“Thanks for thinking of me,” Darcy said. “I’m sure I’ll use it all up. Come right back to the kitchen.”
Susan marshaled her troops and they filed to the back of the house and deposited their donations on the table.
“Now what do we do?” Susan asked her boys.
Shyly, each boy held out his hand to Darcy, and as they shook hands, each boy said, “Thank you for helping us this summer, Miss Cotterill.”
“You’re very welcome,” Darcy told them.
“Thank you for story time!” Alfred impulsively chirped, turning red with embarrassment.
Darcy wanted to hug him, but was afraid he’d go into shock. “Thank you for using the library.”
“You may go home now,” Susan said, and her boys thundered down the hall and out the door. Susan turned to Darcy. “I want to thank you, too, for all you’ve done. I don’t think I could have made it through this summer without you.”
“It’s been wonderful having you as a neighbor,” Darcy said honestly. “Do you think you’ll come back next year?”
Susan hesitated. “I’m not sure. Otto wants to try a place in Maine…but we’ll keep in touch, won’t we, Darcy?”
“Of course,” Darcy said, although she knew from experience that summer people often forgot island people when they returned to their “real” lives.
Susan hugged Darcy tightly. Darcy kissed Susan’s cheek.
“Goodbye, have a good fall,” Susan said.
“Goodbye, have a safe trip home,” Darcy said.
Susan went down the hall, stopped at the front door to turn and wave. And then she was gone.
That night, when Darcy looked, there were no lights on in the house next door.
Willow, Boyz, and Autumn were the next to go. It happened all in a rush. Willow knocked on Darcy’s door in the late afternoon.
Willow was breathless. “Darcy, Boyz said our car is number one on standby on the car ferry. We have to leave now and hope we can get on. He’s pretty sure we’ll be able to get on. We have tickets for the ferry tomorrow afternoon, but Boyz wants to get home as soon as we can.”
Darcy felt a little stab in her chest. Somehow she couldn’t take it all in. She knew Willow was leaving, but now that the moment was here, Darcy felt off guard. This was too important; she’d left something unfinished. She stuttered, “Oh, oh, so soon, I—”
Willow was in too much of a hurry to wait for Darcy to make sense. “Thank you so much for everything this summer, Darcy, and I’ll text you all the time, and I hope I can visit you this October for the Cranberry Festival.” She threw her arms around Darcy, squeezed her so hard it hurt, then took a few steps in place, like a jogger waiting at a traffic light. “Thanks, thanks, thanks!”
Willow was gone. It was like a light being switched off. That fast, that conclusively. Darcy stood at her doorway like a coma patient, and not until Muffler rubbed up against her ankles did she close the door.
Her mind flooded with questions. Did Willow know Autumn was pregnant? How would Willow feel about that—probably thrilled to have a baby sister or brother. Willow was starting high school next week, always a turbulent period of life. She would seem more grown-up. Well, Willow was more grown-up, and a great many events had happened in her brief time on Nantucket to blast her out of the world of innocence and, in a way, out of the Garden of Eden. Willow had seen her mother with another man. Willow had been seduced by a handsome older boy into sex play and invited to try drugs. Willow had learned that the deliciously painful emotions of attraction and desire could lead her into all kinds of trouble. That was good. Willow needed to know that, and she’d come through it all stronger and more optimistic. Willow had chosen to spend the summer in safety, with pleasant older women and with children. She was about to be plunged back into the world of adolescence. Darcy wished the girl well. And she doubted that Willow would return for the Cranberry Festival. Maybe Darcy could go up to Boston someday and take Willow out to lunch….
“Stop it!” Darcy said aloud. She had to wrench her mind off Willow. She had to return to her world and her own challenges. Would she give up this house, her house that held all her memories and hopes, and was also a fabulous house in a wonderful location…would she give it up in order to live in another house with Nash?
It was much easier to wonder about Willow.
Finally, Mimi and Clive left. Clive and Mimi enjoyed a goodbye dinner at Darcy’s the night before, and Mimi and Darcy had promised to email and text and phone. Mimi still had a bit of a cold but promised she had tucked nasal spray and throat lozenges into her purse. Leaving was an emotional time for Mimi, who might never see the island again, so Darcy promised to drive out to the airport to wave goodbye.