Page 80 of Troubles in Paradise
“It’s open-air,” Irene says. “And we’ll have nine people.”
“Nine?”
“I want Ayers to come, obviously,” Irene says. “And her parents, Phil and Sunny. Let’s make it ten people—I’ll see if Cash wants to bring a friend.” She puts her hands on the sides of Huck’s face and brings him in for a kiss. “They take reservations for parties over six. Do I have to call to arrange my own birthday party, or will you do it?”
“I’ll do it,” Huck says.
The day of Irene’s birthday, July 21, is hot but not beastly hot—a stroke of luck—and the sky is a deep blue. The members of the Steele party (Huck made the reservation under Irene’s name) climb the stairs to the legendary open-air breakfast-and-lunch spot, Jake’s, which is decorated with fun tropical kitsch. The faux vintage sign that greets them saysDRINK COFFEE: DO STUPID THINGS FASTER, WITH MORE ENERGY!The place is packed, as Huck predicted. Brian and Michelle Zehring, who own the sleek new Midnight Express charter boatNew Moon,are there with their daughters. Candi from Candi’s Delights is there with her husband, who some of us jokingly call Mr. Candi. Bridgett and Jimmy from Palm Tree Charters are having cocktails with their favorite clients, DeeDee and Michael Napp. A trio of National Park rangers are drinking coffee at the bar; James, the captain ofTreasure Island,is having pancakes with his wife and daughter; Slim Man, who owns the parking lot in town, is there with his new bride. Skip, the bartender from La Tapa, is sitting next to Jacqui from the Westin time-share office at the bar counter in the front of the restaurant, which has magnificent views over Cruz Bay. (Skip and Jacqui were seated next to each other randomly, and Jacqui is worried people are going to think this is a morning-after date.)
Off to the left side is a table set for ten (though Cash didnotend up bringing a friend). The Steele party has so much crossover with people already in the restaurant that when they walk in, the decibel level rises considerably. Cash and Ayers talk to James; Maia talks to Candi and Mr. Candi; Baker talks to Jacqui; and Phil and Sunny talk to Skip. Huck stops to talk to the Napps, who own a racetrack in New Jersey. As he’s hearing about life in the fast lane, he scans the restaurant for Teresa but sees only Diane, the other waitress. Is it possible that Huck has hit the jackpot and Teresa isn’t working today? Did she maybe take a summer vacation to visit her sons in…Idaho?
Eventually the members of the Steele party settle; Irene sits between Huck and Floyd.
Huck feels a hand land on his shoulder, a subtle squeeze.
“How are we all doing?” Teresa says. “I hear we have a birthday!”
Mimosas: Irene and Sunny.
Bloody Marys: Phil, Baker, Cash.
Fresh pineapple juice: Ayers and Maia.
Fresh OJ: Floyd.
Coffee and a Bloody Mary and a michelada while you’re at it: Huck.
“Looks like someone’scelebrating.” Another hand lands on Huck’s shoulder. It’s Rupert.
Rupert? In Cruz Bay? What’s happening here? Well, it turns out that Josephine is providing the live entertainment at Jake’s this morning. Rupert takes the tenth seat at their table, and when the drinks arrive, they all raise their glasses and toast Irene.
“To Mom,” Cash says. “May this year be better than last year.”
“I’ll second that,” Baker says.
“To Irene,” Sunny says. “My sister-grandmother.”
“To Grammy,” Floyd says, holding up his juice glass. “My…grammy.”
“To the Angler Cupcake,” Huck begins. He waits a beat; he has to swallow the lump in his throat. “The most remarkable woman I know. Happy, happy birthday.”
Josephine sings “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Cash checks his phone and answers a text under the table. Teresa asks Diane to help her run the food—biscuits and gravy, south-of-the-border omelets, a breakfast burrito with extra home fries, banana-walnut pancakes, sweet bread French toast, a “regular” (eggs, bacon, home fries, toast) with a side of chocolate pancakes (this is for Ayers, who is eating for two), and…an order of gingerbread pancakes with a side of sausage for the birthday girl, with two jars of papaya jam to go. Teresa sticks a candle in the pancakes. She cues Josephine and the whole restaurant sings “Happy Birthday.”
More mimosas. More Bloody Marys. Coffee for Baker, who is falling asleep at the table. Ayers elbows him in the ribs. “You think you’re tired now, wait until the baby comes.”
Josephine sings Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which has long been one of Teresa’s favorite songs. It’s a hymn, an anthem, and it only adds to the cinematic quality of the scene, the restaurant perched high above the streets of Cruz Bay on a summer Sunday morning.
I’ve heard there was a secret chord…
Churches across the island will be letting out about now, so the restaurant will get a little busier, but not much. Teresa always jokes that, for Jake’s clientele, pancakes are their religion. (As is strong coffee. And vodka.)
Teresa takes a minute to gaze out at the water—the ferry coming in from Red Hook, theSinging Dogheading out for a sail, maybe with a stop at Carval Rock for a snorkel. When Teresa gets in the weeds at the restaurant, she always imagines herself afloat, her mask submerged in the clear turquoise water, taking in the teeming life of the coral reef. Other people like the fish, the rays, the turtles, but Teresa is fascinated by the coral itself: the intricacies of the brain coral, the grooves of which look like a maze; the staghorn; the boulder star; the elkhorn (Teresa’s favorite); the layers of lettuce coral; the ivory bush; the clubbed finger. It’s a city down there, a world, a universe that manages to be productive but very, very quiet.
That David played, and it pleased the Lord.
Teresa doesn’t remember every detail of the night she first hooked up with Captain Huck Powers, but certain things stand out. She’d met her coworker Diane at High Tide, then they’d cruised down to the Beach Bar with a stop at Joe’s Rum Hut. There was a band at the Beach Bar, and Teresa danced with a charter captain named Pat; he was a full head shorter than Teresa and a little handsy. She escaped to the bar, and that’s where she found Huck.
“Why the long face?” Teresa asked. As soon as the words were out, she realized her mistake. She had heard that LeeAnn Powers, Huck’s wife, had died a couple of months earlier. She didn’t know Huck well, though he would, on occasion, come into Jake’s for a cup of coffee and the breakfast sandwich to go, or he’d bring his granddaughter in for the chocolate pancakes. (That was back when the girl was small, five or six years old; Teresa can’t believe how grown-up she looks now, and how much like her mother.)
