The Rest of the Story(80)

“No,” she said. “We’re cousins.”

Now I was exasperated. “That’s different?”

“Of course it is!” She pushed her hair back from her face. “Look, Saylor. The first time we met, neither of us remembered. The second, you were about to get your ass kicked. We never had formalities, you and I. We’re blood. It’s messy. But we don’t need goodbyes, because we’re going to be stuck with each other forever. That’s what family is.”

This made me well up. And when I spoke, I actually started to cry.

“You hurt my feelings,” I said, my voice breaking.

“I’m sorry.” She bit her lip, then tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, lowering her voice. “Look, I know I’ve been stupid and crazy. I’m lucky that you’ve stuck with me. But you just don’t understand what it’s like to be really into someone so much that you make terrible choices. It’s like . . . beyond my control, or something.”

“He’s going to hurt you again,” I told her as my dad chucked the bailer into the cargo hold and hoisted himself onto the raft.

“Maybe,” she said. “But this time, I’ll only have myself to blame.”

This was not altogether encouraging. I mean, why go into anything if you think there’s a decent chance you’ll get your heart broken? You don’t risk what you don’t want to, I supposed. Not that I could get into it, as my dad and Tracy were now joining us. She had the picnic basket over her arm.

“Who’s hungry?” she asked.

“Me!” Gordon said. When Bailey shot her a look, she added, “I mean, only a little.”

“You can have whatever you want from here,” Tracy said, putting the basket down and opening it. “It’s the least we can do since you saved us.”

“We weren’t in danger,” my dad said. “It was just a little water.”

Instead of responding, Tracy pulled out a bottle of wine, glistening with ice, fetching an opener from a side pocket. Deftly and quickly, she got out the cork and poured them each a plastic glass full before handing out thick bottled sodas to the rest of us.

“Wow,” Gordon said, taking the bottle she handed her. “Is this a cola?”

“It’s not Pop Soda,” Bailey said, examining her own. She tipped it up, taking a taste. “Oh, my God. This is incredible. Where did you get it?”

“The Club made the basket for us,” Tracy replied, digging farther in. “We have a cheese plate, too, as well as some sandwiches. Why don’t I get everything out and we’ll have a picnic?”

“Here?” my dad said. “I was hoping to get us to a beach spot away from everything.”

“Well, we have the second part,” Tracy said. “And I think we’re better off not sailing the boat anymore today. I’ll call the Club and have them tow it in.”

“Oh, don’t do that,” Bailey said automatically, as I knew she would. “I can just pull you back.”

“We’re getting to go to the Club?” Gordon asked. “Can we see your hotel room?”

“No,” Bailey told her. “We’ll just get them safely to the dock. Then we need to get home to take Trinity to the doctor.”

I turned to look at her. “Is everything okay?”

She nodded. “They just want to see her every week now, to check if she’s dilated.”

“What’s dilated?” Gordon asked.

“Ready to have the baby,” I explained. Then I looked up to see Dad and Tracy staring at me. I said, “She’s due in like, a month.”

“Who is this, again?” my dad asked, taking a cracker from the tray Tracy had unwrapped.

“My sister,” Bailey told him. To me she said, “You can come back with us, come along to the appointment, and then we’ll go to the party.”

“Party?” my dad said.

“Our friend’s birthday is tonight,” Bailey explained. To me she said, “You can stay over with me, if you want. That way you don’t have to get all the way back.”

Already, she had a plan. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Sounds great, but Emma is supposed to eat with us and our friends this evening,” my dad said.

To me, this might as well have been a brick wall: my dad said no, end of topic. But I’d again forgotten about Bailey and the power of persuasion. Or cousinhood. Or something.

“Point taken,” she said. “But the thing is, Saylor didn’t really get to say goodbye, you know, when she moved over to be with you guys. It was just like, poof! And she was gone. Everyone’s asking where she is. So can she come to something, you know, just for closure?”

“She’s here for two weeks,” my dad pointed out.

“I know! But it’s already been a minute and we haven’t heard from her. I mean, until now. Which was not the best of circumstances.” Bailey smiled at Tracy, who immediately smiled back. “The longer she’s at the Tides, the less inclined she’ll be to make the trip all the way over to our side. I mean, the boys are really cute there.”

Now my dad looked at me. I kept my face impassive, not wanting to get my hopes up, although it was hard not to show my relief when he said, “Okay, I suppose that’s fine. But I want you to stay at the hotel, with us.”