Chef Ben moved in with his aide. Carlo Espinosa, and in a minute the two of them were like an assembly-line: cut, shovel, plate, cut, shovel, plate. The forks and napkins were already lying on the table and so everyone could easily grab them and were able to reach out for their plate of cake.
Timothy and I backed away, but then he suddenly called out. “There’s coffee, tea, waters, and sodas over there,” Timothy yelled, gesturing. “And for those who feel the urge: wines and alcoholic beverages.”
The bartenders were already in position, wearing cute little penguin type suits with narrow black ties that were horizontal not vertical. People were lining up for drinks, some with cake, many without.
Seeing that things were progressing nicely, Timothy and I sat down at one of the tables. Simone, apparently not caring for cake or beverages, rushed over to us and handed Timothy and me plates full of food. “Here,” she said. “I figure you two probably worked up an appetite.”
“Careful what you say to my bride,” Timothy mock growled. “She’s practically a blushing virgin.”
Simone snorted at that, turned, and walked away.
“Stop that,” I said. “We don’t have to make an announcement about what we were doing upstairs.”
“Like everyone doesn’t know?” Andrew said, coming up behind us with his own heaping plate. “Are we heading back outside to eat this?”
The three of us weaved our way through standing bodies, and sat at a table near the sparkling of the pool water. My two ex-roommate buddies followed shortly. Both were carrying a second slice of cake.
“Whoops, sorry, Andrew. We didn’t know you’d be out here with the lovie-dovies. You’ll have to get your own cake.”
That was Cara, of course. Sammy just handed me a plate of cake and shrugged. Then, seeing that Cara was trying to find chairs, Sammy took the two plates of cake from her hands and handed one to Timothy.
Our table, meant for four, soon expanded to Judy and Ed, then Simone and the two men who’d been in the bridal party that I’d never met. They were quickly introduced as Steven Jorse and Bill Mahoney. Both of them shook my hand, congratulated me, and then polished off their cake without saying much more of anything. Then they thanked us for inviting them, and shoved off, after shaking Timothy’s hand and saying goodbye.