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. Whowouldn’twant 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 coursethey’dbe 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.”
