Page 33 of Time Served in New York
“And?” Frankie called out.
“They’re not really golfing. I think it’s more like polo . . . sort of,” Jenn explained from the chair next to mine. The woman giving her a pedicure asked a question, and Jenn nodded before she looked back up at the scene playing out in front of us and started giving Frankie and the other women who couldn’t see the course a play-by-play. “One of the twins is surfing on top of the cart that Marler’s driving, and it looks like . . . oh shit!”
My gaze snapped up from my manicure just in time to see the cart with Marler and Ziggy go barreling into the pond. One of Stamp’s twins who had been riding on the top of the cart went flying into the water with a splash.
“Fuck!” Paula shouted, apparently watching the crash too. When the younger man stood up with his arms in the air like he was showing off his dismount for the Olympic judges, we all let out audible sighs of relief.
“He’s gonna freeze his balls off,” Blue said from behind me. I turned around and saw she was sitting on the edge of the massage table with her sheet wrapped around her, watching the course. “Are they just gonna sit there until the damn thing sinks or what?”
Just then, Marler and Ziggy bailed out of the cart and started wading toward the edge of the pond. I knew it wasn’t that deep since Matteo was moving through waist-high water, but I imagined it wasreallycold.
“They’re gonna get frostbite,” Paula said as we watched their progress.
Two men with carts hurriedly drove to the pond where the guys were just coming out of the water. They handed them towels and blankets and then let them get into the golf carts to be brought back to the clubhouse.
“Prepare for an invasion,” I warned the women. “I give it five minutes before we’ve got some really chilly company.”
“Damn!” I heard a few of the women say at the same time.
I was right. Within just a few minutes, two of the three men appeared at the door, and one of the attendants walked them in to sit on the couch to my right. They were barefoot and wearing the same type of fluffy robes we all had on, and I noticed that they weren’t exactly steady on their feet.
“Where’s Enzo?” Maylee asked.
Ziggy, Frankie’s brother, laughed and then cleared his throat, “He’s still in . . .” He slurred his words, so he cleared his throat and tried again, this time speaking slowly. “He’s sleeping on the sofa in the men’s lounge.”
“Well, shit,” I heard Maylee mutter. “He’s down for the count then, I’m sure.”
Bernadette walked over to sit in the wingback chair near the couch. I heard her ask, “You’re Matteo, right?” Apparently, she’d guessed correctly because she let out a little cheer before she asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m all good,” the younger man mumbled. “It’s cold out there.”
“Ziggy, I can’t believe you guys wrecked a golf cart!” Frankie chastised from her massage table. She was clearly watching her brother’s profile because she snapped, “Eyes front, man! Jeez!”
Ziggy giggled and leaned his head back on the couch. “The last time I drank like this was when we were kids.”
“Are you referring to that time you stole a bottle of Dad’s Scotch, and we all ended up puking in the bushes?” Frankie asked.
“That was horrible,” Paula moaned.
“Paola! My sweet love! I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Ziggy said cheerfully as he leaned forward to look around me to find Paula.
“Ziggy, I will get my naked ass up from this table and choke you to death,” Frankie warned.
“I’ve been waiting for that woman my entire life,” Ziggy protested. “Paula, I have been saving myself for you all these years, and I think . . .”
“Don’t you have like 14 children and 9 ex-wives?” Paula interrupted.
“Well, not quite but . . .” Ziggy cleared his throat and then tried again. “Paula, I’d like to take you to dinner while you’re in town. Now that you’re out in the open again, I think it would be advan . . . advent . . . avante . . . Fuck.”
“Advantageous?” I supplied.
“Yeah, that. It would be . . .” Ziggy leaned over the edge of the couch and stared at me earnestly before he loudly whispered, “Say it again.”
“Advantageous.”
“. . . for us to get together. We should marry. Immediately.” He cleared his throat and then shook his head as he blinked rapidly. He then added, “I’ll make you my queen.”
“Oh sweet Jesus,” I heard Frankie grumble.
