The Blue Bistro

Adrienne Dealey arrives on Nantucket Island with maxed-out credit cards, 40 borrowed dollars, and three rules scribbled on a cocktail napkin: become self-sufficient, do not lie about her past, and exercise good judgment about men. She has just fled Aspen after turning in her boyfriend, Doug Riedel, to the police for stealing from hotel guests and from Adrienne's savings to buy cocaine. A freelance journalist named Drew Amman-Keller, whom she met on the ferry, suggests she try the Blue Bistro, a beachfront restaurant.

At the Bistro, Adrienne meets the owner, Thatcher Smith, a freckled, red-gold-haired man with a wholesome Midwestern manner. Despite her complete lack of restaurant experience, he invites her in for breakfast cooked by his partner, Fiona Kemp, the restaurant's reclusive chef. When Thatcher asks about her mother, Adrienne says her mother is a good cook, breaking her own rule about honesty; in truth, her mother, Rosalie, died of ovarian cancer when Adrienne was 12. Recognizing Adrienne's years of concierge work at luxury hotels, Thatcher offers her the assistant manager position. She e-mails her father, Dr. Don Dealey, a dentist, for a $1,000 loan and rents a room from Caren Friar, a veteran waiter at the Bistro.

During the soft opening, a trial service before the restaurant officially opens for the season, Thatcher walks the staff through the menu: savory doughnuts, pretzel bread with homemade mustard, chips with caviar for VIPs, and a signature shellfish fondue served at tables in the sand. He tells the staff this is the restaurant's final season, though the reason remains unclear. Adrienne meets the bartender Duncan; his younger sister Delilah, who serves as bar back, or bartender's assistant; and the pastry chef Mario Subiaco, who reveals that Fiona has made a fuss about a woman being hired for this position for the first time. Adrienne's first encounter with Fiona in the kitchen is tense; the chef is tiny and fiercely territorial.

Thatcher instructs Adrienne to carry a glass of Laurent-Perrier rosé champagne on the floor as an accessory that encourages guests to order it, and confides that he is an alcoholic and does not drink. Before service, he kisses Adrienne briefly and moves on as if nothing happened. The soft opening goes well. Adrienne bonds with Darla and Grayson Parrish, the restaurant's most loyal VIP couple, and encounters Drew at the table of Holt Millman, a prominent guest. Thatcher identifies Drew as "Public Enemy Number One," a journalist banned from the Bistro for pursuing a story about Fiona.

The bar scene launches and proves wildly popular. Adrienne begins piecing together the restaurant's deeper secrets. One morning she witnesses the delivery driver JZ (Jasper Zodl) and Fiona in a wrenching embrace by his truck. JZ tells Fiona he loves her; Fiona replies it will never be enough. Fiona coughs violently, and Adrienne realizes JZ and Fiona are in love.

Thatcher takes Adrienne on a progressive dinner through Nantucket's best restaurants. Adrienne confesses the truth about her mother's death, and Thatcher shares that his own mother left when he was nine. They drive to a deserted beach and kiss for hours. But at 12:30 in the morning, Thatcher's phone rings: Fiona, calling to say his dinner is ready, their nightly ritual. He leaves Adrienne at her door despite her plea for him to stay. The pattern is set: Fiona comes first.

Thatcher acts as though nothing happened. Adrienne channels her anger into her work, becoming so strict that patrons call her the "Blue Bitch." Mario, who becomes a trusted confidant, insists there is nothing romantic between Thatcher and Fiona but cannot explain further. Nearly two weeks later, Thatcher comes to Adrienne's room, apologizes, and reveals that Fiona has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that seals the lungs with thick mucus. Fiona is 35 and losing lung function every year. She has put herself on the transplant list, which is why the restaurant is closing. Thatcher confides that he tried to kiss Fiona once when they were 15, but she pushed him away, telling him she was dying and did not want to break his heart. They have never been romantic. That night, Adrienne and Thatcher sleep together for the first time.

Through the summer, the relationship deepens even as its limits remain visible. Adrienne manages the restaurant during Fiona's first hospitalization in Boston and handles crises on the floor, including a guest going into labor at the fondue table. Technology billionaires Scott and Lucy Elpern offer $8.5 million for the property. JZ and Fiona share a blissful week together while his daughter is at camp, but JZ's wife, Jamie, threatens to expose Fiona's illness to a journalist, forcing JZ home.

When Dr. Don and his longtime hygienist Mavis visit Nantucket, Adrienne notices a diamond engagement ring on Mavis's hand. She cries quietly at the table, overwhelmed not by the engagement itself but by what it signifies: the end of a 16-year mourning period for her mother. That night, she tells Thatcher she loves him. After a long pause, he says he loves her too and has since the first moment he saw her, but adds that he loves Fiona differently and sometimes does not know who to put first.

August brings relentless pressure: 250 covers, or diners served, every night with no nights off for five weeks. Fiona's health deteriorates, and Thatcher begins spending nights at her house monitoring her oxygen levels. At a cocktail party, he breaks his sobriety and drinks gin and tonics. Drunk on the beach afterward, Adrienne asks if they will make it past the summer. He answers: "I don't know."

Fiona invites Adrienne to a midnight dinner and confides that she always wanted marriage and children but was told neither would happen. When she raises her "special bond" with Thatcher, Adrienne erupts with months of frustration. Fiona responds quietly that she invited Adrienne to say she was sorry for the impossible position her illness has created.

Days later, Fiona collapses during service. Thatcher rides in the ambulance to Boston, and Adrienne keeps the restaurant open. Then Mario arrives at dawn: Fiona died at two in the morning, and Thatcher married her the previous afternoon in the hospital chapel. Fiona, briefly off the ventilator and holding roses, whispered "I do" before slipping away. Mario makes a final batch of Fiona's legendary crackers and distributes farewell checks. The restaurant closes permanently.

Adrienne takes a front desk job at a local hotel while the staff scatters. She drinks heavily, passes out on her kitchen floor one night, and misses work. She contemplates leaving the island. Then Mario finds her and tells her Thatcher is back.

She rides past Thatcher's cottage, sees a light, but cannot knock. She decides to leave the next morning, packing her bags and writing a resignation note. On her way to deliver it, she detours to the demolished Bistro site, where Thatcher's truck is parked. He stands staring at the frame of the Elperns' new house, rising where the restaurant once stood. Adrienne calls his name. He turns, and they embrace, both crying. He tells her he loves her and feared she would be gone. She crumples the resignation note. Thatcher asks what time she has to be at work. Eight thirty, she says. Two hours. He loads her bike into his truck, and the novel ends with Adrienne's quiet certainty about where they are headed: to breakfast.