“Great,” Dianne clapped. “I just need to ask Cora if we can borrow the boat.”
“Okay.”
Rory watched as Dianne made her way over to Aunt Cora. Her phone vibrating in the front of her shorts caught her attention, and she reached inside her pocket to get it. Her eyes squinted at the number on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Rory, it’s Trey.”
“Oh, hi, Trey. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m okay,” she answered.
“Listen, I was wondering if you’re free. We could maybe hang out. We could catch a movie or something.”
“I’m sorry, Trey, as great as that sounds, I just promised my cousin that I’d go with her over to Camano Island,” she said apologetically.
“Oh…no, that’s fine. I understand.”
Rory felt a pang at the disappointment in his voice, but just then an idea popped into her head.
“You could come with us if you want. I could ask Dianne…I don’t think she’d mind,” she offered.
“I don’t know…”
“Oh, come on, Trey. It’ll be fun,” she coaxed. “Here’s Dianne now. I’m asking her.”
“Ask me what?” Dianne asked as she stopped before Rory and stared questioningly.
Rory moved the phone away from her ear as she asked, “Can Trey, mom’s soon-to-be stepson, come with us?”
“Yeah. Of course,” she agreed.
Rory threw her cousin a thumbs up before returning to the call. “You’re coming with us,” she said definitively.
“Okay…then,” Trey responded, unsure of what just happened.
“How fast can you get here?”
“About twenty minutes?”
“Good. See you then. Bye.”
Rory turned to Dianne with a bright smile on her lips. “Is there a dress code?” she asked, taking in her cousin’s not-so-casual outfit of a cream cashmere turtleneck tucked into a pair of gray jeans and black low-heeled ankle boots.
“No, not really,” Dianne replied, looking her up and down. “Just wear something comfortable. They have ziplining at the farm in case you want to do that.”
“Really?” Rory asked, surprised. “I’d definitely want to do that. Let me head upstairs and get changed really quick.”
“Okay,” Diane agreed.
Rory left her mother and aunts talking to Tessa and made her way upstairs to change. After rummaging through her closet, she settled on a simple white t-shirt with black leggings and some Ugg boots. Finally, she reached for her hoodie jean jacket and slung it over her arm and returned downstairs. Only Diane was in the family room when she returned.
“Where are the others?”
“Your mother is sitting with Aunt Becky, and the others are out back.”
