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She’d wondered how all the cars in the parking lot would fit on a single boat or if they’d go over a few at a time. She had been on small ferries in Florida, but never anything like this. It was four stories tall, painted white with hunter green trim, and could fit a hundred cars at least, and probably hundreds of people.
As it churned into the terminal, whitewater boiling all around its hulking bow, she got back into the car with her dad. She felt a shudder of excitement and anxiety. Her dad seemed to sense it and reached over to pat her knee again.
“I know this isn’t what you wanted.”
What an overstatement.
“It is what it is,” she said. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. I know you loved your nanny, and I know you would rather not have left. But we have to make the best of things, ok? Can you promise me that?”
“You want me to promise? Ok, sure. I solemnly swear that I will make the best of things.”
She laughed an angry laugh.
“Will you please have an open mind and try to like it? Will youtryto see that I didn’t have much of a choice?”
“You couldn’t have gotten a job in Florida?”
“No.” Her dad laughed. “Saber, I make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. How do you think I funded your college account and sent you money for everything you needed? I couldn’t get a job like the one I have in Fernandina. I tried to get your grandma to move out here for years. Anyway, I just built this house. I can’t afford to sell it and start over.”
“So it’s about money. Money, money, money!”
“I hate to tell you this, Saber, but a lot of things in life come down to money. And sorry, but, yes, I do like it here better, and I think you might too if you give it all a chance.”
“I just don’t understand why I have to go back to school. Let me get my GED and figure it out from there.”
“You have excellent grades. It would be crazy for you to drop out. You don’t have to go straight to college, but you have to have a solid high school transcript so that when you know where you want to go, you’re ready to apply.”
“I really don’t want to start school with a bunch of strangers.”
“I know. I really, really get it, and I understand, but I’m still asking you to at least try.”
“How could you understand?” Saber felt her eyes get hot and blinked away the tears.
“Saber.” Her dad laughed, but it was bitter and unpleasant. “My mom died. I’m struggling, too. This is a huge change for me. I wish I could make it easier, and I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy here. You can have whatever you want, but you have to stay until you graduate. Look, you can have this car if you want, ok?”
She looked around at the SUV, at its leather seats and gleaming wooden dashboard.
“What?Thiscar?”
“I just got off a waitlist for a Tesla Roadster. This one’s all yours.”
“What the fuck is a Tesla?” Saber whined.
“It’s a new kind of electric—”
She couldn’t stop herself anymore. She started crying.
“I don’t care about the car!” she cried. “I don’t want a fucking car, and I don’t want to live in your stupid expensive house! I just want to go home! I just want to be with my grandma!”
“She was my mom, Saber—” her dad began to say.
Then the ferry sounded its loud, impossibly deep horn, vibrating all the way down into her bones.
Once Saber had calmed down, her father had again promised he would do everything he could to make her feel at home on Bainbridge Island.
Then they had gotten out of the car and walked up to the deck to watch the sunset. Her dad pointed to the island, and Saber noted a velvet fog settling on it, illuminated by the lavender of sunset. She wished she had her watercolors then, and her sketchbook, both neatly packed away in her luggage. The wind out on the water was whipping, making frosty peaks on the waves that slapped against the boat. Saber pulled her denimjacket tight, which did almost nothing to protect her from the briny chill.
