going—“Tainted Love” segued into “Don’t You Want Me.” People called out, “Carson, over here!” “Carson!”
Vivi eventually wiggled her way through to the bar, where she was wedged so tightly between two parties, she could practically read their minds. Then the party stuck to Vivi’s backside left, and voilà! A seat opened up. Once Vivi had real estate, and a drink was becoming less of a faraway dream, she relaxed a bit.
The McQuaid review had been glowing. Vivi had legions of loyal readers, but she’d never quite captured the interest of the serious reviewers. The McQuaid reviews of her past books had been decidedly mediocre. They had called her first novel, The Dune Daughters, “three hundred pages of word salad,” and because Vivi wasn’t used to anyone (aside from the ruthless people at the Bread Loaf Conference) criticizing her writing, the review had come as an icy shock. She’d thought it was difficult enough getting a book published, but that was just the beginning. Bringing her book out into the world was like setting her heart on a platter and allowing the public to poke, prod, scrutinize, or—worst of all—ignore it.
Well, Vivian Howe was word salad no more!
Her first McQuaid starred review on her thirteenth try!
And Great Morning USA! National television coverage had eluded Vivi until now. Vivi wished her mother were still alive. Her mother had adored Great Morning USA and would have invited half of Parma, Ohio, over to watch.
Every indicator pointed to this book being the big one. Apparently, all Vivi had to do for this unprecedented attention…was write about the one thing she’d sworn to herself she’d keep secret.
Vivi snuffed this thought out just as Carson noticed her sitting at the bar and broke into a genuine smile.
Ha! Vivi thought. Caught her by surprise.
“Mama!” Carson said. “What can I get you?”
As Vivi jogs down Kingsley Road, she assures herself, as she does every morning, that her kids are fine. They’re fine! Willa has a good job at the Nantucket Historical Association, and her husband, Rip, just inherited a summer cottage at the entrance of Smith’s Point. Willa and Rip’s life has become a dream—they now own a house in town and one at the beach. More important, Willa is pregnant again. Can Vivi let herself feel optimistic about this? Yes. Willa will be fine! The baby will be fine!
Carson will be a huge success at the Oystercatcher; she’s on her way to becoming a Nantucket celebrity. She’ll make money, garner attention, meet people, and take the next step: food and beverage director at a hotel or club. Or maybe she’ll even start her own restaurant. Carson will be fine!
What about Leo? (He must have been the one who drank the tequila, Vivi thinks, but why? That was so unlike him.) When Leo was little, he was as sweet as dessert, but with every year that passed, he grew into more of a mystery to Vivi. He got good grades and played varsity football and lacrosse, he was well liked at school—but is he happy? Vivi can’t quite say. Still waters run deep is the phrase that comes to mind when she thinks about her son. Who knows what’s really going on in that mind of his, that heart? Leo’s best friend is Cruz DeSantis. As far as Vivi’s concerned, Cruz is family; he has his own place at the dining table, he knows where everything goes when he unloads the dishwasher, and Vivi has been listed as one of Cruz’s emergency contacts since the kids were in kindergarten. All these years, Leo and Cruz have been inseparable—Frick and freaking Frack, Vivi calls them. When the boys got to high school, they discovered girls. Cruz started dating Jasmine Kelly in tenth grade, and in eleventh grade, Leo succumbed to the charms of Marissa Lopresti, who had been in hot pursuit of him since middle school.
Marissa is a beautiful girl—but like a bird or insect with brightly colored markings, she’s dangerous. Vivi once overheard Marissa ridiculing one of her classmates’ social media posts (“Look at Lindsay in this pic, she’s such a cow, she needs to lose a hundred pounds and she should get a nose job while she’s at it”), and Leo, to his credit, told her to ease up or go home. Marissa has no close girlfriends other than her older sister, Alexis—and for this reason, Marissa resents Leo’s friendship with Cruz. She throws a tantrum any time Leo and Cruz have plans to hang out—go to