It has allowed her to separate herself from Ben. It’s made it possible for both of them—Ben at Tufts in Boston, Emily at Smith in Northampton—to concentrate on their studies. Their passion simmers while they’re apart. Their phone calls and emails are a mixture of visions of the future when they’re together and commonplace complaints about papers due, cranky professors, irritating classmates.A year ago, Ben graduated from college and returned to the island to take a job with a conservation association. Emily flew down to the island with a bottle of champagne to celebrate.This year, Emily has been honored with a fellowship to work on a master’s degree in water ecology at UMass Amherst, her own project focusing on preventing pesticides from polluting Nantucket Harbor. She’ll be part of a team assembling a report for the state officials. This might actually, in time, lead to legislative change. She knows Ben will be pleased for her, proud of her. This news is too important for phone or email, so she flies down to Nantucket to tell him in person.When Emily steps off the nine-seater plane that bounced her through the clouds from Boston, Ben is at the gate to meet her, tall and handsome, her gypsy lover tamed by a sports coat and tie.
