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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.”
