Golden Girl

Vivian “Vivi” Howe sets out on a summer morning run. She is a novelist who writes beach reads set in Nantucket, all of which take place in the summer. Vivi thinks about her daughters: 24-year-old Willa, the eldest, informed Vivi that she was pregnant the previous night, but Vivi is wary of celebrating too early because Willa has had three miscarriages in the past.

Twenty-one-year-old Carson, her second, had woken Vivi up at 5:30 am, when she stumbled up the stairs smelling of marijuana. Carson had always been a “troubled” child, taking her parents’ divorce 10 years ago especially hard. After Vivi discovered her ex-husband, Edward William “JP” Quinboro, having an affair with his employee, Amy Van Pelt, she moved out and spent seven weeks on a book tour that year. Ever since, Carson has shown behavioral issues; Vivi blames them on JP’s affair, and JP blames them on Vivi’s “abandonment.” Carson and Vivi had gotten into a fight in the morning over Carson’s late hours and substance use. Vivi also accused Carson of drinking her tequila, but Carson claimed innocence, suggesting her younger brother, Leo, may have had some instead.

As Vivi runs, she listens to one of the playlists Carson made for her and thinks about how she will make avocado toast for Carson and make up with her once she’s back. Carson works as head bartender at the Oystercatcher, a local eatery on the beach. Vivi has seen Carson work there a couple of times, the second occasion being the same day Vivi received news that her forthcoming book, Golden Girl, had received her first ever starred McQuaid Review. She was also invited onto Good Morning America to talk about it. Although she was excited about this, Vivi was also nervous, as the book had “baggage.”

Vivi assures herself that her children are all fine, including her 18-year-old son, Leo, a quiet but well-liked boy, although Vivi thinks his girlfriend, Marissa Lopresti, is not good for him. Marissa is extremely possessive of Leo and even insecure about his friendship with his childhood best friend, Cruz DeSantis.

Vivi receives an apology text from Carson and feels relieved. The song “Stone in Love” by Journey starts playing, reminding Vivi of her high-school boyfriend, Brett Caspian. As she sings along and closes her eyes for a second, she suddenly feels her neck snap and her body hit the ground before the music stops and everything turns dark.

The Nantucket chief of police, Ed Kapenash, learns about Vivi’s death when he goes to work. Cruz is the one who called it in; however, the Chief learns that the responding officer, Falco, had seen Cruz run a stop sign and speed off down the road five minutes before the call came in. There were no witnesses, and Cruz is being brought in for questioning.

The Chief knows Cruz’s father, Joe DeSantis, who runs a sandwich shop and has raised Cruz all by himself after his wife died of cancer when Cruz was three. The Chief decides to talk to Cruz and finds the teenager extremely shaken up. He is in shock, as Vivi was like a mother to him. Cruz describes finding Vivi’s body and staying with her until the ambulance arrived before rushing over to her house to tell Leo. When the Chief wonders why Cruz didn’t just call Leo, he reveals Leo and him had gotten into a fight the previous night. Cruz categorically denies having been the one to hit Vivi.

As Vivi rises higher, she goes through all the things she has unfinished in her life on earth, from outstanding invoices to her children who still need her care. She also thinks about her latest book and its starred McQuaid Review: It is the first one based on events from Vivi’s life, but the only person who could know that would be Brett. However, she hadn’t been able to track him down on any social media.

From up in the clouds, Vivi watches Cruz look over her body and call in an ambulance. Martha, a woman wearing an expensive, designer Hermès scarf, then greets her. She welcomes Vivi to the “Beyond” and introduces herself as Vivi’s “Person,” meant to aid Vivi’s transition after death. Vivi also discovers that Martha is the older sister of Vivi’s first reader, Maribeth. Because Vivi’s death was so sudden, Martha allows Vivi a 75-day viewing window, during which she can witness the events down on earth until Labor Day. She also allows Vivi three nudges: Vivi can “influence outcomes three times down below” (34). Martha takes Vivi into a “greenroom” from where she can begin her viewing window but refuses to tell Vivi who killed her. From her greenroom, Vivi watches her three children sit together on the couch in “Money Pit,” Vivi’s house, and grieve her death.

Willa calls Charles Evan “Rip” Bonham III, her husband, with the news of Vivi’s death, and he immediately rushes to her side. As the siblings grieve at “Money Pit,” Dennis, Vivi’s boyfriend, arrives in shock. Willa realizes she has not informed her father of Vivi’s death and tasks Rip with calling JP. As Rip breaks the news to JP, he remembers how enthralled he used to be by Vivi and JP as a couple; he first met them when he was 12 and had just begun dating Willa. They divorced just two years later, and a heartbroken Willa clung to Rip in the immediate aftermath.

A stunned JP demands to talk to his children, upset that one of them didn’t break the news to him. He hangs up after Rip claims they are still in shock.

JP calls Amy at the salon, but she doesn’t take his calls and decides to call him back later as she is knee-deep at work. Her best friend, Lorna, is surprised to find Amy still at the salon hours later. When she realizes Amy still hasn’t spoken to JP, she urges her to call him back as soon as possible.

Amy hears one of the customers in the salon mention Vivi and immediately tenses up. She reflects on how she began working for JP at his wine shop 10 years ago when she arrived in Nantucket for the summer. She had been attracted to him almost immediately, though they only began their affair toward the end of the summer. JP had told Vivi about Amy the very next day, prompting Vivi to move out, and Amy had stayed on in Nantucket and began cosmetology school.

Despite having been together for 10 years, Amy only moved in with JP three years ago, when she lost her year-round housing. Amy also disliked how present Vivi was in their lives, from the books of hers that JP kept around the house to how often he talked about her. Amy resented Vivi’s graciousness and generosity: Despite JP’s affair, Vivi was the one required to pay child support and alimony, and she never complained about any of it. However, Amy knew they needed the money because of JP’s extravagant lifestyle.

Amy also found a ring hidden in a drawer the previous December and believes JP means to propose at some time. However, it seems that JP has become more distant recently. Amy also worries that JP is stalling because if they get married, the money from Vivi will stop.

At the end of the day, when Lorna realizes Amy has still not spoken to JP, she breaks the news to Amy about Vivi’s death. Amy checks her phone to find numerous missed calls and texts from JP, the last few informing her he is with his children and asking her not to come down; he will meet her at home. Amy offers a silent apology to Vivi for all the insecurity and jealousy toward her and heads home to drink alone.

Leo remembers getting home and drinking some of his mother’s tequila to drown out the night’s events before going to bed; the next morning, Cruz, hammering on his door with the news about Vivi, woke him up. After getting back home from the hospital, where he learned affirmatively about Vivi’s death, a grieving Leo headed home with his siblings and took a couple of Ativan from Carson before falling asleep.

When Leo wakes up, Savannah Hamilton—Vivi’s best friend and her children’s godmother—has arrived. Savannah is single, sophisticated, and hugely successful, along with being extremely capable. She consoles the children and takes charge of organizing everything, including the funeral and reception, the latter of which will be held at the Field and Oar Club. Vivi was denied membership to the latter after the divorce, and Carson notes how Vivi would love this gesture.

Leo heads back up to sleep, his head still hurting. He remembers how he broke up with his girlfriend, Marissa Lopresti, tired of her insecurity and jealousy over Leo’s friendship with Cruz and her constant racist remarks toward Cruz. Leo checks his phone and finds messages from both Marissa and Cruz. Marissa offers her condolences while informing Leo that Cruz is a suspect; Cruz asks Leo to delete a photo that Peter Bridgeman sent him. Leo is shaken when he sees the photograph in question. He immediately deletes it and hopes Peter has not sent it to anyone else

Nantucket is buzzing with the news of Vivi’s death. People remember how she put Nantucket on the map with her novels despite not being a native herself. She was well-loved by most. After her divorce, Vivi went on a long book tour but eventually returned and moved into a house she bought that needed such extensive work; she named it “Money Pit.” People hear about how Cruz is a suspect in her death and hope it isn’t true; both Cruz and his father are well-liked and respected across Nantucket for being “generous, good-hearted, and hardworking” (70).

Alexis Lopresti leaked the news about Cruz being at the scene. She was at the desk in the Nantucket Police Department when the call came. She immediately texted her sister, Marissa, who had driven out to a saltwater pond by herself. Marissa was looking at the photograph Peter sent her when she received Alexis’s text. Upon realizing that Vivi was dead and Cruz was a suspect, Marissa drove her Jeep into the pond, threw her phone in as well, and then waded out to look for help.

A traffic homicide investigator named Lisa Hitt arrives to begin forensic work on Vivi’s death. She discovers two sets of tire marks at the site of the accident and asks to look at the vehicle the police have already impounded: Cruz’s Jeep. The Chief feels uneasy about how Cruz told him he had been driving to Money Pit from his home; however, the stop sign that Cruz ran on the way there indicated he was coming from elsewhere, meaning that either Falco was mistaken or Cruz was lying.

It is the day of Vivi’s memorial, and she watches on with Martha, wearing yet another elegant scarf through her hair, as her children arrive at church. Savannah arrives and ushers the children in, just as Dennis arrives after. Vivi reflects on how Savannah is the only one who knew Vivi had split with Dennis shortly before her death. Marissa and Alexis arrive, as does JP; Vivi wonders why Marissa is not with Leo and is relieved to learn that Amy will not be attending. She is also surprised to see Cruz reluctant to enter the church until Joe admonishes him. Finally, Zach Bridgeman arrives late. Zach is the husband of Rip’s sister Pamela, but instead of going to sit with her in the front, he settles into the vestibule; Martha assures Vivi this will make sense later.

Vivi watches her three children devolve into tears during the service and feels reassured that they loved her and felt loved by her. She remembers her grief when her father, Frank Howe, died by suicide when Vivi was 17. Vivi was closer to her father and blamed her deeply religious and dictatorial mother, Nancy, for Frank’s death. By this time, Vivi had been dating Brett for a while. They were initially an odd couple, as Vivi was a “goody-two-shoes” and Brett was known as a “druggie”; however, they soon fell in love and began planning a future together after school. After Frank’s death, Brett, who is in a band called Escape from Ohio, wrote Vivi a song named “Golden Girl”: “With Vivi’s father gone, Brett Caspian [became] everything to her” (89).

At the end of Vivi’s service, Savannah gives a heartfelt eulogy. It moves everyone to tears, and Martha declares it is the best she has heard all year.