Falling in the Cape

Arriving in the Vineyard

Summer had finally come and Emily just graduated from Boston University. It's the first summer in five years that she was going to be spending the entire season with her family at their summer home in Martha's Vineyard. She had been living in Boston year-round all throughout college and didn't really have the time to come and stay. She had been working a part time job and interning at a publishing office in downtown, so it was difficult to really get the time to come down the Cape.

After graduation, she decided to get out of Boston for the summer since she quit her part-time job and completed all her internship hours—there wasn't anything keeping her there, really. She already had a job lined up starting in the fall and she figured why not enjoy the cottage while she actually had the time to now.

Emily and Vinnie drove off the ferry, blasting some tunes as they started the drive to the family cottage. The cottage was located in Oak Bluffs—a small town in the northeastern part of Martha's Vineyard. All towns on the island were considered 'beach towns' but there was something about Oak Bluffs that felt like home compared to the other parts of the small island. The ferry dropped them off in Tisbury—which was about a ten-minute drive to the cottage.

"I'm so happy you're finally going to be here for the summer again." Vinnie said, glancing at Emily who was driving.

Emily smiled and nodded, keeping her eyes on the road, "Me too, Vin. I need the beach. Being surrounded by tall buildings and concrete for the past few years has been sort of, well, sad. I'm ready to actually be in a place that's peaceful."

"And now we can actually go out to the bars together all summer and do adult things!" Vinnie said excitedly, clapping her hands together. Vinnie had just turned twenty-one and all she could think about was going to the bars and getting drunk. Emily was twenty-three going on twenty-four later in the year, so she was pretty seasoned in the whole bar scene already.

"It's about time." Emily teased, nudging her sister as she continued to drive down the road.

"Last summer I spent most of the time getting drunk with Sue and Hattie in their backyard. I'd hit the bars with them sometimes, though, and they'd sneak me drinks." Vinnie said, chuckling at the thought.

"The Gilbert sisters are still coming here?" Emily asked, curiously.

"Every year." Vinnie said, looking out the window and then back to Emily, "Just because you stopped coming down here for the summer doesn't mean everyone else has."

And Vinnie was right. She and Austin hadn't stopped coming down here for the summer with their parents even though Emily did.

Emily shrugged and nodded, "You're right." She said, turning down the road. "How have they been?"

Vinnie laughed, "Ask them yourself, Em. They've already been here for two weeks."

"How do you know?" Emily asked.

Vinnie raised her eyebrow, "Because I texted Sue last week asking when they would be here, and she had told me they got there the week prior." She said simply.

Emily nodded and kept driving—they weren't far now.

"I know Sue will be thrilled to see you. She asks about you every summer." Vinnie said, matter-of-factly. "Part of me thinks she has a little crush on you." She teased, wagging her eyebrows at Emily.

Emily scoffed and laughed, "What!? Sue and I have only ever been just friends."

"Yeah, well..." Vinnie started, lowering her voice. "I've showed her updated pictures of you over the past few years, and her face always turns red—just a little something I've noticed."