I was speechless just then, knowing exactly who Tanya Pierce was. She was a major star on the big screen, acting in several very popular movies. Her latest, “The Windy City”, was a thriller about a serial killer, set in Chicago. I had seen it, as I am sure the rest of the known world had. I had no idea Howard knew such famous people, but I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that much. He WAS connected after all.
Eventually I found my voice, “Pleased to meet you Tanya. My name is James, and yes I know who you are.” She smiled at this, although I am sure she was used to being recognized everywhere. The price of stardom I guess. “You said that Howard and Shawn are debating beer? This I gotta see,” giving her a reason to segue away from talking about her.
“Sure, follow me.”
And we did. She led us to his main cabin, where Shawn was sitting in my normal chair and Howard was at his usual spot on the couch. They both were holding up a pint of something dark, and arguing about which was better and why.
Tanya cleared her throat to get their attention, and Howard looked up first.
“OH, welcome back James. I assume one of these lovely ladies is your daughter, Madison?” He was all charm.
“Yep, this one is my pride and joy,” pointing to Maddy, “and this one is Sarah, her girlfriend. They are going to be staying with me for the week. Ladies, this is Howard, my friend. This other guy is Shawn, my best friend and mechanic, although sometimes I think he just sits around and only pretends to fix things.” I winked at Shawn with that last part.
He flipped me off, then turned to the rest of the group. “Welcome ladies. Don’t mind your dad, he is delusional to think that he is the world’s greatest pilot, or something like that.”
The girls were still a bit stunned at being around such company, so just smiled and both said, “Thanks.”
“So James, now that you are here, you can help settle the debate. Shawn here seems to think that the darker stout is better than my wheat beer. What do you think?” Howard asked.
“I think that you are both nuts, to be sitting here arguing the ‘finer points’ of beer, when we could all be out enjoying the sun,” I replied, exaggerating the ‘finer points’ with air quotes. I looked over at a smiling Tanya, and asked, “How about you Tanya? Do you feel like getting out in the sun and enjoying this beautiful day?”
“Hell yeah. Let me get the others from below deck, and in a suit, and we can all go out on the bay and swim or something.” With that, she ran down into the belly of the boat.
“See, at least she has the right priorities. Guys, seriously, Tanya Pierce is here and you argue beer?” I laughed, and walked over to my daughter.
“Ladies, why don’t you both go back to my boat, and get into your suits. We are going to take this monster out on the water, and truly enjoy Hawaii as it was meant to be.” It truly was going to be a Hakuna Matata type of day for all.
After everyone got ready to go, Howard went to the helm of his monster yacht, aptly named “Big Play”, as Shawn and I cast off the mooring lines. Howard cruised us away from the dock and out away from the rest of the boats. Once a safe enough distance, he opened up his twin diesels, and it cruised up to his top speed of seventeen knots. It wasn’t a speed boat, but for its large size, that was moving pretty fast. He told us once that he had worked with some engineers to upgrade it, from its original max cruising speed of thirteen knots.
The speed, combined with the slight surf conditions, created a nice spray as the bow plowed through each crest. It was exhilarating, and everyone was enjoying it immensely. After about twenty minutes of this, he slowed us down, and eventually stopped near an inlet. A beach could be seen from the boat, and like most beaches around here, had almost white sand, with crystal clear water gently moving back and forth over it.
Howard hit the button to drop the anchor, and declared that we had arrived. A chorus of cheer went up throughout the boat, and everyone rushed to the back deck. Tanya came up last, followed by four other people. She quickly introduced them all.
“Everyone, these are my friends that came with me. Howard already knows them all, but I thought I would introduce them, since we are all going to be having a good time here. From left to right, my Agent and friend Tyrone, and next to him is his husband Michael. Next to Michael, is my best friend since childhood, Diane, and her husband Marcus.”
Howard spoke up, “Thanks for that Tanya. My local friends here are Shawn, whom you’ve met already. The other gentleman is James, who is the pilot of that seaplane you saw fly in. With him are his daughter, and her girlfriend. Ladies, I am sorry but I have forgotten your names already.”
My daughter blushed slightly, and reintroduced herself. “My name is Madison, but all my friends call me Maddy. This is Sarah, my girlfriend, and she and I go to school together. It is an honor to be here, by the way. Thanks for making this trip extraordinary already, and we’ve only been here a few hours!”
Everyone had a good laugh at the introductions, and then moved on to having fun. Maddy and Sarah both jumped right into the water, and when they came back to the surface, were playfully splashing at each other. Shawn was next to go in, gracing everyone with a cannonball splash that made it up onto some of our clothes. I don’t think anyone cared. Tanya’s agent and husband both got near the edge, and finally Michael pushed Tyrone over the edge. Tyrone went belly first, yelling all the way in, “AAAAAHHHHGG.” He made a big splash, and a slapping noise that everyone cringed at. Michael jumped in right after him, only to be dunked under by his husband for the effort.