Chapter Nine
“Today’s going to feel three days long,” Brian mumbled while poking the yolks of the eggs sizzling in the pan with a fork.
Rob didn’t bother pointing out he liked his yolks runny. The last time he’d reminded his brother of that fact, there’d been a lot of grumbling about being a short-order cook and slamming of pans.
“What time is everybody getting here?” he asked instead.
“Last time I opened the group chat, they were still arguing about what time to leave and how many vehicles to bring, and I’m not looking again. We’ll know they’re here when they pull in, I guess.”
“Do we at least have a head count?” Rob asked, splitting the last of the coffee in the carafe between their two mugs.
“Nope. Still not sure if the grandparents are coming. They haven’t un-winterized their RV yet, and a four-hour round trip with a cookout in the middle is a lot for them.”
Rob didn’t roll his eyes because his mom had cured him of that habit during his middle school years, but he wanted to.
“I offered them a cabin, but Gram let me know in no uncertain terms she has no interest in walking to the bathhouse every time she has to pee, and she’s convinced Danny made us cheap out on the mattresses. ”
Brian snorted. “She’s not wrong.”
Leo and Mary Kowalski called themselves campers, but the extravagantly luxurious RV they so-called camped in barely met the definition of the word. It was nicer than the house he’d grown up in.
“What time are Danny and Joey planning to show up?” Rob asked when the overcooked eggs were ready to eat and they were seated at the table.
“Don’t know.”
Rob bit back a frustrated growl. Brian’s ability to just go with the flow was something he had always envied, but at the same time, it was a source of never-ending frustration.
They were also both beat after the work they’d done yesterday.
Not only had they put up a big canopy tent alone to offer shade, but they’d gone around and borrowed a bunch of picnic tables from the sites that weren’t occupied yet and brought them to the grassy area next to the playground.
Two grills and three folding tables for food.
And each of the tasks had been punctuated by one of them grumbling about how nice it must be for Joey and Danny, who got to reap any profits they might sow without doing the labor.
Danny had coughed up a lot of money and was supposed to be silent, though, so mostly they’d complained about Joey.
Instead of pushing at Brian now, which probably wouldn’t get Rob anywhere but even more frustrated, he ate his breakfast in silence.
After cleaning up, Brian went to take Stella on her daily walk around the campground, and Rob went into the store just to check on everything.
There were already signs on the front and side doors letting people know they’d be closed today due to the cookout.
It shouldn’t be a problem because most of the seasonal campers were planning to attend—though he still didn’t know what Hannah would do—and if there was an urgent need, one of them could always leave the cookout for a few minutes.
Once Brian and Stella were back, they started carrying stuff outside. Not anything that needed to be on ice yet, but there was a lot they could bring out in advance, like the king’s ransom’s worth of paper products they’d bought for the occasion.
Joey was the first to arrive. He pulled in at the end of the vacant transient sites they’d marked off for parking, and Rob wasn’t sure the vehicle was even at a full stop before Nora burst out through the back door.
The seven-year-old had only been his niece for less than a year, but Rob adored her with his whole heart. The entire Kowalski family did, and they were just as fond of her mother, Ellie.
“Uncle Rob! Uncle Brian!” She ran toward them, but then suddenly veered off to the left. “Stella!”
They laughed as they watched her collapse on the grass and wrap her arms around the dog’s neck. Rob didn’t take it personally. Who wouldn’t want to hug a dog before doing anything else?
After greeting Joey and Ellie, Rob looked around, but he didn’t see Hannah anywhere.
There was still an hour before the posted start time, though, and if she did come, it probably wouldn’t be early.
He could see some of the other seasonal campers gathering on their sites, watching and probably deciding when it would be a good time to head over.
“You guys got a lot done,” Joey said, looking around. “I’d hoped to get here earlier and help out more, but we ran late and then I got stuck behind the only person in the state doing the actual posted speed limit.”
Rob wanted to make a snarky remark about how they’d gotten used to doing most of the work without him, but he didn’t want to start this cookout off on that note.
Especially with Ellie standing next to him.
She fit in well with the family, but she was still newish and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
If he made a comment that set Brian off, things could go from snarky to ugly pretty quickly.
“It’s probably time to bring more coolers out, since people are starting to wander over,” he said. “You can give me a hand with those.”
Nora ran back to the adults, Stella loping after her. “Uncle Rob, look at my shoes.”
He did as he was told and looked down at her sparkly pink sneakers. “They’re very shiny and pink. I like them.”
“Grammy Lisa bought them for me and I love them.”
Rob smiled. His mother, after raising four boys, had been waiting not so patiently for grandchildren in hopes she’d have a little girl to shower in girlie stuff. “I can see why. I have to go bring more drinks out now, though.”
“I can help!”
“I think they’re kind of heavy for a little girl,” he said, and he realized his mistake when she scowled and crossed her arms.
“The only thing a boy can do that a girl can’t is pee in his own face,” she told him sternly.
He had no idea what to say to that, and he looked to his brother for help. Joey shrugged, trying pretty unsuccessfully to keep from grinning. “She’s got you there.”
Ellie held up her hands. “I didn’t teach her that. I mean, I might have if I’d thought of it, but I’m not sure where she got it from.”
“Not me, either. Oh shi—” Joey cut off and glanced at Nora. “Oh damn, incoming.”
Rob didn’t even have to look to know Dave and Sheila were making their way to the grass. He could tell by his brother’s expression who it was. And of course they’d be early. They literally did nothing but seek out people they could complain to.
But he fixed a smile on his face and turned to greet them. “Dave! Sheila! Glad you could make it.”
“It was a bit of a walk, since we always had group gatherings over there,” Sheila said, pointing to a different grassy area that didn’t offer enough space to host the cookout.
“This is more central and gives people a little more room to spread out.”
Dave crossed his arms. “We always had plenty of room.”
Rob forced a chuckle. “We invited our family and they take up a lot of space, but we’ll keep it in mind for future campground events.”
That seemed to mollify them for the moment, and he was saved from having to come up with something else to talk about when a vehicle turned into the driveway, followed by two more.
“Speaking of our family, more’s arriving, so you’ll have to excuse us. Feel free to rummage through the coolers for a drink or pop open one of the chip bags.”
He walked away before they could tell him they bought the wrong chips or that their coolers were wrong.
One thing he knew for sure was that when the time came to decide who was grilling the meat, he’d be in the bathroom.
He wasn’t going to flip burgers and dogs with Dave critiquing the way he used a spatula.
By the time he reached the parking area, there were Kowalskis climbing out of four vehicles, since his grandparents had ridden with his parents. He hugged them each, giving his grandparents extra squeezes.
Next up were his uncle Kevin, aunt Beth and their fifteen-year-old son, Gage.
“Lily said she’d try to come,” Beth said after hugging him, “but then she started talking about cramming for finals and had a bit of a breakdown, so we told her you’d all understand. Her plate’s pretty full right now.”
His cousin was a freshman at a university in Vermont and he definitely understood. “Of course. And she’s welcome anytime she needs to get away, you know. We can always find a space for her.”
“She was talking about making a day trip with Gage once they’re both out of school,” Kevin said.
Rob nodded at his young cousin. “If you want to take the weekend, or even just one night, let me know and I’ll hold a cabin for you.”
“Cool. I don’t know if we can swing it with our jobs and stuff, but I’ll let her know.”
Then it was time to hug his uncle Joe, who slapped him on the back. “Hell of a job you guys are doing. Terry and Evan are on a cruise, but I’ll send her pictures she’ll pay an obscene amount to download on the ship.”
Rob laughed. His aunt Terry was Uncle Joe’s twin sister, and nobody messed with anybody in the family the way they messed with each other. “Well, Uncle Evan’s with her, so if they didn’t buy the fancy Wi-Fi package, he’ll make her wait until they can find free internet during an excursion.”
Steph, who was Danny’s age, was Terry and Evan’s daughter, and she’d ridden with Joe and Keri. She kissed his cheek before moving on to his brothers.
Then it was time to embrace Joe’s wife, Keri, and their daughter, Brianna, who was graduating from high school this year.
As he hugged her and thanked her for coming, he made a mental note to find out the exact date and add it to the calendar.
It was going to be tough navigating the big family events he and his brothers would all want to attend.
It was one thing to be closed when you were still on the property or nearby, but all four of them being two hours away didn’t seem like a great idea.