Welcome to Corbet's Inlet, North Carolina, where the teenagers act like adults and the adults act like teenagers. It's Griffin Connolly's favorite place in the world. And while she may not be good at making decisions when it comes to her own life, s...
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Family dinners at the Connollys were always a bigger production than they needed to be.
Growing up, they'd had one once a week, every Sunday night at 7:30. Bo and Griffin hated them. Their mom always made them wear their Sunday's best, which meant a tie for Bo and an obnoxious Lilly dress for Griffin. They never understood why their parents insisted on everyone dressing up, just to sit awkwardly around the dining room table together.
The weekly family dinners had ended for the most part after Bo went to college, but Howard and Melissa Connolly made sure one happened whenever they were all back together. Griffin had assumed they'd just have one tomorrow before Bo went back to Greensboro, so it was an unfortunate surprise when her mother had insisted on one tonight for Griffin's birthday.
"How are things going at work, Bo?" their mom asked. She was cutting her chicken into small, obsessively proportioned squares.
Bo's chewing slowed, then he swallowed. "They're fine, for the most part. Everything's starting to wind down now that tax season's over."
Melissa nodded. She put down her utensils and started fiddling with her pearl necklace.
"That's good to hear, honey," she said. She looked at Griffin. "So, Evan's cousin Charlie seems like a nice boy. Is he here all summer?"
It was like she was mentally checking off her dinner conversation bullet points.
"Yep, he is," Griffin said, pushing mashed potatoes around her plate.
There was nothing worse than the sound of utensils hitting plates through silence at a dinner table—which happened a lot during their family dinners—but right now, Griffin would've taken silence over having to talk about Charlie. She hadn't seen him since she'd said no to walking on the beach with him last night, and she hated she still felt weird about it. She'd only turned him down because she was afraid he was going to bring up Bill Hammond, and after the finals match fiasco, she hadn't had the mental bandwidth to deal.
"I didn't know the Andercheks had a lot of extended family," their dad said.
Griffin tried to think of ways to tactfully get away from this conversation. "I think Mr. and Mrs. Anderchek both come from big families. Have y'all seen them much this summer?"
Her dad shook his head. "I don't think they've been around the club much." He looked at their mom. "Have you seen them around much, Mel?"
"I saw Carlie at the Charity Tournament, but I hadn't seen her in weeks before that."
Yep. There it was. Griffin's parents had summer tunnel vision for Corbet's Inlet Country Club life and Griffin's tennis career. That was it. And since both had overlapped recently, Griffin had been waiting all night for one of them to work the Charity Tournament into the conversation. They were still sulking over her losing, and apparently her dad had had talked about it all weekend at the club. Lauren texted Griffin that it was quite the topic of conversation at the CICC fundraiser last night. Griffin had been in a horrible mood all day today because of it.
