The Summer We Sailed Away (The Destin Diaries #7)
June 4, 1995
Dear Diary,
Anyway, another summer has just begun, and I swear on a stack of sandy flip-flops, this will be the best one of our whole lives.
We rolled Mom’s Explorer into the driveway, packed with four of us (Dad was following because, as always, he’ll go back and forth from Atlanta while we are living the beach life) at five in the afternoon.
The Wylies were already here! Uncle Artie pulled an all-nighter from Ithaca with Tessa driving half the trip while Kate and Aunt Jo Ellen slept.
Tessa got to be in charge of music and ol’ Artie now knows every word of every song on CrazySexyCool. (He’s the best!!)
Of course, Tessa came flying down the steps in cutoffs, screaming and jumping around like a gorgeous banshee with Kate behind her, not jumping but whipping her glasses off so she looked her best for Eli, who stared at Tessa.
Le sigh. Some things never change. (Speaking of things that never change, Peter is meeting us here, coming next week.
Plenty of time for me to perfect my tan and finally get his attention.
I haven’t seen him since Christmas when he came to visit and told us he’s decided to be a cop! Talk about CrazySexyCool!)
Three months. That’s what we get. Three whole months of this before real life swallows us up and by real life, I mean college. Well, for some of us.
Kate, of course, is going to Cornell on a genius discount, which is what Tessa calls her mountain of scholarships.
Amazing, but not surprising. And Tessa, in true opposite twin style, didn’t even take the SATs!
She said she wants to have fun, meet amazing people, see sights, have fun, get super tan, serve cocktails and food, and have fun. Did I mention the fun?
Anyway, she’s going to do all that because, naturally, she got a job with Carnival Cruise Lines!
While the rest of us are struggling through freshman English, she’ll be sailing the Caribbean like a queen.
Well, a waitress, but still. I thought Uncle Artie would be upset (Maggie would behead us if we opted out of college and Uncle A’s a professor!) but he just told her to pack sunscreen and call every Sunday ’cause, “You only live once, Theresa!”
No wonder those two are so close. I couldn’t dream of having a relationship like that with either of my parents, who rule by fear and judgment. Well, Mom does. Dad seems a little distracted these days.
And what was going on with him and Uncle Artie? Dad barely said hello to him. I heard them talking on the porch after dinner and they weren’t laughing or planning a fishing trip, like always. When I walked past, they both shut up fast like they were busted or something.
Not so the moms, though. Aunt Jo Ellen brought out their favorite limoncello she got from their friends that own the Italian deli. Mom said no in typical Maggie style (which was something like, “Jo, it’s all sugar and empty calories!”).
To which Aunt JE filled a glass and stuck it into her hand and said, “In Destin, we drink, Mags.”
And they did, both of them giggling their way down the boardwalk to assure us that all is well in the world.
Only Aunt Jo Ellen can get Magnolia Fredericks Lawson to snort with laughter.
Tonight it was because she did an impression of someone from their sorority who married a guy who invented a ketchup lid.
All part of the reason I love coming here so much.
Who am I kidding? Peter is the reason.
Oh, the big news Tessa whispered to us is that she has a friend of a friend of a friend (only Tessa) who supposedly knows a guy who’ll be here this summer visiting his grandparents and he has a sailboat!
We can go out on it! As always, fun awaits us for another unforgettable summer of walkin’ on sunshine!
Love,
Viv