Getaway Girlz (10 page)

“I wonder how many of her mates are still alive?” Wendy speculated.

The thought of Stella eating her mates sent them into hysterics.

“You know what, from the way you’re describing this lady, I’m pretty sure I met her in the restroom a little while ago,” Kate said.

“Did she think you were on a soap opera too?” Wendy teased.

“No, but she told me about how she just found out someone she thought was dead was actually alive, and cheating on his wife with…” She stopped and turned to Vivian, pointing. “You’re the floozy!”

“Excuse me?” Vivian said.

“She said he was hanging all over a floozy. I think she called you a hussy too.”

“Great! I’m in Mexico eight hours and I’m already a floozy and a hussy.”

“Oh, that’s not that big of a shocker, is it?” Lucy laughed and bumped Vivian’s hip with her own.

“True,” Vivian winked. “But it’s been a while since I’ve been a ‘real’ hussy.”

“Well, whatever you are, you aren’t liked by her,” Kate said. “She seemed pretty mad.”

“Geez, and I haven’t even done anything!” Vivian said.

“Yet.” Wendy added.

They found Jungle Fever and heard the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” playing inside. Vivian opened the door and a cloud of smoke billowed out.

“Great,” Lucy said. “I’m gonna get cancer.”

“Chillax. It’s smoke machine smoke,” Vivian said.

A huge disco ball hung down in the middle of the dance floor and Vivian fully expected to see John Travola in a white suit striking a pose.

The walls of the club and the bar stools were covered in a leopard pattern. In fact, it was just about everywhere that wasn’t painted metallic silver or accented in chrome.

Who was the interior designer
?
Tarzan
? Vivian thought.
He could use Lucy’s help. And who designed the waitresses outfits
?
Jane
? They looked like a leopard clad Wilma Flintstone but sassier and shorter.

Vivian waived off one of the Wilma’s as the girls had decided they had enough alcohol for one night. They went straight to the crowded dance floor and made room.

Rose Royce’s “Car Wash” boomed through the smoke so Lucy broke out with her version of a car wash, waving her hands back and forth, dangling her fingers like the thingamabobbers in a car wash. Vivian couldn’t help but laugh at her.

The girls pulled out their old school dance moves, the water hose, the sprinkler, the lawn mower and the rake, to name a few. They got a few funny looks, but across the dance floor a bachelorette party was doing the same thing.
It’s catching
!

The girls danced, song after song after song. Vivian felt good to lose herself in the music. They danced to a lot of their favs like “Dancing Queen,” “Billy Jean,” “Le Freak” and “Got to Be Real.”

Vivian started to get tired and could tell the girls were, too, but she made it one more song. “I Will Survive” came on. Oh, yeah, Vivian could dance to that song. Hell, lately it had become her life’s mantra.

As Donna Summers ended, they called it a night. On their way out, Lucy took her shoes off.

“I’m impressed they made it this long,” Kate said, and carried them for her.

Once on the street, Vivian sang “I Will Survive” and the girls chimed in. They danced through the streets of Playa del Carmen and along the beach, back to their hotel.

Great ending to my 30th birthday and our first day of vacation
!

Day 2

THE NEXT morning the girls awakened to the sound of Lucy groaning. “Why did you let me drink so much?”

Kate sweetly responded, “We tried to warn you, and we even slowed you down at one point, to no avail.”

“I told you so!” Vivian shouted.

Wendy, a.k.a. the walking pharmacy, knew Lucy needed hangover remedies. She gave her Tylenol, Pepto and a bottle of water. Wendy assured her she would be fine, but announced they had to get going in order to catch their fishing boat. Lucy groaned even louder. Vivian loved to fish and the girls had made plans to go on a deep sea fishing excursion.

With no one to impress but the fish, they threw on trashy clothes and left the hotel. Wendy jumped in the driver’s seat of their rental and sang Robert Earl Keen’s “Five Pound Bass” as she drove. Though bass could not be caught today, she sang with enthusiasm.

They arrived at the marina and made their way down the dock, to the fishing boat
Mucho Grande
. Stepping on board, they met Captain Juan, and his first mate, Pedro, who introduced the girls to the other people chartering the boat; newlyweds from Alabama and a guy from New Jersey with long, yellow toenails.
Gross
.

Captain Juan went through the spiel about equipment, safety, bathrooms and the cooler. “
Comprende
?” he asked when done.

“
Si
,” everyone answered.

Wendy glanced at Lucy, who looked green around the gills, and realized she probably needed Dramamine. She had seen a small store at the marina, which was more like a shack, and asked Captain Juan, “Do I have a few minutes? I need to run to the store.”

He told her she had about 10 minutes.

A bell jingled above the door as Wendy walked into the shop. The aisle to her immediate right had medicine and such, so she grabbed the less drowsy version of Dramamine, then checked her purse to see how many ibuprofen she had left. Not many, so she grabbed a bottle of that too.

As the clerk rang her up, she glanced past the him, out the large window that overlooked the parking lot. She noticed an SUV with the windows down, facing the docks. The guy in the driver’s seat held something up to his eyes.
Binoculars maybe
? She thought.

The clerk cleared his throat. “169
pesos por favor
.”

Wendy pulled out a twenty. “Is American money okay?”

The clerk took it, gave her change, then put the items into a bag.

Wendy looked out at the guy again and saw the faint outline of a ponytail. He turned slightly in her direction and she saw that what he held was not binoculars, but a camera. One with a long zoom lens. Pointed in the direction of their fishing boat.

“
Gracias
,” Wendy said as she took the bag from the clerk, still looking out the window. The customer behind her reached around to place his beer on the counter, so she moved out of the way and went outside. She heard a car engine start and turned back toward the parking lot just in time to see the “photographer” drive off.

That’s a little weird
, she thought.
Maybe he’s taking pictures of the boats or something
She walked back to the
Mucho Grande
hoping she and her friends weren’t in any of the weirdo’s pictures.

As she climbed aboard, Lucy wobbled over and held out her hand. “Help me.”

Wendy opened the package and handed the medicine to Lucy. “Give it a few minutes. You’ll feel better soon.”

Captain Juan started the engine and pulled away from the dock. As they motored out of the marina Wendy pointed to another boat. “Look, is that Jon and Pierre?”

On a powerboat, also leaving the marina, were two guys wearing brightly colored tropical shirts, two girls, and a Hispanic guy at the helm. He looked like the guy Jon and Pierre acknowledged last night as they left the Purple Peacock.

“Hmmm, they’re kinda far away,” Vivian said. “It’s hard to tell if it’s them, but it does look like their style of shirts. I wonder who the other guy is?”

“It kinda looks like that short guy,” Kate said. “Whoever he is, that’s a nice boat.”

Wendy couldn’t make out the details of the stripes going down the side, but the deep V-hull and sound of the engines impressed her. “Yeah. That’s one helluva boat. The sound of those engines, wow. It turns on the speed freak inside of me.”

“There is something wrong with you,” Kate said and Wendy grinned.

As soon as they left the wake-free zone Captain Juan gunned the engine and pointed the boat toward open water. Thirty minutes later they arrived at their fishing spot, and Pedro rushed around getting the equipment set up. He threw out several lines and they waited for action. Soon, a reel started zinging, the line going out fast.

First up in the fighting chair was New Jersey toenail guy. He practically knocked everyone down getting to the chair. So much for chivalry.

“Where’s Lucy?” Vivian asked.

Pedro pointed to the bow of the boat. “Feeding fish.”

Everyone laughed, and Wendy grabbed a water and went to check on her, carrying her portable pharmacy along.

Toenail caught a Spanish mackerel, and after a bit, another reel starting zipping with activity Pedro pointed for Kate to take the chair.

Kate, who had never fished before, started to say no but Pedro handed her the rod before she could finish. She turned and gave Wendy and Vivian a look of bewilderment and asked, “How do I work this?”

The zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz of the fishing line on the reel went crazy and Pedro jumped and pointed, “Big fish! Big fish!”

They looked to where Pedro pointed and SPLASH! An amberjack leapt from the water, and then there was another splash. A blue marlin was hot on its tail, chasing it — just like something from National Geographic. Wendy heard the theme song in her head and started humming it.

Kate hooked the amberjack, which had been running for its life. It lost. The blue marlin took the bait and got hooked too.

The fight was on. Vivian and Wendy took turns helping Kate reel. Lucy was still camped out in the bow, unable to keep from heaving. Finally, after about an hour, Kate brought in her catch.

As the others fished, Kate, Wendy and Vivian enjoyed the sunshine.

Lucy finally joined them, saying she felt better. They placed bets on whether Nasty New Jersey would catch anything good. Only Kate bet he would; the rest of them thought his toenails would scare off the fish while he sat in the chair.

Kate, Wendy and Vivian caught some amberjack, barracuda, and a wahoo. The honeymooners reeled in a large kingfish. After a while, Lucy decided she’d like a turn. When the next line started zipping, Pedro helped her up into the chair and explained how it worked. Thirty minutes later, Lucy reeled in her catch, close enough so they could see what was on the line. It was a hammerhead shark, and oddly enough, she had foul hooked it in the tail. After a few pictures, Pedro cut the line and let it go.

Fishing excursion coming to a close, Captain Juan navigated them back to the marina while Pedro scurried around washing the deck, securing the rods and cleaning up in general. Once on the dock, the girls took pictures with their catch up on hooks behind them. Pedro then cleaned the fish and prepped it for cooking. Knowing they’d never eat it all, the girls gave the Captain and Pedro all but the Blue Marlin, which he cut into thick steaks. The chef at their hotel would cook it up for them for dinner.
Yummo!
Kate bought a small Styrofoam cooler from the store, and they loaded up.

Driving out of the marina, Wendy slowed and pointed. “There’s the boat Jon and Pierre were on today. I noticed earlier that the name is
Belize It!,
and it’s registered in Ambergris Caye.”

“I don’t even know where that is,” Vivian confessed.

“You and geography, Viv.
No bueño
!” Wendy said. “It’s south of here, in Central America. I wonder how long it would take to get there by boat?”

“Well, wherever it is, they are short one boat,” Kate laughed. “Get it!”

The girls laughed at Kate’s “short” joke.

“That Shorty,” Lucy said, still laughing, “he kinda has a criminal look about him.”

“He’s short,” Wendy said. “That’s criminal, but not a crime!”

“If Jon and Pierre hang out with him he probably isn’t bad,” Vivian said.

Wendy pulled up to the barricade for their “VIP” parking spot policeman Arturo gave them a nod

As he let them into the lot, Vivian rolled down her window. “
Hola
! We want to go salsa dancing tonight. Know any good clubs?”

“Salsa dancing?” Arturo replied. “You must go to Club Caliente. It’s the best salsa club in Playa.”

The four of them chimed in with “
Aye ya yai ya yai
!”

Arturo grinned then asked, “
Que hora
? What time are you going?”

Vivian answered, “Later, after dinner. Maybe we’ll see you there?”

“
Bane. Adiós
, Texas girls,” he said.

“Thanks for the spot.” Lucy waved goodbye and smiled at him.

They ran by the restaurant in the hotel to drop off the fish. The chef came out to meet them and asked how they’d like their fish prepared. He also gave them options for the rest of dinner. They made their selections for appetizers and sides — shrimp cocktail, scalloped potatoes and sautéed spinach in white wine and garlic.
Mmm, mmm good
, Wendy thought.

They were salty and fishy so it was time to hit the showers.

THE GIRLS rested a bit and got cleaned up from their deep sea fishing excursion. Vivian made a final brush with mascara as Lucy said, “Hey, let’s go down to the poolside bar and have a frosty beverage before dinner.”

Vivian glanced at Lucy in the mirror. Yep, she looked 100 percent.

“Are you really up for that?” Kate put on a dab of perfume. “After all the tequila yesterday and being out on the boat today?”

“Yep, all the toxins have been heaved from my body and I’m ready for round two.”

Vivian checked herself in the full length mirror before walking out the door, satisfied with her progress on the pale scale. Kate walked up behind her and draped an arm around her shoulders. “You look cute, love that dress. You look happy and relaxed, too. I’m so glad to see that.”

“Yeah, for the first time in I don’t know when. This vacation is just what I needed.”

Lucy turned around in the doorway. “Come on you two. Let’s get this party started!”

God help us
, Vivian thought as they walked out the door.