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ChapterTwenty-One
“It’s chaos out there.” Todd rapped his knuckles on the bar counter.
“I’m glad Sarah’s old enough to do her own thing,” Jeremy said, sipping his beer. “The parade always gave me a killer headache.” As he said it, his stomach stirred. This was obviously a lie. He would have done anything to take a seven-year-old Sarah to the parade, to help her gather candy and make himself sick afterward with Tootsie Rolls and Butterfingers.
“Yeah.” Todd grunted and sipped his beer, as well. The two of them were the only ones inside the downtown bar as the rest of the Nantucket revelers raced around outside, celebrating their country’s birth.
Todd and Jeremy had been friends since high school. Both football stars, they’d torn across bright green fields in honor of Nantucket High, ultimately grabbing the state championship their senior year. Todd had been at the bonfire the night of Jeremy’s accident. Jeremy could still practically hear himself as he told Todd, “I think tonight’s the night. I need to end things with Alana. I need to move on.”
Jeremy hadn’t told Todd anything about the recent resurgence of Alana, nor about her plea to see the documents related to her father’s case. He couldn’t fathom it enough to talk about it, anyway.
“You ever thought about getting back out there?” Todd asked suddenly.
Jeremy coughed. This wasn’t traditional Todd-and-Jeremy conversation. “You mean dating, I guess?”
Todd shrugged his burly shoulders. “Sure. I mean, my divorce cleared a good five years ago. And yours?”
“Yeah. You don’t have to say it,” Jeremy said. “I know it was pathetically long ago.”
“Nothing pathetic about it,” Todd offered. “You’ve been busy raising Sarah.”
Jeremy sipped his beer again, thinking back to that morning, as he’d sat back at the kitchen table and watched Sarah pour herself a medium-sized bowl of breakfast cereal.
“She seems to be doing well lately,” Jeremy said simply.
“I didn’t want to say anything…” Todd began.
Jeremy cast him a dark look, one that said:don’t you dare weigh in on my daughter. So, Todd easily changed the subject, discussing a recent baseball game and the likelihood that the Red Sox would go to series. Jeremy fell into the cocoon of a conversation they’d probably had one thousand times.
At three-forty-five, Jeremy splayed a twenty across the counter and explained to Todd that he had to head out.
“What’s up?” Todd asked, all the color draining from his cheeks.
Jeremy palmed his neck. “Sarah’s in a theater play.”
“What? You didn’t mention it.” Todd looked hurt, as though the lack of invitation was a personal slap.
“You mean you really want to go?” Jeremy asked, his heart lifting with surprise.
At this, Todd smacked the bar with the flat of his hand. “Are you kidding? It’s been one of the joys of my life to watch you raise Sarah.” His eyes sparkled as he added, “I like to think that I’ve been as much of an Uncle Todd as I could be.”
Jeremy’s smile twisted. “Then let’s get out of here. It starts at four at the main stage.”
A large crowd pulsed around the main stage. Children with red, white, and blue face paint rushed around, high on sugar, as their parents drank beer and wine and chatted, their smiles generous despite the chaos of their children. Food kiosks around the large stage sold hot dogs and hamburgers and nachos in little cardboard bins, and, as Jeremy and Todd approached, a patriotic band in red, white, and blue played out the last of their set, preparing the crowd for the big production.
“We have to get closer,” Jeremy informed Todd simply. He had no interest in hanging around the back, trying and failing to get a glimpse of his daughter. He wanted front row, center.
Todd followed close behind him, reminding Jeremy of their high school days, when it seemed that the two of them had palled around together wherever they went. Back then, Jeremy had been heavy with arrogance, ready to dart off the island and start a new life. “Man, you were meant for so much more,” Todd had told him once. The words had stung.
Because, in truth, was he actually meant for so much more? What did that even mean? Wasn’t “greatness” all relative? Didn’t he get so much pleasure out of the work he did in the basement of the Nantucket Courthouse— poring over documents that carried with them countless stories?
Todd disappeared for a moment and reappeared front and center with two brand-new beers. He grinned sheepishly, looking the way Jeremy felt on the inside. It was true that there was a correlation between Sarah’s work on the play and her newfound desire to feed herself. This play had been a Godsend.
Suddenly, the mayor of Nantucket Island stepped onstage to introduce the play itself. The crowd hushed as she spread her hands out, declaring, “The people of Nantucket Island have a textured and dynamic history. The stories that have led us here to the year 2022 have been largely forgotten— lost to the sands of our beautiful beaches. The stories that we have recorded are truly spectacular, better than any legend. In this play, entitledNantucket Dreams, we, Nantucketers, experience a real treat with a dramatic retelling of the story of four important Nantucket women from our history—Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Coggeshall, Eunice Ross, and Lucy Stone. Lucky us, those roles will be played by four Nantucket ladies who honor the women who’ve come before them with truly inspired performances.”
Jeremy’s heart flipped over with excitement. As the man in charge of Nantucket documents, he had a pretty intimate understanding of who these women were, probably better than most.
As the crowd applauded and the mayor stepped off the stage, two young women approached from the left of the stage and another two from the right of the stage. Although Jeremy had seen Evie, Harlow, and Nora hundreds, if not thousands of times, their old-world costumes almost completely camouflaged them.
