Charlie Grace had to steel herself to keep from staring. The feat was nearly impossible to achieve.
Capri elbowed her, smiling. “Who’s your friend?”
The comment jerked Charlie Grace from her mental reverie. “Oh, sorry. Nick, this is one of my closest friends, Capri Jacobs.” She turned to Capri. “This is Nick. He’s a guest out at Teton Trails and the production designer for the television showBear Countrybeing filmed over on the outskirts of Jackson.” She realized Capri knew most of this already, but her nerves seemed to be getting the best of her.
Capri smiled and extended her hand. “While we didn’t formally meet, I think I saw you down at the Rustic Pine a few weeks back.”
Recognition dawned on Nick’s face. “Oh, yeah. I remember. You were there with Charlie Grace and some other women.”
She nodded. “Girls’ night out.”
Nick rubbed the side of his chin while surveying the scene. “I’m intrigued with the idea that a remote town in Wyoming hosts an annual oyster fry. What? Do you have them flown in from Oregon?”
“Uh, no.” Charlie Grace glanced over at Capri. “I think we’ve got us an oyster virgin,” she said, grinning.
“Well, there’s a cure for that!” came Capri’s reply.
The women each looped arms with Nick and pulled him in the direction of the tables now loaded with hot oysters freshly pulled from the fryers. Capri grabbed a paper plate from a stack at the end of the table. Charlie Grace scooped several golden crisp oysters onto the plate and handed Nick a plastic fork. “Eat up!”
He glanced between them, puzzled.
One of the guys standing at the fryer let out a laugh that sounded a lot like a coyote howl. “A virgin?”
“Yup, but not for long,” Charlie Grace told him.
Nick’s face instantly grew skeptical. “Okay, something tells me everything is not on the up and up here.”
Charlie Grace relented. “Okay, truth? These are Rocky Mountain Oysters. They’re not exactly grown in the sea.”
The old man at the fryer let out another howl. “Nope. These are bull oysters. Or, should I say they’re from former bulls?” He winked at the girls.
“I’m not sure I understand what…”
“They’re testicles,” announced Lila, who came up from behind them.
Nick nearly dropped his plate. “Testicles?”
Lila nodded. “Yeah, when the bull calves are castrated, we save them and fry them up.”
“Hence, the Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival,” Capri announced.
Charlie Grace plucked one of the fried oysters from off his plate with her fingers and popped it in her mouth. While chewing, she reached for another. “They’re delicious.”
“They’re yucky!” Jewel repeated, as she and her dad approached.
Gibbs reached for an oyster off Nick’s plate and tossed it in his mouth. “Not true, puddin’. Not true.”
“Try one,” Charlie Grace urged.
Nick glanced between all the faces filled with the anticipation of watching him do the deed. He shrugged and glanced down at Jewel. “What the heck.”
She scrunched her face. “You’ll be sorry.”
He gingerly placed an oyster inside his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed. They all watched and waited.
Finally, he opened his eyes. “Not bad,” he said and reached for another. “Not bad at all.”
“C’mon. Admit it. They’re really good,” Charlie Grace said, motioning for the plate to be refilled.
