Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand Read Free Book Online Page B

opens, at eleven o’clock in the morning, until it closes, at five, there is a line all the way through the parking lot to the road. Quinns’ on the Beach is written up in
N Magazine,
the blog
Mahon About Town,
and the
Inquirer and Mirror
. People are crazy about the striped-bass BLT made with Bartlett’s Farm tomatoes, gem lettuce, and lemon-herb mayonnaise and presented on a soft pumpernickel roll. On an average day, he sells two hundred sandwiches at fifteen bucks apiece.
    If Kevin weren’t so bone-tired, he would be ecstatically happy. Finally, finally,
finally,
at the age of thirty-eight he has done it: found his calling. He is no longer slinging drinks at the Bar. He is no longer working for his father. By the end of the season—he’ll stay open seven days a week through Labor Day, then on weekends only until Columbus Day—he reckons he’ll have enough money that he, Isabelle, and Genevieve can find their own place to live.
    There are many things Kevin loves about Quinns’ other than the money. For example, he loves working with Ava. He figures that could have gone either way, but the two of them have turned out to be an outstanding team. Ava is brilliant at taking orders and manning the register. He loves to hear her banter with the kids, especially her students from the elementary school. She also excels at the upsell—lobster tacos instead of beef tacos, frappes instead of sodas. And she has phenomenal taste in music. For the shack, she made a variety of playlists. There’s the Tropical playlist (Buffett, Bob Marley, Michael Franti), the Classic Rock playlist (Stones, Clapton, Zeppelin), and the Acoustic playlist (Coldplay, James Taylor, some long-lost Springsteen tracks).
    Kevin sees every person he has ever known, and he meets new people every day. During the week, it’s mostly moms and kids, teenagers, and college students, but on the weekends, the fathers show up.
    â€œI really wish you sold beer,” they all say.
    â€œMe too,” Kevin says. “Next year.” As soon as the place closes for the season, he’ll figure out whose ass he has to kiss to get a liquor license.
    Isabelle brings Genevieve every day at four thirty, and Ava takes the baby while Isabelle finishes with the customers and tallies the day’s receipts. Isabelle isn’t as good with people as Ava is but it’s important for Isabelle to get the exposure and practice her English.
    One day, Haven Silva comes through the line with her son, Daniel. Kevin flashes back to their conversation that spring about Norah selling pills to Jennifer and he hopes and prays she doesn’t bring it up. If she were to mention it to Ava, Ava would have a cow. She would call Patrick and Jennifer as soon as she got home and demand answers. That’s because Ava likes to deal with problems head-on, whereas Kevin prefers to bury them in his mind at the bottom of the pile known as Quinn Family Dirty Laundry.
    Haven orders lobster tacos, a kid’s bacon burger, and two frappes. She grins at Kevin and gives him an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “I’m happy for you!”
    Phew
,
he thinks.
    But then, sometime during the insanity that is the second week of August—when all the residents of the Eastern Seaboard have crammed themselves onto Nantucket—the inevitable happens: Norah Vale comes through the line. Ava has run to the ladies’ room, so Kevin is a sitting duck.
    â€œHey, Kev,” Norah says.
    The line behind Norah is two thousand people long. Kevin doesn’t have time for any kind of scene or breakdown. If it were legal, he would have a sign on the front of the building reading OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
(except Norah Vale).
    â€œWhat can I get you?” he asks.
    Norah scans the menu behind his head but it feels to Kevin like she’s trying to read his mind.
    â€œYou got your own place,” she says. “Proud of you.”
    â€œThanks,” he says.