05/09/2026
First official night at Aunt Tori and Uncle Chip’s place in Brant Point. Their house has somehow become the unofficial family headquarters over the years. Everyone just ends up here eventually.
Within twenty minutes, Graham was already retelling family stories that absolutely should’ve remained confidential, Claire had opened a second bottle of wine ‘just in case,’ and Henry was doing his best to look unalarmed by the realization that marrying into this family may actually qualify as an endurance sport.
Aunt Tori keeps insisting nobody’s eaten enough despite there being enough lobster and oysters on this porch to feed half the island. Chip disappeared twice to ‘check on something’ and somehow returned each time with another bourbon.
Ellie spent most of the evening threatening to expose my teenage sailing phase, which honestly feels unnecessary considering I showed up voluntarily.
Meanwhile, I have absolutely no idea where my parents and Caroline disappeared to somewhere between cocktails and sunset, but knowing this family, they’re either at someone else’s porch party or halfway through another bottle of wine pretending they’ll only stay for one drink.
The wind coming off the water, everyone barefoot, too much food, too much wine, and the same people laughing at the same stories they’ve been telling for twenty years.
Exactly why we keep coming back.
