Chapter 17: The Fourth of July

Two days later, on the Fourth of July, we went back to Ryan and Roxie’s for the big party. The backyard was already packed when we walked through the side gate. A few neighbors were there, but mostly it was people from work. The same group from the last pool party, including the Directors and their wives. Simon and his wife, Janet, stood near the big grill with two other directors and their wives, all holding drinks and laughing at something one of the caterers had just said. Past them I recognized at least forty or fifty more people from the company—VPs, senior engineers, a couple of the product leads—and their partners. Ryan had mentioned the company was paying for the band, the food and the open bar.

Will and Cindy were there, of course. Will was the man of the hour, and the party was largely to celebrate his promotion and his departure the following day to Miami to work on the launch of the new corporate offices. Cindy and their two-year-old son would stay behind for a while until Will had everything under control and wasn’t working around the clock.

Between the work crowd, the neighbors Roxie had invited, and the friends who had shown up early, there had to be well over two hundred people, not counting the serving staff and the four-piece band already set up on the far side of the pool. The music was loud enough that conversations happened in short bursts. The air smelled like charcoal, chlorine, and too much sunscreen.