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Ella had never lived such a whirlwind of a day. Within the hour, she found herself seated at a four-top at a recent pop-up restaurant just east of Central Park. The restaurant, called “Cincos,” had been decorated like the inside of a Mexican taqueria and sold traditional Mexican fare but still offered plenty of TexMex-style food to make Will happy, as he was often not as daring in the food department as the rest of his family.
Laura and Danny ordered water and cokes. When it came time for her turn, Ella basically yelped, “A margarita. Please.” It sounded like her life depended on it. “Sorry,” she added, trying to laugh. “I had a hard drive today.”
“Driving makes me cranky, too,” the waiter told her warmly before turning toward Will. “And you, sir? Something to drink?”
“I’ll go with a margarita, too,” Will said, offering Ella a smile. “Sounds tasty.”
After they ordered enough quesadillas, tacos, chimichangas, and burritos to feed a small country, the waiter arrived with the margaritas and the cokes and left the family alone to talk amongst themselves. Ella was overwhelmed with all that she wanted to say and all she felt she couldn’t say.
“Honey, you look fantastic!” Will said to Laura, squeezing her hand over the table. “How’s your freshman year going?”
“Gosh, it’s not easy.” Laura’s eyes were buggy. “We’re only a few weeks in, and I already feel like my course load is insane. I did my first all-nighter the other night, and I’m still recovering.”
“An all-nighter?” Ella asked.
Will intercepted this. “I think that’s when college students stay up all night cramming for a test or writing a paper. Right?”
“That’s it,” Laura said with a smile.
“Wow.” Ella and Will locked eyes for a moment, both probably thinking the same thing. The only “all-nighters” they’d known back then were the ones that involved all nights of playing music, listening to music, talking to other musicians, and drinking beer. Ella was proud of how different her children were than she and Will had been.
Laura continued to chat about her classes and the people she’d met. By the time the food arrived, Will had turned his attention to Danny, who described his time on the football team, his new friendship with his Grandpa Bernard, and the fact that “Nantucket really isn’t that boring.”
“I should say not,” Will said with a laugh as he grabbed a chip from the bowl in the center. “Despite what some people say, New York City isn’t the only place in the world. Nantucket has a pretty amazing history and is gorgeous to boot.”
“Yeah, the history is insane. Mom’s working on the Nantucket Jubilee, which celebrates two hundred years after… something happened.” Danny pondered for a moment and crunched through a chip.
Will’s beautiful eyes turned toward Ella for answers. “I take it you know what the Nantucket Jubilee celebrates?”
“Yes.” Ella sipped her margarita, grateful to have that as an emotional crutch. “In the year 1820, a whaling ship called The Heart of Nantucket embarked on a whaling expedition but was soon said to be lost at sea. Families mourned the whalers they’d lost until two years later, in 1822, when The Heart of Nantucket returned.”
“That’s quite a story,” Will said softly.
The waiter arrived with their plates of steaming, cheesy food. Ella dropped her gaze to the table and listened as her family chatted excitedly about their selections. This night felt just like hundreds of other nights across the span of her and Will’s relationship and the building of their family. It was remarkable that it was so many months after she’d asked Will to leave.
After she’d scraped her plate clean, Laura recognized a friend in the corner. “She’s in my History class,” she explained, tugging Danny’s elbow. “You should come to meet her.”
“Why?” Danny asked.
Laura groaned. “You want me to say it? Okay, I’ll say it. I miss you, and I do talk about you to my new friends. Okay? You happy? Now, let’s go.”
Laura and Danny laughed gently as they headed toward the corner to greet the young woman with the dreadlocks, who shook Danny’s hand like a businesswoman. Now, Ella and Will sat alone at the table, at a loss for words and no longer able to lean on their children for guidance.
Finally, Ella dropped her fork against the side of her half-eaten meal and whispered, “All right. Tell me what’s going on.”
Will stiffened. Tenderly, he tapped a napkin over his lips and muttered, “I should say the same thing to you.”
Ella’s eyesight was blurry with tears. After a long pause, she stuttered, “You were just standing in Laura’s dorm. Why?”
Will stuttered. “Your sisters wouldn’t stop calling me!”
Ella’s jaw dropped. “What did they say?”
“They said that something had gone wrong. That you’d gotten into a fight with your mother,” Will explained.
“A fight? They called it a fight?” Ella bristled.
“They were really vague about everything,” Will affirmed. “But they mentioned that you’d pulled Danny out of school early, and they had a hunch you were headed back home. To the city, that is.”
