Thomas Hudson stood up and he felt as though his chest was being constricted so that he could not breathe. She had seen him and she was walking down the gap between the people at the bar and the tables toward him. The other woman was following behind her.
“Excuse me,” he said to Honest Lil and to the Alcalde Peor. “I have to see a friend.”
They met halfway down the free corridor between the bar and the tables and he was holding her in his arms. They were both holding hard and tight as people can hold and he was kissing her hard and well and she was kissing him and feeling both his arms with her hands.
“Oh you. You. You,” she said.
“You devil,” he said. “How did you get here?”
“From Camagüey, of course.”
People were looking at them and he picked her off her feet and held her tight against him and kissed her once more then put her down and took her hand and started for a table in the corner.
“We can’t do that here,” he said. “We’ll get arrested.”
“Let’s get arrested,” she said. “This is Ginny. She’s my secretary.”
“Hi, Ginny,” Thomas Hudson said. “Let’s get this mad woman behind that table.”
Ginny was a nice, ugly girl. They were both wearing the same uniform; officers’ blouses without insignia, shirts and ties, skirts, stockings, and brogues. They had overseas caps and a patch on their left shoulders he had not seen before.
“Take your cap off, devil.”
“I’m not supposed to.”
“Take it off.”
“All right.”
She took it off and lifted her face and shook her hair loose and moved her head back and looked at him and he saw the high forehead, the magic rolling line of the hair that was the same silvery ripe-wheat color as always, the high cheekbones with the hollows just below them, the hollows that could always break your heart, the slightly flattened nose, and the mouth he had just left that was disarranged by the kissing, and the lovely chin and throat line.
“How do I look?”
“You know.”
“Did you ever kiss anybody in these clothes before? Or scratch yourself on army buttons?”
“No.”
“Do you love me?”
“I always love you.”
“No. Do you love me right now. This minute.”
“Yes,” he said and his throat ached.
“That’s good,” she said. “It would be pretty awful for you if you didn’t.”
“How long are you here for?”
“Just today.”
“Let me kiss you.”
“You said we’d be arrested.”
“We can wait. What do you want to drink?”
“Do they have good champagne?”
“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.”
“You really are the most beautiful woman in the world,” Mr. Rodríguez said. “If I hadn’t always known it, I know it now.”
“Please keep on thinking so,” she said and then they were out in the street.