Dan had been right about the restaurant being crowded. There was only one small table that I could see and the maitre d' was rushing about on the far side. I could hear other voices in the short corridor from the main lobby to the restaurant so I simply sat down at the two seater. Before I could tell the waiter who poured my water that there'd be two, he'd handed me one menu and disappeared. I was reading the description of the Grill column when I was conscious of someone standing in front of the table.
'Miss, we're extremely busy today, would you mind sharing with this gentleman?'
I was about to refuse when I looked up and saw that the maitre d' had escorted a sober-faced Dan to the table. I glanced around suspiciously as if to confirm the condition and then graciously inclined my head in permission.
'You bitch,' said Dan sotto voce, screening his face from the next table with his menu.
'I'm only preserving the fiction you started…'
'I'll get you later.'
'I wish you would,' I said in my archest social manner and nearly yipped out loud as he pinched my knee.
The waiter materialised, deposited bread and butter, asked which airlines and hovered with marked impatience for our orders. With just a glance at me, Dan ordered us two steaks, medium rare, baked potatoes and salads. The waiter collected the menus in one snatch and disappeared. Forever, I was beginning to think just as he finally served our long delayed luncheons.
Dan had been abstracted in the long interval between ordering and receiving. The noise and confusion in the restaurant were worse than the service, making conversation difficult. After the first three attempts to involve Dan in light conversation failed, I left him to his private reflections. His business phone calls had obviously given him problems. Fortunately the steaks were very good but with one accord, we cleared out as soon as we'd finished. I'd had my fill, certainly, of bits and snatches of other people's
disgruntlements.
'Say, I bought that jacket, Jenny, and since you're equipped, let's christen 'em. Anything to leave this tower of bitching Babel.' His voice was tense as he led me toward the elevators. 'D'you have any warm pants with you?'
'Pants and ski underwear.'
'That's great.' He smiled as he spoke but retreated to his private thoughts as the elevator schwushed us up to the ninth floor.
I was admiring myself in the mirror when he tapped on the connecting doors. I fumbled, remembered I'd locked it, undid the catch and opened it to gasp in startlement. The apparition in the black, green and white ski mask fortunately spoke in Dan's voice. He dangled another ski mask from his hand.
'You'll need this. It's goddamned cold outside. And these,' and he offered me thick insulated mittens as well.
I had trouble fitting the eyeholes and nose place until he gave the knitted helmet an expert twitch.
'Jaysus, it does nothing for me, does it?' I said to my circus self.
'Think of the frostbite it'll prevent and stuff your vanity.'
He was irked, but not with me, so I felt it wiser to ignore his mood. We left through the side entrance rather than traverse the packed lobby. The wind lashed at us, glad of new victims and, despite my face mask, I involuntarily closed my eyes against the bite of the cold and spun snow.
'Where do we go from here?' I asked in a bellow over the wind.
'Walk!' And he indicated a general direction past the snow-covered mounds of parked cars.
In the murky distance you could just make out the brighter lights of the airport buildings and the straight lines of sodium lighting. I heard the muted groan of a snow-plow but it took me a long while to locate the slowly moving monster.
Dan tapped my shoulder and motioned left. I plodded beside him. Out of my mind, to be sure, but why not? It was sort of wild and eerie to be the only ones out in the blizzard.
I've no idea how long we walked; certainly we made no records for either speed or distance. The hotel sign got small and dim. I got tired so I flopped down in the snow and made an angel while Dan watched. He hauled me up and carted me away so we could admire the unmarred angel form. Then we tried to build a fort but the snow was powdery and didn't pack well. I was disappointed. Dan was, too. My face guard kept slipping and I'd end up with a mouthful of wet wool as I struggled after him. It was rather too cold to open your mouth to talk but it was my legs which gave out first. The ski underwear and the jacket lived up to the manufacturer's claims. I was, if anything, too warm between the insulation and the exercise. I sure wasn't used to walking in snow, or having to drag my feet through drifts and plunging to get out of them. I was dropping further and further behind Dan and then I just slid down a drift and let the snow hold me up.
'Dan. Dan! DAAAAAANNN.'
I thought he'd just keep on walking and I got a little twinge of fear. The hotel sign was a long blur away. How could he be that thoughtless?
'DAAAAAN!'
To my intense gratification, his figure stopped, turned this and that way and then swung around.
'Hey, I'm here. Over here!' I was waving my arms to little effect so I crawled out of the drift, wigwagging more furiously until he spotted me.
'What the hell is this about?' he demanded angrily, hoisting me to my feet. 'You could get lost.'
'No, just tired.'
'Tired?'
'We've been slogging for hours.'
'Nonsense… it's only… God, you're right. It's nearly five. Goddamn, Jenny, I'm sorry. I've no right to snap at you.'
'No, you haven't,' I said rather equitably because we were now heading back towards the hotel. 'But you've got something on your mind and I'm the only available goat.' '
'You're not a goat.'
'Something's got yours.' I let my inflection remain up, in case he wanted to talk.
He brushed the snow from me and threw an arm around my shoulders as I staggered a little.
'I've done all the talking I can, Jenny, but you've done a lot to help me.'
The mouth slit in his face mask was filled with teeth, a truly horrific sight. 'Let's not talk of problems, Jenny. Let's just… walk, huh?'
I shrugged acquiescence and he squeezed my shoulder appreciatively. The wet rim of my mask was beginning to chafe my lips so we didn't do any more talking, but a lot of grunting, as we slogged through the snow. The heat of the foyer only emphasised how cold it had been outside. I felt numb on the surface. I snatched off the chafing face mask and unzipped my jacket to let the warmth penetrate.
'Dan, I want to make an appointment for my hair,' I said, pointing to the beauty salon sign.
'Find me in the bar. I'll order hot toddies. We'll need them.'
So we parted. My thighs were muscleless as I made my way down the steps to the salon level. Wow, was I out of condition! Would I last to the toddy, I wondered, grinning at my frailties. Not that I would have changed one moment of the past few days.
Unexpectedly the beauty salon was crowded: indoor types, I guessed. The girl who took my appointment for noon the next day kept glancing at the snow I was dripping on the modern design carpeting. Well, I expect she wouldn't be the only one to think me mad for romping in the snow like a child,
When I got to the bar, 1 saw Dan talking to a big man, a grossly big man who had some inches over Dan's six feet and was much broader in beam, chest and waist. He wore a stetson, pushed back on his head and a sheepskin jacket, high Wellingtons. He was also the type of hearty back-thumping loud-laughing oaf that I detest and he was going through those motions with Dan. I did not wish to be exposed to that sort of character so, instead of approaching Dan, I edged round until I could catch his eye and signal him that I'd go on upstairs and leave him to his friend.
This man made Dan wary: he stood there with hooded eyes, his shoulders angled forward as if to protect… his back, probably, because Old Hearty gave him a clomp across the shoulders that made him wince and rock on his feet. Dan caught sight of me then and with a quick shake of his head and a jerk, indicated that I should go upstairs.