaze longer. And that made the butterflies flutter.
When the music changed for the first slow dance, Lily looked around nervously. She’d never slow danced with Teddy before. He had gone off to get them more punch, so she didn’t know if he’d even want to dance.
But when he reached her with two glasses of punch in hand, he smiled. “I’m just going to set these down for a bit.” He put them on their table, then reached for Lily’s hand and pulled her toward him.
As soon as his hand touched hers, Lily felt something like an electric shock.
She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, and he rested his on the small of her back.
She leaned into him as they swayed to the music, and she inhaled his scent.
He’d worn cologne, and it smelled incredible on him.
Teddy’s arms around her felt so good. She didn’t want the song to end.
But finally it did. And when they stepped apart, she met his eyes, and he smiled slowly, and something shifted between them.
Neither one of them said a thing to acknowledge it, but it was understood.
They danced almost every slow song after that and most of the fast ones too.
A few times, Kenzie grabbed Lily away from Teddy, and they laughed as they jumped around to some of their favorite songs while Teddy and Luke watched, and then they all four danced together.
Finally, it was time for the last song, a long slow one, and Lily happily rested her head against Teddy’s shoulder as they swayed and twirled around the room.
She wanted the song and this feeling to last forever and was sad when the music stopped.
Lily wasn’t ready for the night to end. She wanted to extend the magical feeling as long as she could. So when Teddy suggested driving to the beach to look at the moon, she happily agreed.
They pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car.
The air had cooled a bit, and when she shivered, Teddy took off his jacket, put it over her shoulders, and then pulled her close and kissed her.
His kiss was soft and tentative at first, but when she leaned into it, he grew more confident, and they kissed for a long time until finally they both pulled apart.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Teddy admitted.
“I had no idea. I’m so glad you did though. It took me a while to see that maybe we could be more than friends.”
“I knew you weren’t ready before. But I’m so glad you are now. I wasn’t sure if you would be. I would have been okay staying friends, but this is better.”
“So much better,” she agreed. “I’ve never done this before, been friends first. I think I like it.” She sighed, feeling happier and more content than she’d ever been. “Thank you for an incredible night.”
In the light of the moon, she could see him grin and his eyes sparkle. “Thank you too. This night has been awesome. We’re going to have the best summer.” He leaned over and kissed her again until she was breathless.
“Yes, I think we are,” she agreed.
He laughed and gave her a final quick kiss. “I should probably get you home.”
Claire opened the shop an hour early on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
Lily joined her for the first time. If the store was as busy as Cody expected, Claire knew she could use an extra pair of hands, and Lily was interested in working a few shifts there throughout the summer.
She and Kenzie were hoping to also get jobs scooping ice cream at either the Juice Bar or Jack and Charlie’s.
They’d filled out applications at both places and were waiting to hear back.
It had rained the day before, but the forecast for the rest of the weekend was practically perfect—warm and sunny.
Claire had read that almost two hundred and fifty sailboats would be racing from Hyannis to Nantucket, starting at about ten with most arriving three to four hours later.
She knew that the ferries were sold out weeks ago, and people had been arriving all week.
Both car and foot traffic was heavier, and there was a sense of excitement in the air.
There were already lots of people out and about as Claire unlocked the shop door.
Lily carried in several boxes of the Nantucket tote bags.
They’d gotten a big shipment in a few days ago, just in time for the holiday weekend.
Claire had restocked the sunglasses and added a few more books, including some pretty blank journals with suede and leather covers and a gorgeous coffee table book celebrating Fashion Week over the years.
Before they officially opened for the day, Lily put out some of the new tote bags while Claire made sure everything looked the way she wanted.
Once she flipped the sign to Open, people started streaming in.
They had a steady flow for the next few hours.
Lots of window-shoppers, people browsing from shop to shop.
But many of them left with something, even if it was just a small item.
Lily seemed to have fun helping people with the jewelry and fastening the gold bangle bracelets that required clasping the Nantucket basket to secure the bracelet.
The wave style and the basket style were equally popular.
Just before noon, Claire was thrilled to sell her friend’s pink Chanel flap bag for eight thousand dollars.
Once the woman left with her new bag and the shop was empty for the first time that morning, Lily asked her how the split worked on the bag.
“So most of the clothes and shoes, I do an even fifty-fifty split. But on the expensive bags, we keep twenty-five percent, which is really like splitting the profits once you factor in the initial retail price for the bag.”
Lily nodded. “So we made two thousand on that?”
“Yes, and I’ll send Melissa a check for six thousand.”
The door opened, and three women walked in. They didn’t have a break again until almost one, when Claire sent Lily off to get coffee and sandwiches from the Corner Table. They’d called the order in ahead of time, so there wouldn’t be too much of a wait.
Lily headed out and was back in fifteen minutes with two chicken salad sandwiches and iced coffees, decaf for Claire. They inhaled their sandwiches once the shop cleared out for a few minutes.
“Mom, you should take a walk to the wharf and check out the sailboats coming in. I can watch the shop for a few minutes. The boats are so impressive. I bet they are wicked expensive.”
Claire smiled at Lily using the common Massachusetts expression. “Some of them are very expensive, multiple millions. They are beautiful. I think I will take a quick walk over there to have a look. I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.” Lily hopped on her phone, since there was no one in the store, and Claire headed out.
The sun warmed her shoulders as she walked the short distance to the wharf.
The area was crowded, one of the big Hyline fast ferries had just arrived, and people were streaming off the boat.
Claire walked along the wharf, watching several stunningly gorgeous sailboats make their way into the harbor.
Many had already arrived and were moored nearby, as there were not enough slips for all the boats.
Claire used her phone to snap a bunch of pictures.
She was glad she’d run out for a quick minute.
It was quite a sight to see these elegant boats sail into the harbor.
By the time she and Lily finished up around five, all the boats would have arrived.
Claire made her way back to the shop and was pleased to see that Lily was managing well on her own. She was busy ringing up two gold bracelets and a tote bag for one woman while her friend was trying on sunglasses.
The rest of the afternoon flew. At a few minutes before five, Cody popped in to say hello before heading out for the day. “Lily, how did your first day go?”
“Great. We were busy. I even worked by myself while Mom ran to check out the boats.”
Cody laughed. “Nice. I was slammed today too.” He glanced at Claire. “Stephanie and her husband and I are heading to the Rose and Crown later to hear some music. Any interest in joining us? It’s going to be packed, but the band that is playing is good. Should be fun.”
Claire was tempted. She hadn’t gone anywhere other than book club since she came to the island. But still she hesitated. “Lily, what are you up to tonight? Will you be home?” She knew her mother had plans and didn’t want to leave Lily home by herself.
“Teddy and I are going to the movies with Kenzie and Luke. We’re going to just walk around downtown after. You should totally go, Mom.”
“All right. I will! What time should I meet you there, Cody?”
“We’re going around seven. I’ll swing by and pick you up. What’s your address and your phone?”
She gave him both, and he put them into his phone. “See you at seven!”