forgotten whatever it is you’re making amends for.”
“Oh, I don’t think she’ll have forgotten,” I say. “I slept with her boyfriend. At least, I think I did. Long story.”
“Do you want to have coffee?” she asks, and I have no idea why I say yes, other than that she looks like someone I might want to know, but I say yes, and we arrange to meet at Black-Eyed Susan’s, in fifteen minutes.
* * *
I don’t think Black-Eyed Susan’s has changed an inch since the last time I was here. In fact, the whole island seems not to have changed an inch, which is both disconcerting and something of a huge relief. Where in the world hasn’t changed? I think of London, how different it is today to when I was a child. I remember London when everything stopped on a Sunday, how sleepy it was, compared to today, when nothing is ever closed, when you cannot move down Oxford Street for the hordes of people, a million different languages reverberating in your ears.
The stores here are still, mostly, independent stores, run by islanders. There is the odd chain—I saw Jack Wills and—oh, how happy Sam will be—Vineyard Vines, but on the whole, the stores look and feel much the same as the last time I was here, all those years ago.
I know, of course, Nantucket has changed. I have read about the vast influx of wealth that is now here, and driving along Cliff Road, it is easy to see where that wealth is. The cars in the driveways are Jaguars and Bentleys, but you don’t see them in town; you’re barely aware of the millionaires who descend on the island every summer.
I read recently that Nantucket is described now as being the island of the Haves and Have Mores. And while I know that it’s here, most of the people I have seen are regular holidaymakers, families in shorts and T-shirts, little jewelry, no designer bags in their hands. Other than Sam, of course, who might possibly die without a little bit of luxury in his life.
Nantucket always had the mix. All the great old families had estates here and mixed with the islanders. I remember hearing Julia talk about Ellie hanging out with her prep school friends, who would show up during the summer on their luxury yachts. They were perfectly happy tucking into waffles at Morning Glory, or singing with Scotty round the piano at the Club Car late at night. Everyone mixed with everyone else.
Perhaps they still do, but the truly wealthy, the insanely, new-monied wealthy, the ones with the Bentleys and Jaguars in the driveways, I’m not so sure they’re mixing with everyone else, drinking at the Club Car, grabbing a burger at Brotherhood of Thieves. But this is Nantucket, where everything is possible.
Abigail walks in and joins me at our small table in the window, and I realize I am suddenly starving and order huevos rancheros, even though I’m not entirely sure what it is, other than Spanish sounding and involving eggs, but it seems exotic and filling, and both of those things sound good to me now.
Abigail has just coffee, and it turns out she is, as I thought, an islander, and a part-time Realtor, occasional cook, house manager, and sober coach.
“I’m astonished you have any time to breathe,” I say, when she has finished describing all that she does.
“Me too.” she says, laughing. “Although, you know, we all do that here. We all have a dozen jobs because the season’s so short, there’s never enough work to keep you going all year.”
“What’s your favorite out of all the jobs?”
“Hard to say. I used to love scalloping, being out on the open seas early in the morning. At the start of the season three hours will get you five bushels a person. You can really make a lot of money, although you can’t go out if the temperature dips below twenty-eight degrees, so this past winter was a hard one and I’m looking for something else. I like the house-managing stuff. That keeps me busy year ’round.”
“What does that mean, house managing? Do you look after staff for millionaires?”
I’m joking, but Abigail barely cracks a smile; in fact, she nods. “That’s part of it. I do whatever needs to be done. Organize gardening, yard work, repairs. If they’re here I’ll sometimes plan parties for them, cook dinner, whatever they need. I like doing things for other people.”