To Lucy's left, and a little behind her, I could see Sandra – also in a strapless number. It was black at her bust, turned filmy across her midriff, and darkened again where it flowed onto her hips. Then it dropped down to a filmy black skirt that did precious little to hide her slender, muscular legs. Again, there was nothing to mar the lines of the dress.
If they weren't nude under those dresses, they weren't far enough from it to matter.
I could only stand there, my mouth hanging open, until Lucy asked "Is this 'gussied up' enough for you?"
It took me a couple of tries before I was finally able to tell them "*This* is why I like girls!" with deep conviction.
All three smiled, and with a gesture from Lucy, all three made a small pirouette, showing that none of the outfits had anything of substance in back – Lucy's was bare to just above the crack of her ass; Sandra's was bare to below her waist, and Robyn's dipped to the small of her back, only a couple of small cords broadly lacing it together – making it clear that not a one of them had a bra on. All three had obviously also gone out for some serious beauty salon work – Lucy had gotten a little trimmed off, so that it flowed to just past her shoulders. Robyn had gotten hers cut a bit, too – it fell only to her shoulders, framing her face wonderfully. Sandra, though, appeared to have done nothing more than brush her hair until it fairly glowed like unpolished silver. For the life of me, I couldn't decide which I wanted to do – take them out for every other guy who saw us to be jealous, or to hustle the three of them into bed, consequences be damned.
The decision was made for me when Lucy said "You're looking pretty good, there, fella. You ready to be seen in public with us, or you just going to stand there drooling?" – making Robyn and Sandra laugh.
"My first choice is to just stand here drooling, but if I don't show up, Muddy' feelings will probably be hurt."
"Off we go, then", Lucy said.
As we passed through the halls, then lobby, of the hotel, I could hear conversations pause as every male who saw them had his train of thought derailed – often to the consternation of the woman he was with. I'd dare say that more than a few husbands went home with sore shins, that night.
We made our way to Lucy's rental car, where she had me drive – "This outfit is NOT designed to be driven in!" she declared – while she navigated us to Caf Triomphe. There, I pulled up in front, and left the keys with the valet, who all but fell down when the three of them got out of the car. Our walk into the restaurant was a near duplicate of what had happened at the hotel – a bubble of silence followed us as we made our way in. Once inside, it wasn't more than a minute before the headwaiter gave me a look, then approached, asking "Sir?
Would you be Boomer?"
"Yes, I am. Or I should say, was."
"If you'll follow me, Sir, your table is waiting." – drawing us the stares of most of those waiting, plus a few dirty looks.
He led us to a table that was obviously the best in the place, saying "Mr. Waters will be with you in a moment, sir."
The headwaiter helped me get Robyn and Sandra seated; I gave him a look, and he stayed away from Lucy. I hadn't any more than sat down myself when a shadow fell over our table. I heard Robyn and Sandra gasp, then Lucy. I turned to look, and saw that Muddy was there. At nearly 6' 8" tall and pushing 300 pounds, bald, and black as the darkest night, he made an impressive figure. He opened his mouth and said "Boomer, it's been a long time!" in a deep, rumbling bass voice that would have made Barry White cry. I stood up again, and tried to shake hands with him – and got pulled into a hug, anyway. When he turned loose of me, I discretely checked to see if he'd broken any ribs – even his muscles had muscles, and sometimes he misjudged his own strength; deciding he hadn't, I turned to introduce him to Lucy and the girls. Smiling to show white, even teeth, he stuck a hand out to each of them, and when they cautiously put a hand in it, leaned over to kiss it before telling them how happy he was to meet them.
During all of this, the headwaiter, waiter, and other customers were watching this like I was some major dignitary that they couldn't remember the name of.
With the introductions out of the way, Muddy turned to me and said, "I heard you'd gone to college – what was it, Podunk University or some such?"
I laughed, and answered "Yeah, something like that. I heard you'd opened up some kind of greasy spoon, and were busy poisoning people.
Looks like you're doing okay for yourself, Muddy."
He laughed, and said "Yeah, no telling what some people will like", making me laugh along with him, before he said "Looks like you're doing pretty good yourself, there, Boomer. You still like steak?"
I gave him a look, and he laughed again, before turning to the girls and Lucy, saying "If you lovely ladies don't mind, I've got some steaks that I think you'll like."
All three looked at me, and I smiled and nodded, letting them know that they wouldn't be disappointed. Looking back at him, Lucy said "I think we'd be delighted, Mr. Waters."
Muddy laughed again, and said "Ma'am" – "Please, call me Lucy" – "Lucy, there's no need for that Mister stuff with me. Me, and Boomer here, we go back a ways; just call me Muddy, like everyone else, okay? And that goes for you two young ladies, too; I won't know you're talking to me, unless you call me Muddy!"
All three of them smiled at him, and he turned back to me to say, "If you'll excuse me a minute, Boomer, I got a couple things that need my attention, but I'll be back."
I told him that was fine, and before he left, he signaled one of the waiters, and told him "Ricky, this here is Boomer. He's my*personal* guest. While he's here, you got nothing else to do but watch after him and his ladies. If he ain't happy,*I* ain't happy. He says he wants your sister, you call her a cab. He sneezes, you build him a fire. You got me?"
Ricky's eyes got real big, and he nodded solemnly before looking at me as though I'd just levitated off the floor. The headwaiter watched this, and only nodded when Muddy looked at him before heading into the kitchen. I sat down again, and Lucy and the girls only stared at me for several seconds before another waiter appeared – this one with a dusty bottle of wine. He wiped the label off and showed it to me, saying, "Mr. Waters said that if you agreed to the steak, this was the wine I was to serve. It's from his private cellar; one of three bottles that he was allowed to buy that year."
I nodded, and he carefully opened the bottle before pouring a small amount in my glass. I sipped it, letting it flow over my tongue – and discovering that it was one of the finest, no, THE finest, red wine I'd ever tasted. I paused only a moment before letting him know that it was okay to pour. I watched as Lucy, then Sandra and Robyn, each took a sip – and smile in delight at it's flavor.
About that time, Muddy showed up again, saying "There, that's taken care of – I remember how you like your steak, Boomer, but I need to know what these lovely ladies prefer."
Lucy smiled at him, and said, "Medium-well, please", with Sandra and Robyn nodding in agreement. Muddy smiled, and said "Excellent. Medium well it is." Then he turned to Ricky, and asked "You still standing there? Where's these folks appetizers?" in a good-natured tone. I'm not sure that I had time to draw my next breath before Ricky was back, with fresh-baked bread and rolls for us, along with a dish of what turned out to be fresh-churned butter. When we'd each taken a roll, Muddy cautioned us "Now, don't be eating too much of that – you're going to be wanting to leave some room for these steaks."
I asked him what he'd been up to since I'd left our unit, and he filled me in as I ate. When I was done, he asked me, and I told him what I was doing. From there, we branched out into what some of the other guys were doing. Right in front of God and everybody, he asked me if I was going to marry Lucy – causing Lucy to choke and the girls to giggle before I told him "Not yet". He turned to Lucy and told her "If Boomer doesn't pop the question soon, you come look me up – I'll ask it for damn sure!", making her blush.