Read Nantucket Red (Nantucket Blue) for Free Online Page A

back into her seat. “Ugh, I told them not to come.”
    I stood and saw the land yacht below. I held my breath as Zack stepped out of the car and judged his parking job. My heart hammered as my mind circled the pronoun them.
    I watched as a girl climbed out of the passenger seat and combed her fingers through her dark, shiny hair. She was a little unsteady in her sky-high heels on the uneven sidewalk and Zack reached out a hand to her. As they joined hands and walked toward the front door, it sank in that Zack had a real, live girlfriend. She wasn’t just a mysterious presence on the other end of a phone at Starbucks, but an actual person with fantastic hair. As I leaned farther over the railing to watch them walk, I realized I knew her. The air left my lungs as her familiar laugh drifted up from the street like a tendril of smoke.
    His girlfriend was Parker Carmichael.

Nine
    I FLEW BACK DOWN THE THREE FLIGHTS of increasingly majestic stairs and out the oversize front door flanked by ceramic footmen. I just had to hope that Zack and Parker were taking the elevator. He wasn’t going to have another chance to offer me a high five, not with Parker looking on. I knew they went to the same boarding school, but I never imagined they were together. I was in mid-driveway, almost clear of the bus-size Suburban, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jules.
    “Cricket, don’t go. It’s our graduation night.”
    “What’s up with Zack and your friends? First me, now Parker?” She laughed, but I wasn’t joking. “Why is he with her?”
    “She goes to Hanover, too,” she said.
    “She does? But Parker is so mean. She’s the meanest girl I’ve ever met.”
    “I don’t know about that.” Jules held up her hands like the scales of justice. “It’s not that she’s mean. You don’t really know her. You, like, can’t be objective. She can be great when she wants to be, and she’s been through a lot.” Laughter spilled from the rooftop. “Come on, don’t you want fun memories of tonight?”
    “Why didn’t you tell me about Parker?”
    “I don’t know. You guys were broken up.”
    “And what happened to his glasses?”
    “He got LASIK.”
    For some reason, this felt like a betrayal. “I have to go. Thank you for the picture.”
    “I thought we could have a night like old times, but never mind. Do you want a ride?” She looked like she’d rather conjugate French verbs. In a prison cell. In Siberia.
    “No thanks, I’ll walk.”
    But as soon as I was out of sight, I ran. Instead of going home, I went to the track at Alden where my feet tried to keep pace with my heart. Had that been Parker on the phone at Christmas? That meant they’d been together for six months, at least. Six months was serious. I felt like I’d been punched. I kicked off my flats and ran on the grass. I hit my stride. What did they talk about? Did he go to her house in Connecticut on the weekends? Had they been back to Nantucket together? Had they had sex? Ugh. That was a stupid question. Of course they had. It wasn’t just that he’d forgotten who I was, he’d forgotten who he was. Richa Singh had said that when you look at the stars, you’re seeing what no longer exists. Was Zack like those stars, I wondered? Was he even there at all?
    I’d completely sweated through my tank top when I decided to head home. I hadn’t counted the laps, but I was sure I’d run at least four miles tonight. Maybe five. My flouncy skirt was clinging to my tingling quads, and though I couldn’t see in the dark, I knew my feet were filthy with ground-in dirt and grass. I have lots of parties ahead of me next year, I told myself as I used the light on my cell phone to search the grass for my discarded shoes. Parties full of people who don’t give a shit about Nantucket.
    When I first stepped into Mom’s house, I thought the TV was on. I heard kissing and moaning and wondered what channel Mom had been watching. Those Lifetime movies are getting pretty