Book 1: The Cottage on Nantucket (Nantucket Point)

Tessa Simmons walked inside the ferry station, her sensible weekender bag rolling along behind her. Her sister should be here already, as her flight to Boston had been hours earlier. Janey, however, rarely arrived anywhere on time, so surprise darted through Tessa when she spotted her sister standing at the counter at the cupcake shop, reaching for a cup of coffee.

She turned, the remnants of her smile still on her face, and Tessa lifted her hand as she changed direction.

“There you are,” she said as she released her bag to hug her sister. Only fifteen months older than her, Janey stood an inch taller and at least thirty pounds lighter. She hugged her sister tightly, getting notes of clove and strawberry—her sister’s preferred flavor of vape—coffee, of course, and mint. She chewed the gum to try to hide her vaping habit, but Tessa wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t on a business trip this weekend.

“I haven’t seen you in forever, it feels like,” Janey said, stepping back. 

“Since the funeral,” Tessa said, retreating to get her bag. She faced Janey again with a wide grin. She and her sister were cut from wildly different cloths, but they both had the Clarke barrel-like torso, a square, almost masculine face, and long, slender fingers that could bend and twist in weird ways.

Tessa had delighted and amused her friends as a teenager with her double-joints, but as a forty-five-year-old on her way to the summer cottage they’d frequented, that kind of thing didn’t much matter anymore.

“I like your hair,” Tessa said, smiling at her sister. “When did you put in the blue?”

“Last month, maybe?” Janey lifted her cup to her lips and sipped. She left dark maroon lipstick on the lid and started toward the ticket desk. “Did you get online tickets or do you need to buy one?”

“I got the app.”

“I’ll only be a minute then.” 

Tessa stopped by a bench and let her sister join the glut of people in line to buy a ferry ticket to Nantucket. Annoyance sang through her, but she tamped it down. She and Janey had already texted to death about getting tickets in advance, so they wouldn’t have to arrive on Nantucket Point in the dark. 

Tessa wanted to see the cottage. The whole point of this trip was to see the cottage. She told herself she had plenty of time, and the sun would rise tomorrow too. She wished she had something to sip while she waited. Instead, she watched Janey tap away on her phone, her long nails getting in the way several times. 

Tessa had no idea how she did anything with the slender, pointed claws on her fingers. Janey’s hair had been dyed what they used to call “vampire black” as teens, then highlighted with a deep, rich blue. Tessa did like it. In fact, she wished she were brave enough to do something like that with her hair.

Her dark brown hair—not the luxurious dark brown to be called a brunette, but just one shade past mousy—had started to get gray growing in it a few years ago. She’d decided she didn’t mind. She was closer to fifty now, and she didn’t need to hide it.

Janey wasn’t hiding anything. She simply lived a more exciting life than Tessa ever had. She flew all over the country for her job, and she moved from hobby to hobby as if she had this intense drive to try everything before she died. 

Currently, Janey rode with a group of women out of Jersey City, where she lived. On weekends and holidays, the group wore leather and bandanas as they took long road trips on their motorcycles. When Tessa had found out, she’d called her sister in shock. 

“Motorcycles?” she’d asked. “Since when do you like riding a motorcycle?”

“I wanted to try it,” Janey said. “It’s so amazing, Tess. I feel so free.”

Janey was always trying to feel free. Tessa had no idea how she could afford a motorcycle, but she didn’t ask. Her sister had had her fair share of financial trouble over the years, but she’d always managed to come out on top. 

The line moved forward, and Janey did too, almost without looking at all. She wore a nose ring on the left side, bangles in gold, silver, and bronze, and a large pair of silver hoops in her ears. On the left side, studs dotted the lobe five or six deep, some with gems and some without.

Tessa had forgotten to put earrings on at all this morning. She wore mom jeans and a light blue blouse with tiny white butterflies on it. Janey wore loose, flowing pants like the beachcombers Tessa had packed. Her tank top flowed down over her barrel torso, with a shawl over that. She had long legs and long arms, and it was no wonder she was currently dating two men. At the same time.

Something gathered in the back of Tessa’s throat, and she couldn’t quite name what. She wasn’t jealous of Janey. That ship had sailed decades ago. As her sister stepped up to the counter, Tessa realized she simply wanted more color in her life. Everything about her eastern Pennsylvania existence was so dull.

“Ready,” Janey said, breaking Tessa out of her thoughts. They walked toward the line to get on the ferry, Janey asking about Ron and Ryan. Tessa gave a dutiful report on her husband and son, and asked Janey about her kids. 

Their father had died years ago, and Mom just a couple of months now. Tessa had taken care of most of the funeral arrangements, though really, she’d just carried out Mom’s wishes. Their mother had been detailed almost to a fault, and both Janey and Tessa had owned a binder with what to do upon her death.

The last thing on the list before the pour-over will could actually be poured over was to go to the cottage on Nantucket and clean it out. Mom had been very specific in her instructions that the sisters go together, and that nothing would be released from the trust until the binder in the cottage was retrieved. They also had to meet with the lawyer on Nantucket that had prepared everything in Mom’s estate.

They’d been given ninety days from her death to go through everything, and Tessa couldn’t remember the last time she’d worked a full week at the library where she curated their adult mystery collection. Janey, however, had business trips and meetings, and she hadn’t been able to just get away.

Tessa had gone through the New York City apartment alone, as well as visited the bank in the city and the one in Newark where they’d grown up to get the contents of the safety deposit boxes and check on the financial status of the accounts there. 

Everything after that was fairly straightforward. Janey and Tessa had been named co-trustees, which meant neither could make a decision without the other. Janey had defaulted to Tessa’s suggestions over the past six or seven weeks, and while they didn’t see eye-to-eye on everything—or hardly anything—Tessa didn’t anticipate a problem with the cottage.

“I can’t wait to get there,” Tessa said, standing at the railing on the ferry as it pulled away from the dock. “I love this ferry ride.”

“Me too,” Janey said with a smile. “Remember when Daddy brought doughnuts for everyone on board?”

Tessa grinned into the sky, the sun behind her in the west as the ferry headed east. “I wish I had a doughnut right now.”

“We’ll go to Distillery in the morning.”

“Deal.” Tessa glanced at her sister, finally feeling comfortable with her. Things always took a few minutes to settle inside her after she met up with Janey, and she wasn’t sure why. 

The ferry ride reminded her of simpler times, and Tessa decided to tuck away all the problems at home, the complete mundaneness in her life, and enjoy her time on Nantucket. After all, there were beautiful beaches to visit, the best restaurants in the world to eat in, and the cottage at the Point where she could relax.

Thirty minutes later, the sisters emerged from the taxi-van and stood in front of the bright blue beach cottage. The sun hung on the horizon, lighting the cottage from behind and giving it a halo.

It seemed bigger than Tessa remembered, but smaller at the same time. There were probably hundreds of flaws she’d never noticed before, and a shiver ran up her arms as she thought about going through more of Mom’s stuff. Another binder. More clothes. Personal pictures and knickknacks that meant so much to her.

She’d never come here without Mom, and a wave of grief threatened to drag her under an invisible surface where breathing was difficult. Her chest pinched, and when she pulled in a breath, it stuttered painfully down her throat.

Tears pressed behind her eyes, but Janey took a step down the sidewalk, and Tessa hitched everything tight, tight, and followed her older sister.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I absolutely loved this book. It wasn’t easy to unravel & it kept me guessing, which is what a really good book should do! I plan on reading more books by this author.” ~Lynn H.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A very fascinating novel with a variety of people & places & surprises one can not foretell. Great book. A brilliant writer!” ~Tommie L.