Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Pippa was waiting for us at High Seas Taqueria, nestled among five or six other small eateries, including Margherita Del Mar, a cozy pizzeria, The Stop, a carving station for the hungriest of carnivores, and a burger joint cleverly named The Burger Joint.
The whole area buzzed with the scent of sizzling meat and warm tortillas, making my stomach growl in protest.
“What took you guys so long?” Pippa complained, crossing her arms. “I’ve been sitting here for half an hour.” She raised her brows at us accusingly. “I almost left.”
“I guess it’s a good thing for us you didn’t,” I teased, flashing her a grin.
She scowled at me, but honestly, it was more adorable than intimidating.
“I sincerely apologize,” I said, holding a hand over my heart for extra flair. “But I think you’ll want to hear what I discovered.”
“We,” Gilly cut in with an exaggerated cough. “We discovered.”
I nodded, pointing to her. “What she said.”
Pippa leaned back in her chair, unimpressed. “I found out some stuff myself,” she said, voice low and cryptic. “But first, let’s get food. Breakfast is wearing thin, and I’m starving.”
“And this is why we’re friends.” I didn’t need more convincing. In seconds, we were all in line, eyes locked on the taco menu like it held the meaning of life.
“Oh, look,” Pippa exclaimed, pointing past the line. “The table two down from ours.”
I followed her gaze and spotted Carl and Augusta, the sweet retired couple from dinner, waving enthusiastically.
“Aww. It’s Carl and Augusta!” I pressed my hands together over my chest in a heart shape. “I love them so much.”
“Me too,” Pippa agreed with a dreamy sigh. “They’re the best.”
Gilly’s expression soured, her brows pinching together. “Who are they?”
“They’re our tablemates in the main dining room,” Pippa explained. “We met them last night.”
Gilly’s face fell, like she’d missed out on something special.
“Augusta is a retired civil lawyer, and her husband Carl is a retired top-rate pediatric gastroenterology surgeon.” I paused for a moment to make sure I said it correctly.
I was pretty sure I had. “I meant to ask Scott if he’d heard of him.
Augusta says that surgeons worldwide still call him to consult about their cases. ”
“Wow,” she said. “I really miss a lot. Scott would’ve loved to have met him.”
“No worries, Pal.” I gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “We’ll introduce you after we order,” I promised. “And Scott will get a chance to meet them at dinner one of these nights.”
She perked right back up.
“Maybe we’ll run into Helena and Jasper, the honeymooners,” Pippa said.
“They’re from Kentucky,” I told Gilly.
Pippa tilted her head, her expression skeptical.
“Did I mix them up in my head?” I asked, feeling a little unsure. “Was it Augusta and Carl from Kentucky? The guys started talking sports, and I filled the conversation in the words-in-words-out file in my brain.”
“It’s not that,” she said slowly. “The way Jasper said Louisville makes me think he’s not actually from there.”
“How did he say it?”
“He called it Lou-ee-ville.”
Gilly frowned. “That’s… not how you say it?”
Pippa let out a soft snort of amusement. “I went there for training years ago. Almost got crucified by the locals for saying it that way. They insisted it’s Lou-uh-vuhl, like your tongue’s too lazy to finish the word.” She shrugged. “I meant to mention it last night, but I forgot.”
“They could be transplanted natives,” I suggested, thinking aloud. “They’ve lived there long enough to call it home, but not long enough to pick up the accent.”
“Possible,” Pippa allowed. “But I was there one week and left sounding like a local.”
Before I could respond, the man behind the counter cut in with a booming, cheerful voice. “Buenos días! Who wants tacos?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll take one al pastor, one pork carnitas, and one birria.”
“I’ll do the same,” Pippa added.
“Me too,” Gilly said, making it an easy hat trick.
The man grinned. “Ah, muy perfecto, mis amigas bonitas! You’re gonna love these. Best tacos on the whole ocean!”
“Gracias,” Gilly thanked him, her grin matching his energy. “We’re holding you to that.”
He handed us a number, his grin widening as he looked at Gilly. “For you, bonita, I’ll make them with extra love. If they’re not the best tacos you’ve ever had, you come back and let me try again. Deal?”
“Deal,” she replied. When we walked away, my best friend of over fifty years had a little kick in her step.
“I still got it,” she muttered. Gilly had the thickest, wavy brown hair—from a bottle these days, but let those of us without any gray coverage cast the first stone—big brown eyes and curves for days.
At fifty-six, she still knew how to bring all the boys to the yard.
“Damn straight,” I concurred. “Come on.” I nodded toward Carl and Augusta’s table. “Time for introductions.”
We made our way over, dodging other passengers lining up for food.
“Hey, you guys,” I greeted them with a wave. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Nora, Pippa,” Augusta said warmly. “It’s so nice to run into you. And this must be your seasick friend, Gilly.”
“That would be me.” Gilly plastered on her friendliest smile. “I’m only sorry we didn’t get to meet last night. Nora said you’re a lawyer, and Carl is a pediatric surgeon.”
“Guilty as charged,” Augusta sang jovially. “On all counts.”
“Lawyer joke.” Gilly snorted a laugh. “Very clever.”
Carl chuckled softly. “She likes to think so.”
Gilly added a dramatic flourish with her hands. “Well, if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance…”
“…baffle them with bull,” Augusta finished, grinning wide.
“Oh, I like you,” Gilly said, laughing. “I’m keeping you.”
Carl gazed at his wife with a mixture of love and pride. “She’s a total catch.”
“Oh, Carl.” Augusta pished him, but a rosy flush in her cheeks gave away her pleasure.
I couldn’t believe they’d been married for forty years.
If marriages were a competition, they would’ve taken the gold.
“He’s such a sweet-talking charmer,” she said.
“It’s the reason I told him no the first time he asked me out for a date. ”
“And the second time, and the third,” Carl tacked on playfully. “I finally had to have a friend of mine intervene on my behalf.”
“I thought anyone as slick and as sure of himself as Carl Frank would be nothing but trouble.” She cast a sideways glance at him. “He’s proved me right every day.”
Now it was Carl’s turn to pish. It was about that time that the couple seemed to realize they had company. “I’m so sorry,” Augusta gushed. “We’re monopolizing the whole conversation.”
“I’m loving every minute of it,” Gilly confided. “It gives me hope for the future.”
“Me too,” Pippa agreed. “Did you all have children?”
“No,” Carl said quickly. “Not in this lifetime.” He reached across the table and took her hand. “But she’s all I’ve ever needed.”
“You old dog.” Augusta blushed again. She smiled at us. “You want to know the secret to forty years? Forty-three if you count the dating years.”
“I’d love to know the secret,” Gilly said. “I’m on husband number two, and I want him to be husband number last.”
Personally, I didn’t think she had anything to worry about. The way Carl looked at Augusta was the same way Scott looked at her.
Augusta leaned forward, drawing us in. “I wake up every morning and ask myself, am I happy? If the answer is yes, I keep doing what I’m doing. If the answer is no, then I figure out what I need to do to get back to happy, and I work it out.”
“That simple, huh?” I asked.
Her wide smile lit up her eyes. “And that hard.” She laughed. “But having Carl by my side makes it a heck of a lot easier.”
“Och- ocho!” the guy at the taqueria shouted out. “Eight-eight!”
“That’s us!” Gilly held up the ticket. “So nice to meet you both. Hopefully we’ll see each other at dinner.”
“I’m sure we will,” Augusta said as a farewell. “Enjoy your lunches.”
We retrieved our tacos and scarfed them down like ravenous hyenas...
“These are so good.” I was practically melting in my seat as the spice danced on my tongue. “I could eat here every day, and since the food is all-inclusive, I think I will.”
“We’re not going to eat tacos every day for lunch,” Pippa stated.
I gave her a bland look. “Maybe you won’t, but I’m good with eating lunch wherever you want. Then I’ll have second lunch at the Taqueria.”
She shook her head. “This world is your taco journey and the rest of us are just living in it.”
“That is correct.” I took the last bite of the birria taco, the spicy juice from the meat dripping down my chin as I finished chewing and swallowed it down.
“I’ve been wanting to try a birria taco ever since I saw a social media chef make them.
I wiped my chin with a napkin. “Totally worth the hype.”
“They are super delish,” Gilly agreed.
Pippa shook her head and frowned. “A little spicy for my taste. If we do this again, I’m swapping out for the shredded chicken.”
I called her out. “Weenie.”
“Wimp,” Gilly piled on.
“I have a delicate palate, you big bullies,” she informed us.
In the distance, we could hear music starting up.
“The Lido Deck pool party must be starting up.” The itinerary had a list of multiple events meant to keep guests happy and busy during the at-sea days. A familiar tune began to play.
Pippa let out a soft cry as Chappell Roan started singing Pink Pony Club.
“Aww, honey.” I got up and moved my chair next to her. Gilly did the same on the other side. “It’s okay.”
“I didn’t think I’d miss them this much.” She dabbed at her eyes. “We’ve only been gone for a day and a half, but I can’t help but wonder what new thing JayJay is learning, or what new skill J.P. will master while I’m gone.”
I wanted to say, “It’s only a week,” but as the only non-mother of the group, I decided I probably wasn’t the person to tell her to suck it up.