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“See,mon petit chou?” he said. “So easy!”
Conservatory Water was famous for the toy yachts zipping across its surface. From high above, they looked like so many dropped handkerchiefs, but Isaac showed Caroline how to lower the drone so close to the water’s surface that she felt like she was a little person riding along on the bow of the boat.
Now Caroline sets Isaac’s drone on the outdoor table by the pool, and, recalling Isaac’s instructions, she pushes the buttons that bring the drone to life.
It’s like a cute mechanical pet. But whereas most drones sound like a swarm of bees, Isaac’s drone is completely silent—and therefore stealthy. Caroline is thrilled when it floats over the table, across the pool, and above the dunes to the beach.
On the screen of her phone, Caroline has a bird’s-eye view of Hollis and her friends as they settle into their afternoon.
There are three navy beach umbrellas shading five teak chaises swathed in navy-and-white-striped towels and a long table that, Caroline assumes, will soon be set up with lunch. She lowers the drone in for some close-ups.
Tatum’s chaise is out in full sun; she’s reclining, her face raised defiantly to the sky.
Brooke’s chaise is in the shade; she has covered her legs with a towel and she’s wearing a long-sleeved rash guard over her suit. She pulls a book from her bag and cracks it open.
Gigi is the only one of the women wearing a bikini. It’s solid turquoise with strings. Gigi’s stomach is perfectly flat with gently defined obliques. (She must do side planks,Caroline thinks.) She has on a matching batik pareo, which she whips off and ties to her chaise. She’s wearing her gold chains, her bracelet and watch, her straw fedora, and sunglasses. Effortlessly chic. The drone approves, and apparently so does Brooke. Her gaze lingers on Gigi for a prolonged second—Girl crush?Caroline wonders—then Brooke tightens the blanket around her legs like a cocoon.
Dru-Ann is out in the water swimming, and when she yells, the other women snap to attention. Dru-Ann points to a sleek, dark head twenty or thirty yards away.
Gigi jumps up from her chaise and Hollis follows. They both walk toward the water.
Caroline maneuvers the drone out over the ocean. There’s a seal frolicking in the waves. Caroline is tempted to send the drone farther out on an exploratory mission. Would she find other seals or something more sinister? She loves the symbolism: Is something lurking out there, threatening the seemingly idyllic weekend?
Gigi and Hollis gravitate toward each other until they’re standing side by side, watching Dru-Ann. Then Gigi points up at the drone, and she and Hollis both smile and wave. Caroline presses the Return to Home button. When viewed from above, her mother’s weekend is undeniably flawless.
Hollis’s eyes drift down to Gigi’s feet in the sand. Her toenails are painted a red so dark, it’s nearly black, and she’s wearing a gold toe ring. Every aspect of Gigi is beautiful, Hollis thinks. Even her feet.
Hollis and Gigi drift down the beach until they’re out of earshot of the others.
“How are you doing?” Gigi asks.
It’s ironic that, of all the women, Gigi feels the most like a confidante to Hollis. She’s tempted to tell Gigi about Tatum’s biopsy, Dru-Ann’s public relations disaster, Brooke’s rampant insecurities, and the issues between herself and Caroline. But that’s just… a lot.
She says, “While you all were shopping, I went to breakfast with my first love.”
Gigi gasps. This isnotwhat she expected Hollis to say. “You did?”
“I did,” Hollis says, and she’s relieved that Gigi doesn’t seem to be as horrified as Caroline was. “I broke every rule in the Five-Star Weekend handbook.”
“I’m not sure there is a handbook for this weekend,” Gigi says. “Or, rather, I’m not sure there should be any rules. We’re grown women with agency; we can all make the best decisions for ourselves.” Waves wash around their ankles. “Tell me about him. Or… her?”
“Him,” Hollis says. “Jack Finigan.” She sighs. How to begin? When Jack was thirteen years old, before his voice even changed, he rode his dirt bike all the way out to Squam on the weekends, and upon his arrival, Tom Shaw put him to work raking leaves, collecting kindling for the woodstove, fixing the overhead fan in the cottage’s only bathroom. In exchange for Jack’s help, Tom let Hollis and Jack hang out on the beach unsupervised for an hour. They kissed for the first time in the dunes not far from where Hollis and Gigi are now.
In high school, Hollis and Jack strolled the halls with their hands tucked into each other’s back pockets. They were frequently told to stop making out at their lockers (PDA wasn’t allowed in school), but eventually the teachers gave up. Jack got his driver’s license and bought a used pickup truck with money he saved over the summer, and he and Hollis drove into the moors at night. They found a clearing in a circle of trees that they named the Round Room, and this was where they always parked. (Once they got stuck in soft sand, and once their battery died, and both times, Kyle and Tatum came to their rescue with a tow rope and jumper cables, respectively.) They listened toSticky Fingerson repeat on the tape deck, always rewinding and replaying “Wild Horses” three times.
“That sounds like something out of a movie,” Gigi says after hearing all this. “So American.”
“Oh, it was,” Hollis says. But the summer before their senior year, Tatum and Jack and Kyle started talking about “the plan.” Hollis agreed to the plan—but she didn’t take it seriously the way the rest of them did.
Hollis and Gigi have walked so far down the beach that Sankaty lighthouse is visible in the distance. “We should probably head back,” Hollis says.
They turn around and Hollis says, “Thank you for talking. Not only today but after Matthew died. You were a lifeline for me. I hope you know that.”
“I’m glad I could be some comfort,” Gigi says. Sheisglad, isn’t she? Yes, but she can’t pretend she was acting out of altruism. She isn’t that delusional.
“Why…” Hollis pauses. “Why did you agree to come this weekend? Didn’t you think I was nuts, inviting you when we’d never met?”
“It did feel a little…risky,” Gigi says. “But you and I have a connection. When you asked, it felt like the right thing.”
