“Oh, man! We should watch some of them for inspiration!” he suggests. “Movies like Speed or The Mummy or Romancing the Stone! Those could totally spark something for you!”
“I love Romancing the Stone!” Vanessa cries. “Oh my goodness, Liv! You are totally Joan Wylder!”
Beside me, Olivia laughs heartily. “Nuh-uh. Not even a little bit! Although I would love that. I’m just a small fish compared to the kind of writer she was portrayed as.”
“We should definitely have a movie night,” Roxie states. “I wish we could set up a screen out here and make it like a drive-in! How fun would that be?”
“I don’t see why we can’t rent something like that,” Zayne agrees. “Babe, can you look that up and see how we can rent maybe one of those inflatable screens and whatever else we need?”
“I’m on it!” Vanessa says.
We’re all tossing out ideas about snacks and how we’d set up the deck and if we’d make it a nightly thing or do one long marathon, and we don’t even hear Mike and Loren’s arrival. It isn’t until they’re outside standing next to the table that we even notice them.
“Oh, hey you guys!” I say loudly, jumping up to shake Mike’s hand. “Sorry, we were in a deep discussion about how to turn the deck into a drive-in for some action/romance movies!”
“How fun!” Loren says with way more enthusiasm than the topic required. “What a great idea! What movies are we going to watch?”
Vanessa explains the whole concept as she gets up to hug her friends and welcome them back.
I notice how Roxie stays where she is and Loren doesn’t make an effort to go to her either, but I don’t draw attention to it.
Mike whistles loudly and we all look at him. “We ordered a traditional seafood boil for tonight! The truck will be here in five minutes and they’re going to set up here on the deck!”
“A what?” Olivia asks.
“A seafood boil,” Loren explains. “It’s a variety of seafood like shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, and mussels and it comes with vegetables like corn on the cob and potatoes, with some added sausage, all served directly from the pot with a flavorful broth, typically seasoned with Cajun or Old Bay spices. Oh my goodness, it’s so yummy and the restaurant we ordered from has it all prepared and they come and set it all up literally on the table! No plates, just a disposable tablecloth with the food just dumped on it and you just grab what you want! It’s messy, but delicious!”
“Wow! You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble!” Vanessa tells them. “But I am really glad that you did! I haven’t had one of those in years!” She turns to the rest of us. “Y’all are in for a treat tonight! But now we really should switch to white wine!”
We all get up and start clearing the few things that are on the table before heading back into the house. Mike, Zayne, and I call out that we’re heading out to meet up with the delivery driver, but we all know we’re really just giving the girls some time alone to potentially make up.
“Do you think we were too obvious?” Mike asks as we walk out to the driveway.
“Nah. Totally believable,” Zayne assures him. “Everything okay with you two?”
Mike tells him all the things he told me in the text last night, and I just quietly stand there and listen. When the food shows up, we help the delivery crew bring it all inside because it’s a ton of food.
“How many people did you think you were feeding?” I joke as I watch what seems like a dozen trays being carried into the house.
“Don’t forget, shellfish takes up a lot of space so that accounts for some of the bulk,” Zayne clarifies.
We all walk through the house, and I try not to strain to hear what the girls are saying in the kitchen. Out on the deck, I stand back and watch with a combination of horror and fascination as food is just dumped out onto the paper and plastic table covering. The restaurant provided paper goods—plates, napkins, and plastic cutlery—and once everything’s set up, they leave.
“Okay! Let’s do this!” Mike says excitedly, knocking on the kitchen window to get the girls’ attention. He looks over his shoulder at me and grins. “No way I’m going in there right now.”
Laughing, I have to agree.
A few minutes later, Roxie walks out with several bottles of beer. Olivia follows with two bottles of wine. Vanessa and Loren walk out arm in arm, giving literally zero clues about what transpired inside other than that they all look fine.
It would be wrong to ask for specifics right now, but I know as soon as we’re up in our room tonight, I’m going to ask Olivia for all the details.
We all settle around the table. The conversation is lively—and primarily about the food—and while I’m fine with it, there’s a part of me who is beyond confused. I know I’ve never been in a situation where this level of drama existed, and it seems bizarre that we’re all just going to sit here and pretend it didn’t happen.
Or maybe that’s what we’re supposed to do in order to get the vacation back on track. Obviously the girls all talked, so maybe I’m the only one who’s having a problem with it all. So instead of obsessing about it, I help myself to some food. I help Olivia crack some shells, she wipes my face when there’s random sauce where I can’t see it, and I have to say, it’s one of the best—albeit messiest—meals I’ve ever had.
“This is amazing,” Roxie announces. “I never would have thought about just dumping food on the table, but in this instance, it works!”
“I know, right?” Loren agrees, and I find myself homing in on their exchange. “I typically hate to eat with my hands when it’s this messy, but it’s so worth it. When I saw the flyer for this place, I knew we had to try it.”
