“Not unless you’re taking sailing lessons at the yacht club,” Trinity said.
Bailey shot her a look. “Colin was out at the raft yesterday. He gave me a ride in. Blake’s his roommate.”
“Oh, right,” I said.
“And they’ve been over here every night this week,” Bailey said. “So it only seems fair that we reciprocate and go there for once.”
“Or,” Trinity said, picking up a biscuit from her plate, “we could just stick with our own kind the way nature intended.”
“That is such bullshit,” Bailey shot back. “You know as well as I do that the kids from both sides have hung out since this place was settled.”
“I’m not saying they haven’t. I’m saying maybe theyshouldn’t.”
“Why? Because we’re not exactly alike?”
“Because we have nothing in common with those rich kids! And even if you do find one you like, do you think it’s actually going to end up being anything that lasts? Every time some girl we know gets tangled up with one of them, she gets dumped at the end of the summer. It’s like clockwork.”
“Not every time.”
“Every time.”
“My mom didn’t,” I said.
That shut them up. Which had not been my intention, really. I was just contributing, because for once I had something to add. Now that I’d done that, though, I realized this subject was a fraught one.
“She didn’t?” Trinity said after a moment. “They got divorced.”
“Trinity,” her sister said, her voice like a warning shot.
“After seven years,” I replied. “And it was a mutual decision, from what I’ve heard.”
Again, silence. Down at the shore, some ducks quacked as they walked along the small waves breaking there.
Trinity sighed, then looked up at the sky overhead. “Saylor. I don’t mean to insult you or your mom and dad.”
“It’s never your intention,” Bailey grumbled. “You just do.”
“I’m not insulted,” I told her. And I wasn’t. I just knew so little of the history around here: when something came up I could claim, I wanted it to be correct. “But for what it’s worth, my dad’s a good guy. Even if he was a yacht club boy once.”
“Fine, they’re all probably wonderful,” Trinity said. “I still don’t want to hang out with them. Which is a moot point anyway because the Sergeant and I are doing a HiThere! tonight.”
“We just went through all that and you’re not even going with us?” Bailey asked.
“You know I haven’t gone out since I got huge.” Trinityswung her legs around, off the bench, then grunted as she got to her feet. “But Saylor is.”
“I am?” I asked.
“You have to,” she replied, starting up to the house. “Otherwise she’s going alone, and cousins don’t let cousins do that. Especially with yacht club boys.”
With this, she started up the hill to the house. I looked at Bailey, who was angrily picking at her chicken leg again. “You don’t have to include me,” I said. “She’s just being nice.”
She looked up at me. “Trinity? Nice? Since when?”
“Since I worked with her today,” I said. Hardly convinced, she went back to her food. “And maybe it’s more like nice-ish. I don’t think she hates me anymore, at any rate.”
“You cleaned rooms?” she asked. “Wow. I’m surprised.”
This again. In a tired voice, I said, “Because you thought I was the spoiled rich cousin just here to relax and hang out?”
