Chapter 16

Andi’s Dream got back under way. Stan called everyone together in the salon and the passengers slumped on the couches sipping wine or other libations. “I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to any of you, but we won’t be able to make it to the yacht club in Jupiter in time for the New Year’s Eve party...”

With the excitement of the rescue and the baby, the entire population of the yacht forgotten their tight timetable and now there’s no way to make it to the club in time for the girls to show off their dresses. Andi and Lucy were actually very relieved over that, however.

Stan continued, “ ... so what do you say to a moonlight cruise? We did a starlight cruise last night, and it went well.”

“The skinny-dipping part might get interesting,” Andi whispered in Paul’s ear, causing him to laugh and almost pass beer through his nose.

So it was settled by a nearly unanimous decision (Sandy and Madeline voted against) that Andi’s dream would remain offshore, they would dress for dinner in their tuxes and dresses, and enjoy dinner on the boat, then relax with drinks on the foredeck or in the salon.

As the men went below deck to shower and dress, the women gathered in the galley to watch Yi prepare dinner. The oven was busy with the roast and Yi had a large pot with several inches of sea water boiling in the bottom. She went down to the cockpit and plucked a couple of lobsters out of the fish bin, then carried them to the galley and plunked them into the steamer, then went back to the cockpit for more. “What the hell...” said Lucy as she watched Yi grab the next two contestants. “I thought I heard something scratching around below the deck all during labor. I was starting to think the engines were leaking or breaking or something.”

“This whole dinner is a gift from Doctor Andi’s new friend Miss Nicoletta,” said Yi. “I don’t know what you guys talked about in Port Canaveral, but she came in the galley here and wanted to know where we were headed and what stops were planned, so I told her of the hard stop in Melbourne at 1. She said, ‘Make sure you’re there at 1:00 PM!’ What Judge Atherton wants; Judge Atherton gets.” She pulled a lobster out of the pot with tongs and shoved it in a bucket of ice water to stop cooking, repeated that with the second lobster in the steamer, then shoved the next two lobsters in the steamer.

Quick as a flash, she started tearing down the two lobsters in the ice water. The tails and claws got ripped off and shoved back in the ice water to stop cooking, then she ripped off the eight tiny legs and with a rolling pin squeezed the meat out of them and tossed it in a saucepan on the back burner, the rest was saved in the freezer for chum.