"Did he ask you anything about me?"
She shook her head. "No, nothing about you."
"See, I was right. If we"d have gone together, he would have seen us."
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she started taking her shoes off. "I don"t care, I"m not staying cooped up in this room any longer. In the morning I"m going to the health club then I"m spending all day at the pool."
"What if he sees you again?"
"I don"t care. He knows I"m a pa.s.senger on this ship, what do I care if he sees me."
"He might ask questions. Try to find out if we"re together."
She shrugged her shoulders.
The next morning she did just what she said she was going to do, she went to the pool. An hour after she left, Dan put on his swim trunks. Looking at himself in the mirror, at his gut hanging over the front of his bathing suit, he decided to wear a T-shirt. He didn"t want to get too much sun.
Up on deck, he was sitting in one of those long reclining chairs, across the pool from Lucy. They couldn"t be seen together but that didn"t mean they couldn"t both be at the pool at the same time. The waiter came by and he ordered a drink, then looked at his watch. Nine-thirty in the morning. "Better make that a b.l.o.o.d.y Mary," he told the boy. "Heavy on the Vodka."
She was lying on her stomach in the sun. A spectacular red string bikini on. Her face was turned to the left, eyes closed. Dan saw a couple guys openly staring at her. Somehow he had to make up with her. This was crazy. The s.e.xiest woman on the ship and she was all his, but he couldn"t even be seen with her. He had to do something.
Dan heard the gate clank shut. He glanced over. There was that d.a.m.n William, the cause of all these problems. Great, just what I need, Dan thought. Now he"d have to spend the morning chatting with his ex-neighbor.
He saw William looking around. A big gla.s.s of orange juice in one hand, a fat paperback in the other. William made eye contact with him and waved, really a kind of waving motion with his book. Dan nodded back, now knowing William was going to walk over and plop himself down next to him. Tell him all about his boring life.
But he didn"t. He went around the pool the other way. Dan watching as William stopped next to Lucy, saying something to her, Dan not catching it. Lucy said something back to him then William sat down in the chair next to her.
A little while later, Lucy rolled over onto her back, turning herself to make sure she got evenly done on both sides. The two of them started chatting. Dan couldn"t quite make out what they were saying. Then William took his shirt off. Trying to show off his trim physique.
Dan waved to the waiter and ordered another b.l.o.o.d.y Mary. Sure, easy for a guy like William to be nice and trim. He worked in an office. Probably had a gym in the same building. Easy to work out when you sat in an office all day and talked on the phone. Guy should try really working for a living. Exploring for natural gas was hard work. Man does that all day he doesn"t need to go to the gym. That"s real work.
Dan looked at his stomach, covered up by the T-shirt but still hanging over the front of his shorts. Back in high school his wrestling coach made them weigh in every day. Used to make Dan do all kinds of crazy stuff to stay under 168 pounds. Last time he"d stepped onto a scale he"d been just a shade over 200. Probably up around 210 now. Being honest with himself, he didn"t think the extra forty pounds was added muscle.
After his third b.l.o.o.d.y Mary he switched to scotch. Eleven o"clock was a reasonable time to have a drink. By one o"clock his arms and legs were red. He was also seeing red. Lucy and his ex-neighbor were still over there, talking away like old friends.
He couldn"t take it anymore. At two o"clock he left. Went back to the cabin. Gonna take a shower and go to the casino.
He woke up when he heard a key in the lock. He had just put his head down for a second, he must have fallen asleep. The door opened and Lucy walked in. Dan looked at the clock, 5:25 PM.
Lifting his head off the pillow. "Where the h.e.l.l have you been?" he snapped.
"You know exactly where I"ve been, you were spying on me all day," she said, walking into the bathroom.
"What did you and William talk about?"
From the bathroom he heard her say, "You."
He sat up. "What?"
"I"m kidding." He heard her put the toilet seat down. "He"s nice, but I think he believed you when you told him I was a prost.i.tute. He was trying to pick up on me all day."
"Dan, are you sure?" Lucy asked him. Sitting on the bed next to him, her hand resting on his thigh. "It"s so...dangerous."
He put his arm around her. She seemed kind of turned on by the idea, their earlier arguments all forgotten. Seeing a new side to her now. If this went well, maybe something else they could do later on would allow them to be together and be rich.
The clock said 9:15 PM. He felt clear headed, the booze he"d had all gone from his system. "We"ve got five days left on this cruise. I don"t want to waste "em."
"Me either," she said, pressing him back onto the bed and kissing him.
He got dressed and made the call at ten o"clock. Glancing at Lucy as the phone rang. She was bent over, pulling a pair of khaki shorts over her French-cut silk panties.
William answered on the second ring. "h.e.l.lo."
"Will, Dan. How you doing?"
"Fine, Dan, how "bout you?"
"I"m doing great. Listen, remember that barfly we saw a few days ago in the casino?"
"Yeah."
"I ran into her a little while ago. She asked about you?"
"Yeah," William said, an edge of excitement creeping into his voice. "I was with her at the pool today. You were right across from us."
"Really?" Dan said. "I saw you talking to a girl; I didn"t know that was her." Thinking fast now. "That would explain what she said."
"What"d she say?" William asked.
Dan forced a laugh. "Buddy, I think you may be in for a very hot second half of the cruise. Stuff she said, it was kinda embarra.s.sing for me to hear a woman talk like that."
"Really?" William really interested now. "Come on, what"d she say? I asked her for her room number but she wouldn"t give it to me."
"Way she was talking I think you"re gonna be able to move into her room."
"What"d she say?" Desperation in his voice now.
"Meet me at the back, the p.o.o.p deck, whatever they call that deck back there, in a half hour. I"ll stop by the bar and grab us a couple beers. You"re gonna need something to cool you off when you hear this."
"Sure, I"ll meet you, but just tell me--"
Dan hung up the phone. Lucy was slipping a shirt on, no bra underneath. She asked, "Is he coming?"
"Oh, yeah. He"s dying to know what you said."