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Even after the fight, after knowing that she may not even be able to afford Baybrook, Rory sat back down at the table and with teary eyes, she clicked Submit.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was three days after the fight, and Gabi was radio silent. She hadn’t spoken to Rory, didn’t even bother looking in Rory’s direction as she got ready for work each morning and left. Rory made sure to be tucked away in her room by the time Gabi got home in the evenings. She’d expected her to be mad, but she never imagined she’d completely shut her out.
While she anxiously awaited to hear back from Baybrook, she found herself searching for Fred Barry again. She searched through any records she could find online about the Barry family in Orlando. She found a house, which looked like it was sold in 2006—the same year she was born. Newspaper clippings didn’t help much either, just a few mentions of Fred Barry making the all-state team, or his parents (which she couldn’t fathom might actually be her grandparents) mentioned as donors for different charity events and auctions. But one morning as she sipped on her coffee, she found a quote from her potential grandmother in a small note about a Christmas charity auction that had her pause.
“The armoire is the exact kind of piece I’ve been looking to add to the collection at our Rhode Island beach house. How lovely that the money will all go to charity.”
Rory clicked open a new tab, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she searched for a Fred Barry in Rhode Island.
Sure enough, there was one.
His online presence was still pretty obscure, but she did find a mention of him in a local paper, attached to his work at a construction company that renovated heritage houses along the shore. She clicked out of the article and scrolled, creepily finding an address to an estate attached to the Barry name. It was still under their ownership.
Was it really them? Why get excited about it if she wasn’t even sure if this was the man she was looking for?
Still curious, she looked up the distance between Haverport and the Barry estate. It was a 43-minute drive.
Forty. Three. Minutes. While she wasn’t a hundred percent certain it was him, she couldn’t deny the coincidence. And if she was right, it would mean he’d lived less than an hour away her entire life. What in the world happened for Fred to limit his contact to regular child support payments and nothing more?
Her phone rang, causing her to jump out of her desk chair. She grabbed it with shaking hands, noticing Melanie’s name on the screen.
“H-hi,” Rory answered.
“Hi yourself,” Melanie said. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“You’re, um, ten minutes late picking me up.”
“Right, shit, sorry,” Rory said, flinging her backpack over her shoulder. She forgot she’d promised to drive Melanie to school this week. Calvin usually did, but he had finals and had to focus on his studying. “Lost track of time.”
“I mean if we’re skipping school, I’m down, I just need to know,” Melanie teased.
She hopped in her car, putting her phone in the holder and tapping the speakerphone option. “Skipping school, Melanie Albertson? What would Yale think?”
“Doesn’t matter now,” Melanie said firmly. “Because I already got in.”
Rory froze, her hands on the steering wheel. “Wait, seriously?”
“Yeah…but I haven’t told my parents yet.”
“I feel like this is the kind of conversation that requires lattes on the beach.”
Melanie chuckled. “Do we have time?”
“Well, no,” Rory said, turning the keys in the ignition. “But it’s senior year. Think they won’t let us graduate if we’re a little late?”
“If they don’t, at least we’ll be stuck here together.”
Rory grinned. “Sounds perfect to me.”
* * *
Hillside Park was still pretty empty, but in just a few months, it would be packed. Despite how much she hated it when the summer people descended and made everything in the Port far too crowded, Rory was excited for the season to begin. With Scoops finally opening back up in four days, the Scoopers were meeting that afternoon for the first staff meeting of the year.
They climbed out of her car into an empty parking lot, a sheet of fog rolling up from the ocean and breezing through Rory’s hair. She shivered, taking a big sip of her latte to keep warm as she leaned against the hood of her car. Melanie did the same, tucking her cardigan tight around her waist with one hand, her own latte in the other.
