Epilogue: Nantucket
By midweek, chatter about Hollis Shaw’s Five-Star Weekend has subsided, although those of us who follow the Hungry with Hollis blog are still patiently waiting for Hollis to post the recipes like she promised. The sour cream and roasted onion dip! The cilantro-and-lime-marinated swordfish!
The Paloma sugar cookies!
Although Blond Sharon is very busy—finding a parking spot at Nobadeer Beach, shepherding her reluctant teens to the Maria Mitchell Observatory so they can witness the once-in-sixty-years viewing of Neptune, and trying to secure reservations at the back bar at Cru—she finds that thoughts of Hollis’s Five-Star Weekend still linger in her mind.
“You’re starting to frighten me,” Sharon’s sister, Heather, says. “You’re completely obsessed.”
Sharon isn’t sure how to explain it. She has heard stories about many a girls’ weekend (college reunions in Tulum, Moms do Coachella)—but somehow this one hit different. Your life story in friends. Sharon doesn’t know Hollis well (or, truthfully, at all), but even so, a part of her wishes she’d been included.
“There’s a solution to that,” Heather says. “Host a Five-Star Weekend of your own!”
Of course! Sharon thinks. That’s what she’ll do. All she has to do now is figure out whom to invite.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
Hollis Shaw sells her home in Wellesley and permanently moves to First Light out on Squam Road. We are overjoyed to have her back among us where she belongs. But is this enough of a happily ever after for Hollis?
No—we can do better.
Hollis Shaw and Jack Finigan have, slowly, started dating, though Jack still lives in Western Massachusetts. The distance is good for them both; they can each have their space and take their time, though they occasionally talk about Jack buying a small place on Nantucket.
Hollis’s daughter, Caroline, graduates from NYU with honors and is offered a dream job—assistant producer at KeepItReal Films in Los Angeles.
The glowing letter of recommendation from Isaac Opoku doesn’t hurt, but the execs at KeepItReal are more impressed by Caroline’s short-film submission, The Five-Star Weekend.
With Caroline successfully launched, Hollis and Jack decide they want to take a trip. They do the some might say predictable thing and book a Viking River Cruise in Italy. During the welcome cocktail hour, they’re asked how long they’ve been together, and Jack tells everyone they’re “high-school sweethearts.” Neither of them feels the need to explain further. Let’s say Tatum and Kyle McKenzie are on the cruise as well—after all, they have a lot to celebrate—and while we’re at it, what about Dru-Ann Jones and her fiancé, Nick Wofford, and Brooke Kirtley and her new girlfriend, Trinh Nguyen? (Trinh is the Wellesley College professor who runs the book group that Brooke used to find so intimidating; now Brooke is an avid reader and offers the most insightful opinions during the discussions.) It’s a five-star reunion—or nearly.
On the flight home from Rome, they hear the usual announcement: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.”
The voice is unmistakable.
Brooke grabs Hollis’s forearm from across the aisle. “It’s Gigi,” she says.
“She’s our pilot! I can’t believe this. We need to go up and say hello!”
Is Hollis alarmed or even horrified that Gigi is flying their plane?
Not at all. Though Hollis and Gigi no longer text, Hollis does sometimes zoom in on the Kitchen Lights that are glowing in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. She imagines the light on in Gigi’s kitchen, imagines that Gigi is, perhaps, trying her hand at Hollis’s shatteringly crispy fried chicken recipe.
Hollis hopes Gigi has someone new at her side—maybe a fellow pilot, maybe a guy she met at the gym, maybe Mabel’s veterinarian. It doesn’t matter who it is, as long as Gigi is his number one.
“We will,” Hollis says. “But let’s wait until we’ve landed safely.” She leans her head on Jack’s shoulder and closes her eyes.
She has already landed safely.
