“What’s it called?” Coco asks.

“Oh…” Glynnie says. “I forget the title, it’s one of those… you know. You sit down here next to me and tell me all about yourself and about this crazy couple you’re both working for. All the girls at church want the inside scoop. You wouldn’t believe the rumors that are flying around this island. All anyone wants to talk about is the Richardsons, but Lamont won’t tell me a thing about them.”

Coco looks to Lamont, who shakes his head. Coco takes the seat next to Glynnie. “Well,” she says, “I’m from a place called Rosebush, Arkansas.”

“Rosebush, Arkansas!” Glynnie says. “That sounds made up.”

If only, Coco thinks.

The best way to avoid gossiping about the Richardsons (though Coco is tempted to tell Glynnie about the Amalfi lemons; that would incite a spicy riot among the girls at church) is to ask questions about Lamont. Once Glynnie gets talking about him, she can’t stop. She tells Coco that Lamont nearly quit sailing after his first lesson at age seven because there was a bully on his boat. Coco mentions that she’s friends with Kacy Kapenash, and Glynnie leads Coco into the living room so she can show off Lamont and Kacy’s pictures from the junior prom and senior banquet. Coco wants to scream, it is just so cute; they’re so young, they’re babies. She studies Kacy’s dresses: a dusty-rose sheath for the junior prom, a black strapless gown for the senior banquet. Kacy had impeccable taste even then.

“I always secretly hoped something more would happen between them,” Glynnie says. “But for some reason, it never did.”

From there, Glynnie shows Coco Lamont’s school pictures starting in first grade, when he was missing his two front teeth, all the way to his senior portrait in his cap and gown. Next, it’s on to his sailing trophies and the collections of postcards he’s sent her from around the world. Coco keeps turning to see how Lamont is taking all of this, but he’s just chilling on the sofa with his coffee, playing with Molly, smiling and rolling his eyes.

Finally he stands up, washes out their mugs, and fixes Glynnie a ham and cheese sandwich that he covers with plastic and puts in the fridge. “We have to get back to work, Mama,” he says. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Can’t you leave Coco behind?” Glynnie says. “We’ve barely gotten started.”

Lamont walks Coco out to Baby. “She loved you.”

“I loved her. She’s so proud of you. I know you take that for granted, but…” But what? she thinks. Should she tell him that her mother never ordered Coco’s school pictures because she thought it was a rip-off? “You shouldn’t.”

Lamont takes a step closer to Coco, and Coco stage-whispers, “Are you going to kiss me in broad daylight?”

“I’m not,” Lamont says. “But I want to, very, very badly.” He comes in even closer; his hips bump against hers and she moans softly. Then he steps away and says, “I’ll see you back at the base. Thank you for doing that with me.”

Lamont gets into his car, and Coco takes a moment after he drives away. She desperately wants to text Kacy and say, Lamont just took me to meet his mother. He must like me! But she’s not sure she can trust Kacy to keep it secret. What if she slips and tells her mother, then her mother tells Phoebe, and Phoebe tells Leslee? It would be all over.

Coco is eager to give her screenplay to Bull, but Kacy has had it for weeks and hasn’t said a word about it. When prompted, Kacy admits she hasn’t read it. But she will, she promises. She will!

At dinnertime the same day, Kacy calls to say: “It’s brilliant. You’re a genius.”

It’s brilliant, Coco thinks. I’m a genius.

The next morning, she prints out the script (the Richardsons are pen-and-paper people) and knocks on the door of Bull’s office.

“Come in!” he says.

Coco takes a breath. This, she thinks, is it. This is why she’s here. She remembers back to the night at the Banana Deck—the paradise playlist, Harlan from WAPA, Give us all the appetizers—and thinks how astonishing it is that, only two months later, she lives on Nantucket and is indispensable to Bull and Leslee. Everything has gone exactly as she planned. Bull is going to agree to read her script, she just knows it.

She steps into the room. Bull is behind his desk, looking tan and relaxed in a navy polo shirt. He isn’t on the phone, isn’t screaming in English or any other language. In front of him is a green juice from Lemon Press that Coco procured for him earlier that morning, and he’s working the New York Times crossword.

“‘Actress Ellen in Same Time, Next Year,’” he reads. “Seven letters.”

“Burstyn,” Coco says, and spells it for him.

“You’re a whiz,” he says. He looks up. “Everything okay?”

For a second, she can’t speak.

He notices the script in her hands. “Is that a… did that come for me?”

“It’s a screenplay,” Coco says. “It’s called Rosebush.”

He waves his fingers and she sets it down on his desk. “Who wrote it?” he asks.

“I did,” Coco says.

It takes him a second to process this, but then he reads the cover page, lifts it to inspect the second page. He raises his eyes to hers. “You wrote a movie?”

“I’ve been working on it for a while but it’s finally finished and I thought you might want to read it.”

He’s searching her face, but what is he thinking? Does he realize she’s his assistant solely because she wanted access? He could shut her down, say he’s too busy, say, How dare you. But he’s not going to. She can tell he’s intrigued.

“Well,” he says. “This is certainly unexpected, but not unwelcome. I can’t wait to dig in.”

“Okay,” Coco says, and she leaves the study, trying to act natural. Before she closes the door, she peeks back in and sees that he’s already started to read.

Coming to Nantucket is the best thing she’s ever done.

23. Thursday, August 22, 9:35 P.M.

Once Kacy has downed a bottle of water, she says, “There are a few things you should probably know.”

“Such as?” Zara says.

“Coco and Lamont are seeing each other.”

Zara and Ed exchange glances. Not a complete surprise, considering Lamont wants to go up in the Coast Guard helicopter to look for Coco.

“How long has this been going on?” Zara says.

“You’d have to ask him.”

Zara wishes Lamont had offered up this information himself. “Why wouldn’t he have…”

Kacy drops her voice. “It’s a secret.”

“Because?”

“The Richardsons have a rule. Their staff isn’t allowed to date.”

“But Coco and Lamont did anyway?” Zara says. “Without the Richardsons knowing?”

“Yes,” Kacy says.

“And was everything okay between them at the time of the sail as far as you know?”