Chapter 28

Friday, June 1

Kacie, Bethany, Erin Aguilar and Callie all showed up over the next 10 minutes. Erin Bennett and Keri were participating in tournaments this weekend. My sister was definitely dressed for comfort today with a loose, sleeveless blouse over knee-length walking shorts. The other girls were wearing the same suits they had the week before.

“Aww, where’s Gary’s little Speedo?” Bethany whined. “I was looking forward to seeing it again.”

“With any luck, my mother burned it,” I said. “I haven’t seen it since I got home last Saturday.”

“Don’t worry,” Kacie said. “I got it out of his gym bag before Mom could do it harm. It’s in a safe place, waiting for a chance to come out and play again some day.”

“Not on your life,” I said as I went to bring them five chairs. I hoped we were going to have enough to go around today.

I got Jerome’s attention before I left.

“If any of these little hooligans give you trouble, come get me,” I said. “I’ll have ‘em thrown out.”

The girls were not impressed.

A lot was happening today. The maintenance guys had the hole cut by 11:30, getting the worst of the project out of the way before the lunch rush. Charlie and Arturo returned from their meeting looking satisfied. I sent Arturo to help Oscar with the cheerleaders with instructions to call me for backup if needed, then went looking for Jed and his helper (Brad? Chuck? I really needed to get name tags for these guys) to see how restocking operations were going.

I took the opportunity to grab a quick bite from the snack bar, then went to take the place of the guy working the first two cabanas so he could take a break and eat. I repeated the process for each crew member, working my way around the pool and getting more familiar with the patrons who had rented for the whole summer.

There was another surge in activity just after lunch as mothers began arriving with kids for the afternoon. I hadn’t expected things to be anywhere near this hectic, but the crew members were raking in the tips. It wouldn’t surprise me if one or two of the guys pulled in more today than the entire crew had on Thursday.

I finally worked my way around to No. 16, where Jerome looked no worse for the wear despite putting up with my sister, girlfriend and their friends. The fact that I’d had sex with three of the six occupants of No. 16 within the last two days made me wonder if (when?) the others might join that group.

After Jerome returned, it was just two more stops before I was back at the end with the cheerleaders. Oscar looked a little winded and was more than glad to take a break. He’d been busting his hump for nearly four hours straight.

I made it a priority to check on the party in the other hut, which only asked that I help apply sunscreen to a couple of squirmy kids. That got the cheerleaders’ attention.

“Oooh, would you do my back please,” one of them said, waving her bottle of lotion.

Oscar returned from his break and Arturo took off for his as I worked my way through the cheer squad, ever mindful of my hands. All I needed was for the most powerful girls in our school to start blabbing about how I was a grabby pervert.

“That feels nice,” one girl moaned as I worked on her shoulders. “You’re the guy who took Jenny Evans to prom, right? I bet she wouldn’t have left you on the open market if she knew you could do this.”

OK, maybe the cheerleaders could blab about me a little.

The cabanas continued to fill throughout the afternoon, keeping the guys busy. I never expected we would have needed the entire crew for a weekday, even a Friday. The crowd looked even bigger than last Saturday, which had the advantage of being opening day and a holiday weekend.

Other than my break for lunch, I had only stopped to down a bottle of water or go to the bathroom (funny how those things are linked). I didn’t know how the other guys were holding up, but I’d noticed more than one disappearing into the changing room and emerging in a fresh shirt as the day wore on.

I went to check on Jed and his helper to see if either needed a break.

“Nah, dude, we got the easy job today,” said Jed, who was kicked back in the storage area with his feet up on a stack of bottled water. “If both of us load up a dolly, we can take care of four cabanas every trip. Except the one with the cheerleaders. They’ve nearly wiped out the Diet Coke. We may have to run to the store to get through the rest of the day.”

I told him to check with Mr. Alvarez before doing anything like that, but warned him not to leave it to the last six-pack.

I made another round of the pool, making sure all the guys were sufficiently hydrated and protected from the sun when I noticed Mom and Mr. Ferguson checking out the window project. The work crew had made rapid progress, installing a sash and sliding glass window. They were in the process of attaching stainless steel shelves both inside and outside. They would also erect an awning over the outside shelf to protect it from the sun and keep it from burning anyone who leaned against it.

“Hey, Honey,” Mom said. “You look like you’ve been busy.”

“The guys sure have,” I said. “I’ve just been roving support, providing backup where needed. I never thought we would have needed the entire crew all day on a Friday. It’s been busy almost from the start.”

“Well, keep it up,” Mr. Ferguson said. “If you need more staff, talk to your new boss. I’m out of here at 5 o’clock.”

I congratulated him on the new job and thanked him for the opportunity. I was amazed at how this whole thing had come together in such a short time.

I made another round to check on things. The guys appeared to have gotten into a rhythm, taking orders and delivering snacks, pouring drinks and occasionally applying sunscreen to patrons, again mostly little kids. The tykes would eventually jump back in the pool, washing the sunscreen off, and need another dose. Their moms were more than willing to let someone else get their hands all greasy.

When I had time, I made another stop at No. 16.

“Are you expecting to go out tonight?” I asked Morgan. “I realize I should have asked earlier in the week, but it’s been kinda crazy. We don’t have to do anything fancy.”

“Why don’t we just have dinner at the club?” she said. “I haven’t eaten in the main dining room since Mother’s Day. It’d be nice to have a sit-down meal instead of snack-bar food. We won’t have to dress up much. A simple dress or skirt and blouse for me, khakis and a button-down for you. What time do you want to go?”

“Let’s plan for 7:30 and hope for 8,” I said. “I don’t know how long restocking will take and Jed may want to take a few snaps. The main dining room will be open until 9 and we can miss the early crowd.”

“At least you can shower here,” she said. “That will speed things up some. Just don’t get all sweaty on the way home.”

“Yes, dear.”

“See? He’s learning,” Morgan said, drawing giggles from the other girls.

I headed back to the storage area to grab another bottle of water and found Jed and Mr. Alvarez going over order forms to send to the vendor the club used for supplying food and drink.

“I think we can get by for the rest of the day,” Mr. Alvarez said. “It’s only a couple more hours. As long as we don’t have the cheerleaders back tomorrow, our standard order should see us through the weekend.

“I’ll be here tomorrow if you run short on anything, but I’m off Sunday. You’ll have to call me if you need anything then. We’ll get another delivery Monday morning.”

Jed and Brad, as I finally learned, took another load of drinks around after that. We’d basically abandoned having the patrons place orders and just took a big selection around about once an hour to see if anyone needed anything. It worked well enough to get us through the day.

Things finally slowed down around 5:30 and I helped the guys clean up around the cabanas. The cheerleaders actually proved quite helpful by keeping things picked up in their area, which I’m sure pleased Oscar and Arturo. I was wheeling one of those large laundry carts around to pick up towels when the head cheerleader pulled me aside.

“How much are we supposed to tip these guys?” she asked. “I didn’t know that was expected until I saw people from the other cabanas doing it. You didn’t have cabana boys last year.”

“Think each of you could spare $5?” I said. “That’d be a pretty good chunk for Arturo and Oscar to split between them. You can ask the redheaded lady at No. 16 for her advice. She’s got a pretty good handle on how things work here.”

“Thanks, but what about you?”