3. Maverick
Chapter three
Maverick
L ater that evening, the rest of the wedding party had finally arrived. I was sitting on the patio amidst the chaos of seventeen other people talking. Once everyone had arrived safely, Caleb had gone to have some time alone with Stacey, so it was just the bridesmaids and groomsmen—for now. The only one missing was Maria.
“Do you want another beer, Mav?” Elliott asked as he sat down beside me.
“No, thank you. Just the one is good enough for me. Besides, I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. It’s been a busy day. And all of you, with all of your traveling. How are you not exhausted?”
“Flying from South Carolina to Idaho is exhausting, but that was part of why I wanted an early flight,” he shared. “Ending up on the same flight out of Vegas with Maria? That was happenstance, and we enjoyed it – even more so when we realized we were sitting next to each other, completely by accident.”
I laughed a little as I took one of the water bottles from the small table next to the couch.
“Well, at least you had something to brighten up your day rather than just sitting with your thoughts,” I said.
My next sentence was cut off by the sound of the back door sliding open. It had a slight creak to it that wasn’t present in any of the other doors, and that was a good thing. We could hear if we needed to be alerted this week.
Maria walked out to meet Elliott and me at the couch. She had a stack of papers in her hand and handed half of them to me.
“I know we were all mailed a copy of this a couple of weeks ago,” she said, “but Stacey wanted me to get these schedules handed out tonight so that no one would have to worry about whether they brought their copy. Can you handle getting these to the groomsmen, Mav?”
I nodded as I straightened the papers in my hands before standing up. Most of the groomsmen had congregated around the grill and were working on grilling hot dogs for everyone. A couple were roasting marshmallows over the open flames, and all of them were joining in on inflated stories or crazy jokes. I could only laugh.
That was exactly the kind of antics I expected from the men Caleb liked to hang out with. One by one, I handed them each a copy of the schedule, with a small reassurance that it was only to be sure that they had a copy and not to worry if they forgot theirs. A couple of them had remembered and all of them were appreciative.
“Tell Caleb or Stacey thanks for doing this,” Richard – one of the other groomsmen – said. “Mine never arrived. I think it got lost in the mail somewhere, and I only knew when to fly in because everyone else was making plans to meet up in Las Vegas for a day beforehand to enjoy some casinos first.”
I laughed a little.
“Well, it was Stacey’s idea,” I said. “I’ll make sure she gets the thanks she deserves for making sure that all of the wedding party has a copy of the schedule this week.”
Once they had all been handed out, I sat back down on the couch with Elliott.
“I wouldn’t sit for long,” Elliott warned me. Now that Maria’s here, we’re probably going to get into planning mode.”
I raised an eyebrow. The wedding wasn’t until Saturday, and the only thing left to plan that I knew of was the bachelor and bachelorette party – which we honestly should have planned months ago because it was going to be slim odds of getting a reservation anywhere. I didn’t know why they had insisted on making sure that we all celebrated that together, but that was what they wanted.
It had resulted in no plans as of yet that I knew of, and it made me nervous.
Sure enough, Maria returned after handing out the schedules to the bridesmaids. She stood there a moment and appeared to be thinking.
“Hey, Elliott. Mind if I steal Maverick here a moment?” she asked, her head tilted to the side. “Stacey and Caleb have left the task of deciding what we’re doing for the bachelor/bachelorette party to us, and I’d like to discuss it with him before the week gets entirely out of hand.”
I stood up.
“Why don’t we take this discussion inside then? It’s quite noisy out here, and I don’t think we’d want to be bombarded by all the opinions of the rest of the wedding party,” I suggested.
Maria nodded. With that, we moved inside to the kitchen and sat down at the table.
“So, I don’t know what Stacey has suggested, but I know Caleb suggested we go to the Black Key restaurant,” I started once she looked ready for the discussion. “Great food, great atmosphere, and the best thing about this idea is that Caleb knows the son of the owner. We could get a pretty sweet deal on the reservations, and I think that a low-key, intimate party would be better with so many people in this group.”
Maria pursed her lips.
“Well, you see, I may have already suggested something to Stacey…” she said. “I found this great little entertainment place here in Boise. It has great reviews, and there’s a little bit of something for everyone: games, music, dancing. And Stacey thought it would be a lot of fun – something crazy, fun-filled.”
Her voice quickened as if she was nervous – or excited. I couldn’t quite tell. Either way, her face had flushed. I took a moment to think about her words. An entertainment place with games, music, and dancing would be a lot more intense than just a low-key dinner. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that – or how Caleb would feel about that.
I put a hand on my chin.
“It’s not exactly what Caleb was going for, was it?”
I shook my head.
She put her head in her hands as if she was disappointed that this wasn’t going to work. I didn’t know what to say at first. Instead, I just watched her. She didn’t allow herself to keep her head in her hands for long.
She pulled her phone out and looked up the Black Key restaurant. I wondered what, exactly, she was looking at, and then I realized she was looking at the ratings online. I’d never been, but Caleb waxed rhapsodic about it. He loved that place, and if he wanted to share it with us, then I didn’t see a reason we shouldn’t go.
“Oh, my… this is not the kind of vibe that Stacey wants at all,” she said as she put her phone on the table. She wants bass-popping music so loud you can feel it vibrating in your chest.”
I pursed my lips.
“We have a few people who, on the groom’s side at least, don’t like music like that,” I admitted. “Caleb was thinking if we did a low-key dinner, we could all go out to do something else after, but I know that the Black Key can take a couple of hours with a party this size.”
Maria stood up and sighed a frustrated sigh. She pulled her hair back and shook her head. “What are we going to do?” she cried. “I promised Stacey that she could have her fun party and I thought everything was going to run like clockwork. What a mess I have here, and there’s so little time to figure this out!
She folded her arms and paced around the kitchen.
While Maria moved and mumbled to herself, I looked up all the entertainment places in Boise. If Stacey wanted something with good dancing, music, and games, surely there was somewhere that would be open late enough we could go if we got an early reservation for the Black Key.
“Stacey’s not going to want to budge on having good music,” Maria finally spit out. “It appears that we are at an impasse.”
“Not quite.” I turned my phone around so that she could see it.
“What am I looking at? Other than the information I already know,” she said.
I pointed her attention to the hours the two places were open. The Black Key opened promptly at noon to start taking lunch reservations, while the entertainment place opened at five in the evening and didn’t close until midnight. If we were careful about the reservation times, I was almost positive we could find a way to make this work for both of their expressed wishes.
I said nothing as I let Maria work it out for herself.
“Oh! I see where you’re going. That’s brilliant, Mav!” she screamed excitedly.
“I was thinking we get a reservation for about four thirty. By the time the food comes out, it’ll probably be about five thirty, and we can hit the entertainment place no later than seven—before it gets super crowded,” I suggested.
Maria was so excited that she gave me a big hug. I hardly expected that. Then she backed away. “Thank you, Mav. I am so relieved,” she squealed. Now, before I let you go back out to enjoy the company of the rest of the party, what are the plans for the groomsmen’s tuxes?”
“We’re getting a fitting tomorrow, and everyone has their white shirts, baby pink ties, all of that. Oh, and yes, Caleb has his crimson bow tie. We just need to be sure all the vests and such fit,” I shared. “I had my final fitting before everyone else flew in because I’ve been here helping straighten out loose ends for three weeks.”
Maria nodded slowly, having calmed down from her earlier euphoria.
“And the bridesmaid dresses won’t be ready until Friday, so we don’t have to worry about that until we’ve finished decorating the venue,” she shared. “Well, that’s all I wanted to discuss. But thank you again for coming up with a solution to our party plans.”
I nodded. Then, I stood up and headed back out to the patio. Some in the group were eating hot dogs and in quiet conversations and others were playing a card game on the coffee table with lots of laughs and giggles. I took a seat on the couch.
“Want to join us, Mav?”
I glanced over at the cards they were using. It wasn’t poker or anything with a standard deck of cards. They were playing a game called Susssed?. I looked at the box and read, “A game of wacky choices.” You pick a card, read a question about what you would do in a given scenario, and select your answer from three choices. Then everyone has to guess if your answer is A, B, or C.
Well, this was one way to connect with friends or learn about new friends. I nodded that I would join in. These games could be quite fun and a way to even challenge oneself in rational or creative thought.
My first question was, “Which living room sounds best suited to me? The one that is:
A. Rustic & cozy
B. Old Hollywood Glamour
C. Ultra Modern”
That one was too easy. All of them knew I worked at a fishing lodge in northern Idaho, so of course, my answer would be “A,” and they all guessed it correctly.
The game continued with questions that were fun or thought-provoking, and they all involved lots of explanations and laughs.
Eventually, Maria and a couple of the other bridesmaids joined in, and it started making us laugh even louder.
Maria, in particular, was good at playing to a crowd of people she didn’t know very well. Her answers were as crazy as all get out, but she explained them in such a way that you really believed her choice. I don’t know how she did it, but she was still too much for me to handle.