Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Figuring I’ll get both, that way I’ll at least have two bad options, I leave the dressing room, where I find Janelle sitting on a huge box and waiting for me.
“I found the most perfect raft for tubing.” She smiles proudly, and I glance down at the box and see a sticker of a giant yellow duck with people sitting inside it.
“It’s a fuck, fuck, fuck!” Dash chants, running up to his grandma, and I try not to giggle as Haylee closes her eyes.
“Did you find a suit?” Janelle asks me, hopping off the box.
“I did. I hold up both of them. There weren’t a lot of options, but these should work.”
“Then this was a successful trip,” she says happily as she begins to push the box down the aisle with Dash helping her.
“Should I run up and get a cart?” I ask, bending to help her push.
“No, if I have a cart in here, I’ll end up with a whole bunch of stuff I don’t need.”
“You mean like a giant duck?” Haylee asks, and I laugh.
“This is a gift for everyone.” She looks at her watch when it starts to ring.
“That’s Daniel. He’s probably calling to let me know people are starting to arrive.” She presses a button on the side of it, then calls out, “Hey, honey!”
“Your sister is here.”
“Great! Tell her that I should be back in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay. Also, your mom would like to talk to you.”
“I—” she starts, but before she can get another word out, Janet comes over the small speaker.
“You left me. I didn’t know you were going into town.”
“I thought you would like to rest before everyone started showing up.” She meets my gaze and cringes, when Janet continues.
“If I wanted to rest, I would have said that. You didn’t even mention going to the store.”
“Sorry, Mom, my service is bad. You’re breaking up. I’m going to have to call you back.”
“Janelle, don’t you dare hang—”
She presses the button on the side of her watch, cutting off the rest of her mother’s sentence.
“I love my mom,” she assures me, and I nod, because I’m sure she does. I’m also sure she wouldn’t mind locking her in a room somewhere for the rest of eternity. “Jace mentioned your mom is in New York visiting your aunt.”
“She is.”
“I can’t wait to meet her. Daniel and I will have to plan a visit in the fall.”
Oh, Lord.
“Yeah, that would be awesome,” I say, knowing I will be long-gone by that point.
“We’ll make it happen.” She smiles happily, and guilt gnaws at my stomach.
Duck.
Chapter 13
Chicken
We don’t go back to the house right away. Instead, we drive through a coffee hut on the side of the road, and each of us gets an iced coffee. Well, except for Dash; he gets a kid’s Icee that I’m sure will have him running in circles as soon as we get back home. We also stop to pick up bait worms for Daniel from a small shop in town after he sends Janelle a text.
When we pull into the driveway for the house at a little after one, I expect there to be a couple more cars, but I couldn’t have even imagined what greets us.
Staring out the front windshield, I’m sure anyone seeing me would think I’m witnessing the zombie apocalypse by how wide my eyes are. Dozens of vehicles are now parked up and down the road that leads to the other smaller homes, which match the color scheme of the main one where we’re staying. And at least a hundred or more people are out walking around, some on the dock, some in the water, and kids are running around playing with squirt guns. Women have beach chairs sitting at the lake’s edge, where they are tanning, and men are half-dressed, with beers in hand. I even notice a few people setting up tents under the shade of the woods.
I shouldn’t be surprised, since Jace did tell me there would be a hundred and thirty-six people here for this week’s festivities, but thinking of a hundred and thirty-six people and seeing them milling about in one area are two different things.
“It looks like almost everyone has arrived,” Janelle says, sounding happy as she navigates around cars and kids so she can park behind Jace’s Jeep.
“There are more people coming?” I whisper.
“I know it probably seems overwhelming, but you’re going to have the best time.” Haylee reaches forward and pats my shoulder from the back seat. “There’s lots of family challenges and competitions. The whole week is like summer camp.”
“Competitions?” I look at her over my shoulder.
“Did you ever have a day in school where you competed against other classes?”
“Yeah.” And we still have Field Day at the school I teach at too.
“It’s like that, except all the extended families compete against each other. There’s a talent show, chili cook-off, scavenger hunt, trivia, and all kinds of stuff. Janelle and her sister plan this week all year long, and it’s a blast.”