Chapter 19 #2
They headed to their rental cars, then drove to the restaurant.
On the way over there, Sascha asked Kat, “Since I’ll be living with Gregory at his house, what will you do with the carriage house at your place?”
She felt bad that they had fixed it all up for her, only for her to move in with Prescott’s competition. But she was delighted that she and Gregory would be a couple and she would be living with him in the mansion!
“It will be a great guesthouse.”
“It sure will be,” Sascha said. “And, Rose, once this maniac is arrested, we want you to stay with us.”
Rose smiled. “Sure, I would love to.”
Sascha was glad. Rose had been living at Gregory’s home until the attempted murderer continued to target Gregory.
She didn’t want Rose to think she wasn’t welcome once the guy was caught and jailed and she and Gregory were a married couple.
She could see herself and Rose going shopping, visiting, and doing other things together while Gregory was busy with his business.
Kat would be busy with baby stuff soon. Though Sascha would certainly be available anytime to help her.
“Oh, we need to do a baby shower soon,” Sascha said to Kat.
Kat smiled. “I’ll put up a baby registry, and we can decide on a date, games, and decorations. But it’s quite a way off. We need to learn what their sex is first.”
“True,” Sascha said. She knew they hadn’t started decorating the babies’ room yet because of that.
As soon as they parked at the restaurant, Sascha envisioned Gregory and the rest of his party sitting inside, enjoying their lunch.
At the same time, Kat and Sascha said, “They’re here.”
Kat must have immediately pictured Gregory and his companions eating Mexican food at the restaurant, too.
Immediately, the bodyguards surrounded the ladies, guns drawn.
Sascha took hold of Henry’s arm and clarified, “Gregory and his bachelor party crew are here.”
“Oh, okay.”
The bodyguards relaxed.
“Are you sure?” Mrs. Landry asked. “They’re supposed to be at a lake somewhere up north.”
“Yeah, they’re in the restaurant eating,” Kat said. “I saw a vision of them.”
“Me too,” Sascha said.
Lucy laughed. “Gregory is worried about you so he’s nearby in case you have any trouble.”
“Oh,” Aunt Meg said, laughing, “Jimmy asked me where we would be. I mean, the actual rental house. I never suspected they would be here.”
Sascha loved that Gregory was worried about her and would be there to make sure she stayed safe, even though they had bodyguards also. “Well,” Sascha said, “we can either go in and eat—they might be in another room where we won’t see them—or if we see them, we can pretend we don’t.”
Kat smiled. “That would be hilarious.”
“Or, we could eat somewhere else,” Sascha said.
“We’re here to support you,” Kat said. “What do you want to do?”
Everyone eagerly waited for her to decide. She didn’t want to mess up the boys’ bachelor party, but since they did come to South Padre Island, she suspected they would run into each other again at some point. Maybe several times because the island wasn’t that big—only less than four square miles.
The island was part of the broader Padre Island, the world's longest barrier island at 113 miles. The resort town itself was relatively small, though it had over seven million visitors a year.
“Well, we all wanted Mexican food, right?” Sascha asked, also recalling that Kat had made a reservation for them.
“Yep,” they all agreed.
“So do we give them hugs if we see them, or pretend they’re not here?” Sascha asked.
“Again, it’s up to you,” Kat said. “I’m sure we all want to go along with whatever you want to do.”
“If we see them, we give them big hugs,” Sascha said, wondering if Lucy would hug Damon. She suspected not.
“If we don’t see them?” Rose asked.
“We’ll have a delightful lunch just like we planned.”
Then Omar got the door for them, and Henry went inside first to get the ladies’ seats.
“Right this way,” Henry said to Sascha and the others, as if he were the host. The hostess hurried to show them the way.
As soon as they moved into one of the main rooms, they saw waiters weaving their way through the labyrinth of colorful tables, balancing platters laden with tacos, quesadillas, fajitas, and enchiladas, the hiss and sizzle of the kitchen grill reaching even the deepest corners of the dining room.
The air was thick with the aroma of grilled beef and chicken, cilantro, charred peppers, onions, and avocados, and a waft of tequila.
People at some tables were drinking margaritas and beer; voices were elevated, laughing, conversing, everyone talking over everyone else.
Spanish music played overhead. Some walls were made of stone, with plaster covering part of them, as if in an old building where the surface was peeling and revealing the warm brick beneath.
Some walls were painted bright aqua blue, and some green, adding to the restaurant's colorful feel. Archways divided the rooms, and the ceiling and some of the walls were covered in Spanish artwork. Red, green, and blue sombreros were hung up on the colorful walls.
As soon as they walked deeper into the dining room, Sascha and everyone in her party smiled to see Gregory and his party nearby. The guys were so busy eating and talking that they didn’t see the ladies arrive.
But Red saw them first as he was acting as lookout at another table. There were enough seats for the other bodyguards to join them.
“Go,” Sascha said to them. And the bodyguards hurried off to join the others.
Gregory and the other men at his table still hadn’t noticed them, but then Uncle Jimmy saw the ladies and laughed. “We’ve been found out.” He raised a glass of water to them.
As soon as Gregory saw Nick and Red watching Sascha arrive and Henry and Oman join his bodyguards at a table, he turned to see the love of his life and the other ladies with her.
The men all rose from the groom's table to laugh and give the ladies hugs.
Gregory wanted to sit with her, but he and the guys were nearly done with their meals, and Sascha pointed to the table nearby where they would be sitting. “We’re going to sit there. But if you want, you guys can join us at miniature golf afterward.”
“After we finish golfing, we could go to a pub and dance if you would like,” Kat said.
Gregory was all for that.
“Oh, and the ladies will play golf separately from you guys.” Sascha sounded like she didn’t want to compete against the guys.
He smiled. It would make for a huge group playing on each putting green if they did it together. Plus, trying to navigate the fairways—the paths between putting greens—with that many in one group would be difficult.
“That works for us,” Gregory said, thrilled that Sascha and her companions knew they were staying on the island and they wanted to golf with them.
“Okay, well, eat, and we’ll order our food, and we can follow each other to the miniature golf course.” Sascha hugged and kissed him again, and then she and the ladies took their seats at the other table.
“This worked out great,” Prescott said, sounding glad to be with Kat also.
Damon was quiet. At least he wouldn’t have to play miniature golf with Lucy. As for the pub, they didn’t have to dance either. But Gregory would dance with Rose too, and so would their father, since she didn’t have anyone to be with. Damon better not dance with Rose!
“I wonder what they’ve been up to,” Gregory said as he ate another cheese enchilada.
“Parasailing,” Gregory’s dad said. “Henry told me Rose even went. And she’s terrified of heights.”
“I can’t believe it,” Gregory said, remembering that she wouldn’t climb a mountain of sand while he and his dad did it. His mom had stayed at the bottom of the dune with Rose while other visitors were climbing up the sand.
“Kat better not have gone parasailing,” Prescott said, ever protective.
“Just Lucy, Sascha, and Rose. But Henry said everyone had a grand time,” Gregory’s dad said.
“We ought to do that,” Damon said.
“We’ll put that on the schedule for tomorrow morning,” Prescott said.
All the guys wanted to do it, even Uncle Jimmy and Gregory’s dad.
Gregory overheard Nick tell Omar, “You entered the ice cream shop with the ladies just after we left. You should have seen us all leave in a hurry when we saw the women coming.”