The Kellys’ place was on a beautiful piece of land, nearly three acres, with one large house and two tiny cottages behind it. There was a pool, and a screened-in porch that overlooked the grass heading down toward the water, and a stone deck on the side of the house with six Adirondack chairs, painted a cheery red, all lined up in a row. There was also an outdoor fireplace, where we gathered most nights after dinner so the kids could roast marshmallows.
Charles and his four brothers had bought the property almost thirty years earlier, and used to bring all their families up at the same time. Now they mostly took turns, although Charles and Babs used it most, not shy about telling everyone that they had invested the most in the place and had the right to do so.
Above the front door, there was a sign that read: THE PANCAKE HOUSE, EST. 1970. The first year I went there, I turned to Matt in disbelief (I’d already heard the Patrick Pancake story by then), and he just smiled and shook his head and told me that Pancake was the surname of the family who’d owned the house before them. “My dad and my uncles got a kick out of it, so they left it up there,” he said. The two cottages behind were called Bacon and Eggs, because one was yellow and one was brown and I guess they decided to stick with the breakfast theme. Patrick and Rebecca always stayed in the little brown cottage, and at least ten times during the vacation, one of the Kelly brothers would ask, “Where’s Pancake?” and wait for someone to say, “He’s in Bacon,” so they could all laugh.
Matt and I were always shuffled around to whatever room or cottage was left—we were childless and could stay anywhere. One year, we’d stayed in Eggs, which offered more privacy but meant we had to cross the lawn to get to the bathroom in the morning, so it was a trade-off.
This year, we were in the main house with most everyone else. Babs put us in a bedroom that opened right up onto the lawn with a great view of the water. Patrick, Rebecca, and Jonah were in Bacon (as always), and Eggs would be split evenly between the nieces and nephews, each of them getting three nights there and sleeping on the floor of the living room for the last night. (There had been a fight over how to divide the uneven number of days at Sunday dinner a few weeks earlier, and it had resulted in so much screaming and crying that Babs declared Eggs would stay empty for a night to keep the peace.)
—
I left the bags in the car, deciding that Matt and I could bring them in later, and went to join Rebecca on the porch. Last year, Jonah had still been young enough that he couldn’t really keep up with the other kids. Now he was old enough to play with them and Rebecca seemed out of sorts without him by her side. He was laughing and clearly having fun with Bobby, and she looked like it was torturing her.
“We thought you’d beat us here,” Rebecca said as I sat down.
“Believe me, Matt intended to be the first one here. We just had a slow morning.”
She nodded. At the end of the dock, Matt was holding a beer and talking to his brothers, waving his hands in an excited way, and I wondered what he could be telling them.
Patrick smiled at me as he came out of Bacon, happy that Rebecca had company, I think. “Everything’s unpacked,” he said to her. “The air mattress is all set up for Jonah. Hopefully he’ll be okay with it.”
“Hopefully,” Rebecca said. “Otherwise, he’ll end up in bed with us.”
“Which would be just like home then,” Patrick said to me, but he had a laugh in his voice. He turned back to Rebecca. “Do you need me to do anything else? I was going to go join the guys on the dock, but if you need anything…”
“No, I think we’re all set,” Rebecca said, although you could tell that she wished she had a reason to keep him there.
I didn’t blame Rebecca for disliking Babs or not wanting to spend time with the Kellys—it certainly wasn’t my favorite thing to do. But then I’d look around at this beautiful vacation house and think, Oh, poor you. Suck it up. Being around Rebecca was a reminder of just how miserable you could make yourself, and I decided then that I would have a good time that week—there is nothing like being around a negative person to make you determined to be positive.
Jenny and Nellie came out of the house then, both wearing Lululemon cropped pants, tank tops, and sneakers. “You made it,” Jenny said, leaning down to hug me. “Do you want to come for a walk with us? We’re going to power-walk every day. Burn some calories.” As she said this, she slapped her right thigh, which was thin and muscular and didn’t move.
“I think I’ll skip today,” I said. “Our bags are still in the car.”
“Is Matt already out there with the other boys?” Nellie asked. She shaded her eyes and squinted out at the dock. “God, they act like teenagers here, don’t they?” But her voice was full of affection, and I knew she was glad that Will was having fun, even if it meant he’d be drunk by dinner and she’d have to deal with the kids alone.
“Rebecca, what about you? Are you up for a walk?”