“I’d love a drink. A Sam Adams IPA if you have it.”
“We do.” Gina reached into the cooler to get the bottle of beer, opened it, poured half of it into a tall beer glass and set the glass and bottle in front of him.
He reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty and handed it to her. “I’m meeting some friends here for dinner. There’s five of us and they have a reservation. I got here a little early. Just walked over from the boat.”
Gina noticed a tall, black suitcase against the wall.
“I’ll keep an eye on that while you eat.”
He grinned again. “Thanks. My friend said he’ll give me a ride to my rental house. I don’t think it’s far from here, but with the suitcase…”
“You don’t have a car?”
“Haven’t had one in years. I lived in the Back Bay and just took Ubers everywhere. Or if we went on a road trip, someone always had a car. Do you think I need one here?”
Gina thought about that for a minute. “Probably not, actually. If you’re staying near downtown you can walk everywhere. And there’s Uber here too if you need to get to the airport or want to go elsewhere on the island. Like to Millie’s. That’s a great Mexican restaurant, but it’s on the other side of the island, about a twelve-minute ride by car.”
“Mexican, huh? Maybe we can go sometime.” He grinned. “You can drive.”
She laughed, not sure whether or not he was serious. He took out his phone. “What’s your number?” So he was serious. She told him and heard a ping.
“I just texted you, so you have my number too. I’ll call you in a few days and we can make a plan. You can be my tour guide. Other than a vacation years ago with some college buddies, I don’t know my way around Nantucket at all.”
“Okay. Are your friends that you’re meeting for dinner from Nantucket?”
“One of them is. He’s more a friend of a friend. Not someone I know well, but when my buddy Evan heard I was moving here, he insisted I call his friend Chris, so I did. Chris has a few friends in town for something that’s going on here this weekend, the stroll. You’ve heard of it?”
Gina laughed. “Yes, it’s a huge deal here. Should be a very busy weekend.”
“Cool.” Alex turned at the sound of someone calling his name and Gina saw a group of guys at the front desk. “Looks like that’s my cue to leave. I’ll swing by when we are done to say goodbye and grab my suitcase.”
Gina felt something in her pocket buzz. It was from the kitchen, signaling that Connie’s food was ready. She noticed that Jared, their new sous chef, was holding two newly-filled sodas and was chatting with Connie. She hadn’t seen him walk up and wondered how long he’d been standing there. He smiled and nodded her way before heading back into the kitchen. She cleared Connie’s salad plate and went to get her swordfish. She returned a moment later and set the plate down. Connie’s drink was almost gone.
“Would you like another Manhattan?” She asked the question to be polite, but already knew the answer.
“Heavens no, dear. If I have another, I’ll be plastered! One drink is my limit. Thank you though. Who was that handsome man? Seemed like you knew each other?”
Gina smiled. Connie loved to play match-maker.
“We used to work together in Boston.”
“And he’s visiting for Stroll? Or staying longer?”
“He says he just moved here. He got a job at the Lawson Group.”
“Oh, isn’t that wonderful!” But then a cloud passed over her eyes.
“Is something wrong, Connie? How’s your fish?”
“Oh, it’s marvelous. It’s just—well, I hope the Lawson Group is still hiring. I think Mandy was going to send Stacy’s husband’s resume over there. He just lost his job, you know. Big layoff.”
“I didn’t know that.” Gina immediately felt worried for Stacy. They were about the same age, but as a mother of three small children, Stacy’s life was very different from Gina’s. She knew that money was tight even with her husband working. Nantucket was not an inexpensive place to live. If he didn’t find something soon, Gina guessed they would probably have to move off-island. As glad as she was to see Alex, she hoped that the Lawson Group was doing well enough that they could hire one more person.
Connie ate about half of her meal and Gina packed up the rest to go.
“I had to save room for tiramisu. Just a small slice please.” They only had one size and it wasn’t small. Connie had no trouble eating all of her dessert though. She was just finishing up when Jared returned to the bar with two empty soda glasses and refilled them. She’d never seen him at the bar twice in one night.