"You know they gave you that seafood fork for reason," I told Izzy as the jumbo shrimp dangled from her French-manicured fingers, cocktail sauce dripping from it and splattering onto her plate.
"You can't get all the meat out of the tail if you use that bitty fork. At these prices, I'm getting all my shrimp," she replied, then took a big bite and left a smear of cocktail sauce on the side of her mouth.
I quietly tried to tell her about the sauce, pretending to wipe something from the corner of my own mouth.
"What?" she asked somewhat loudly.
"Cocktail sauce," I whispered.
"Oh, yeah," she answered as she motioned to the waiter.
"Yes, ma'am?" The young guy asked her, adjusting his tie and giving me a smile.
"I hate to be a bother, but could I get another bit of cocktail sauce?" She gestured to the small bowl with the shrimp tail still in her hand.
"Yes, ma'am, right away," he said as he rushed away.
"Izzy!" I said to her. "This is a fine dining restaurant. It is not the Chicken Finger Shack." I rolled my eyes and grabbed my glass of wine.
"Well, this cocktail sauce is so good I could drink it!"
"So the shrimp are just a convenient vehicle to get more of the sauce in your mouth?"
I took a big sip of wine and looked around the full restaurant. Many of the guests I recognized from the art market Izzy and I were attending. My eyes settled on one guy who looked familiar, but I couldn't remember a name. He was absolutely beautiful...I mean, genetically-perfect model gorgeous. Square-jawed, cheekbones you could hang on. He looked up and saw me staring. He smiled ...with perfect teeth, I might add. I took a gulp of wine and turned back to Izzy.
"Are you listening to me? You have been distracted all day? Do you miss BJ?"
"Of course, I do. That's a silly question. Suck on your damn shrimp."
Izzy gave me her "Oh-no-she-better-don't" look. Then gave me an unnerving smile.
"Uhm, Clay, some guys would love to be eating dinner with me." She grabbed a shrimp and dipped it in sauce. "Look," she crackled as she flicked her tongue at the shellfish and then licked it. "I got skills," she laughed.
"You know, you are insane, dear cousin."
"That's why we get along so well."
I shifted in my seat and drank some more wine. I surreptitiously looked over to the model guy's table. He was staring at me. He raised his glass and winked. I raised mine and nervously smiled. I finished the glass.
"Who are you toasting?" Izzy asked turning her head in the direction I had been looking. "Is it that hot guy with the two girls? He looks familiar. Lucky them, he is fine as fuck...he has to be gay."
"Just someone I met at the convention hall. Just business," I lied.
"Oh, okay. Well, just remember you're married," Izzy retorted, as the waiter placed her extra cocktail sauce on the table.
"And is there anything I can get Sir?" he asked with a smile.
"Yes," I said, with a wink. "More wine. A bottle of red."
He looked at Izzy and then back at me.
"Just one, Sir?"
"For now," I chuckled.
Eventually, we were onto our main course, Steak Diane. Of course, Izzy asked for a bottle of steak sauce. The waiter apologized for not having any available.
"Izzy, it already has sauce on it. Wine and shallots," I told her as she dug into her big purse and pulled out a tiny bottle of steak sauce.
"From room service last night," she said with a grin and quickly changed the subject. "So what has BJ been up to with you away?"
"Malcolm has him helping him with some odd jobs. I don't know the specifics. I'm just glad he's staying busy. He seemed to be depressed after we started this business. I'm glad he's happy now."
"Do you regret getting married so quickly? I mean, you two knew each other only a short time before tying the knot. Maybe he was caught up in the whirlwind of it all, like you, and there were things he still wanted to do."
"We knew each other in high school," I answered.
"Yeah, but that was another lifetime ago?"
"Thanks, cousin, for bringing this up now."
"Oh, I mentioned it before the wedding. But you were like 'Life is short' and 'Seize the bull... or the boy... by the horns'. Don't get mad at me. Y'all need to have a big discussion about what you want going forward."
"I'm getting marriage advice from the Sauce Queen."
"Hey! Everybody needs a hobby!"