“Yes. But there’s an awfully good local drink.”
“There must be. About how many of them have you had?”
“I don’t know. About a dozen.”
“You only look tight around the eyes. Are you in love with anyone?”
“No. You?”
“We’ll have to see. Where is your bitch of a wife?”
“In the Pacific.”
“I wish she was. About a thousand fathoms deep. Oh, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.”
“Are you in love with anyone?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“You bastard.”
“Isn’t it terrible? The first time I ever meet you since I went away and you’re not in love with anyone and I’m in love with someone.”
“You went away?”
“That’s my story.”
“Is he nice?”
“He’s nice, this one, like children are nice. I’m very necessary to him.”
“Where is he?”
“That’s a military secret.”
“Is that where you’re going?”
“Yes.”
“What are you?”
“We’re USO.”
“Is that the same as OSS?”
“No, goofy. Don’t pretend to be stupid and don’t be stuffy just because I love someone. You never consult me when you fall in love with people.”
“How much do you love him?”
“I didn’t say I loved him. I said I was in love with him. I won’t even be in love with him today if you don’t want. I’m only here for a day. I don’t want not to be polite.”
“Go to hell,” he said.
“How would it be if I took the car and went to the hotel?” Ginny asked.
“No, Ginny. We’re going to have some champagne first. Do you have a car?” she asked Thomas Hudson.
“Yeah. Outside on the square.”
“Can we drive out to your place?”
“Of course. We can eat and then go out. Or I can pick up something for us to eat out there.”
“Weren’t we lucky that we could get here?”
“Yes,” Thomas Hudson said. “How did you know anyone was here?”
“A boy at the field at Camagüey told me you might be here. If we didn’t find you, we were going to see Havana.”
“We can see Havana.”
“No,” she said. “Ginny can see it. Do you know anybody who could take Ginny out?”
“Sure.”
“We have to get back to Camagüey tonight.”
“What time does your plane leave?”
“Six o’clock, I think.”
“We’ll fix everything up,” Thomas Hudson said.
A man came over to the table. He was a local boy.
“Pardon me,” he said. “May I have your autograph?”
“Of course.”
He gave her a card with the picture of the bar on it with Constante standing behind it making a cocktail and she signed with the overlarge theatrical writing Thomas Hudson knew so well.
“It’s not for my little daughter or my son who is in school,” the man said. “It’s for me.”
“Good,” she said and smiled at him. “You were very nice to ask me.”
“I’ve seen all of your pictures,” the man said. “I think you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said. “Please keep on thinking that.”
“Would you let me buy you a drink?”
“I’m drinking with a friend.”
“I know him,” the radio announcer said. “I’ve known him for many years. May I sit down, Tom? There is an extra lady here.”
“This is Mr. Rodríguez,” Thomas Hudson said. “What’s your last name, Ginny?”
“Watson.”
“Miss Watson.”
“I’m delighted to know you, Miss Watson,” the radio announcer said. He was a good-looking man, dark and tanned with pleasant eyes, a nice smile, and the big good hands of a ball player. He had been both a gambler and a ball player and he had some of the good looks of the modern gambler left.
“Could you all three have lunch with me?” he asked. “It is nearly lunchtime now.”
“Mr. Hudson and I have to make a trip into the country,” she said.
“I’d love to have lunch with you,” Ginny said. “I think you’re wonderful.”
“Is he all right?” she asked Thomas Hudson.
“He’s a fine man. As good as you’ll find in town.”
“Thank you very much, Tom,” the man said. “You are sure you won’t all eat with me?”
“We really have to go,” she said. “We’re late now. Then I’ll see you at the hotel, Ginny. Thank you so much, Mr. Rodríguez.”