Page 16 of Flowers To Give

“You’re ‘last man,’ you got thirty minutes to eat then we’re starting training,” Eneki tells him.

While Jeremy chows down, Eneki and another wrangler give him a run down of the drills they’ll put the cast through. Like Clark had mentioned on the plane, there are specific scenes to prepare for and exercises to help the actors get ready for the upcoming stunt days.

The drills are intense, mostly consisting of sprinting as fast as they can across the fields while aiming dummy guns. By the time the sun is hanging low in the sky and the clouds grow colorful, the horses and cast members are all beat. The actors go to the front entrance for each of their independent drivers to come pick them up while Jeremy and the other wranglers take the horses to the temporary stables the ranch provides. They get the horseswatered, fed, and squared away in their stalls before getting on a bus that the crew call a “people mover.”

At first, Jeremy assumes that the bus would take them all back to the hotel they’d met at. But instead of the resort, it lands at a La Quinta Inn. Confused, Jeremy gets off and walks up to Eneki, asking, “Hey, why are we here?”

“That’s a wrap on the day, time for you guys to check in and get some sleep.”

“But,” Jeremy suddenly feels uncomfortable, “I’m staying at the other hotel.”

“The Four Seasons?” Eneki raises his brow in surprise, “Clark put you up there?”

“Um, I guess… I figured it was production.”

Eneki laughs at that, “No way. Had to have been Clark. Might want to keep that one close to your chest, e ku’u hoaloha.”

“What does that mean?” Jeremy asks, recognizing the phrase from earlier today, “What you just said.”

“It means ‘my friend,’” Eneki smiles genuinely. He looks around and rubs his car keys before turning back to Jeremy and offering, “Hey, would you like to go to an authentic Hawaiian luau?”

Jeremy smiles nervously, “What, like, right now?”

“It’s my cousin’s birthday. We’re hosting at our house. It’ll be fun,” Eneki’s smile is warm and welcoming, hard to say no to. Jeremy doesn’t think much more about it before hopping in Eneki’s open air Jeep with him and driving across long switchback roads down toward the beach. There’s a small house on stilts above the sand where a large group of people are gathered around a massive bonfire. As they park in a congested driveway and approach the group, many people turn toward Eneki and greet him with boisterous alohas.

Eneki approaches a much larger man than them and gives him a big hug, saying, “Hau’oli La Hanu! Cous, this is my friend - Jeremy.”

“Aloha, haole,” the man smiles wide and drunkenly at him, patting him roughly on the shoulder.

“Jeremy, this is my cousin Ikaika.”

“Happy birthday, Ikaika,” Jeremy nods, hat in his hands.

Ikaika gives him a long once over before asking, slurring his words, “Why do you look like a cowboy?”

“Because he is one!” Eneki answers, “A genuine cowboy from the continent!”

“No way! Bro, someone get this cowboy a beer!” Ikaika calls out over everyone’s heads. Getting closer, he asks, “Yo, can you do that lasso thing? Like step in and out of it?”

Jeremy nods, Ikaika and Eneki laughing and trying to get someone to go grab a rope. As they’re hooting and hollering, an elderly small woman shuffles over to Jeremy with a platter of brown, leathery squares on them. She smiles at him and says, “Pupu.”

It sounds like she says “poopoo” and the plate is full of brown chunks, so without much thought Jeremy leans over and takes a whiff. Eneki and Ikaika catch the interaction, laughing so hard that Ikaika almost falls over. Eneki goes over to Jeremy and urges him to eat it. Hesitant, Jeremy doesn’t want to seem rude so he picks up a piece in his hand and takes a bite. It’s delicious. Similar to a softer beef jerky. He has a second and that sends the cousins back into another fit of laughter.

Eneki gets Jeremy a beer and says, “Come on, I want you to meet someone.”

He follows Eneki through the crowd along the sand to another smaller fire closer to the tide with people sitting around it and passing a joint. Eneki calls out, “Ryan, babe!”

A guy that couldn’t be heavier than ninety pounds lifts his head and jumps up. He runs over to Eneki and wraps his arms around him, unabashedly kissing his face and whining in an effeminate voice, “Baby! I missed you!”

“Alright, alright. How much have you had to drink already?” Eneki laughs, staving off the man and turning to Jeremy, “Ryan, this is Clark Radison’s personal horse wrangler, Jeremy Munday. Jeremy, this is my husband Ryan.”

Ryan holds out his hand palm side down and bats his eyelashes, “Enchante.”

Jeremy grabs his fingertips and shakes his hand delicately, “Nice to meet you.”

“Okay,” Ryan’s smile is tight as he yanks his hand back and wraps himself around Eneki’s arm, “Come sit with us, please.”

Eneki nods for Jeremy to join, asking Ryan, “Is Roberto with you?”