Part 5 (1/2)
”There's way more,” Moran said. ”I don't mean just in bed. Will you tell me what you're doing here?”
”I came down with some girls from the club. Polo buffs. Or that's their excuse to get away and party, maybe play a little tennis. Actually they came down yesterday, but I couldn't make it till today.”
Moran said, ”Yeah, I ran into them at the airport. They looked sort of familiar-one of 'em's name is Philly?”
”Right, Philly, Marilyn and Liz, my old tennis court buddies.”
Moran said, ”You're staying here, this place? I don't think it's very in in.”
”No, what happened,” Mary said, ”my friends drove in from Casa de Campo to meet me and go to a c.o.c.ktail party at the Santo Domingo Country Club. Mostly emba.s.sy people.”
”Yeah?...”
”Then I was supposed to drive back to Casa de Campo with them later. The polo matches start tomorrow.” Mary paused. ”But I left the party.”
”Why'd you come here?”
”Well, you told Philly you were staying here...”
”Yeah?...”
”I thought I'd stop by and say hi.”
Moran said, ”Really?” And began to smile. ”You came to the hotel just to see me?”
”You want the truth?” Mary said. ”I came to Santo Domingo just to see you.”
”But you said-”
”I lied,” Mary said. ”I didn't plan to make the trip. But then Philly called last night to coax me, tell me about the emba.s.sy party and happened to mention she saw you at the airport.” She said, ”There, I've bared my soul to you, Moran.”
”It's a nice one,” Moran said. ”I'm getting excited all over again. But what about the polo matches?”
”I think polo's boring,” Mary said. She smiled and he smiled. ”I sent for my bags. For the time being I don't have any clothes.”
Moran said, ”You don't, huh?” Still smiling.
SHE SAID, ”You're getting tired of me already.” ”You're getting tired of me already.”
”What, because I said we ought to go out? Room service is okay, but it's still room service.”
”I have to admit, George, you're a lot more romantic than I thought you'd be.”
”I hear myself sometimes,” Moran said, ”I sound like I'm about seventeen.”
She said, ”You don't look much older, except for the beard. I love your beard. I love your body.”
Even after he had told her why he was here and she was fascinated and wanted to walk the streets of his war with him, they remained in the hotel for the next two days. They needed the intimacy of being alone together, to look at each other with no one watching now and realize, no question about it, they were right. Boy, were they right. Meant for each other. They could say it and it sounded fine. They could say, I love you, earnestly, though so far only in the midst of love, perspiration glistening on their bodies, and I love you sounded pretty good, too. They lay in the sun at the hotel pool, a breeze coming off the Caribbean. She touched him and told him he could be one of the winter ballplayers. He told her she was way better looking than any of the young baseball wives, looked around, realized it wasn't even a contest and widened the scope to include all the girl movie stars he could think of. He believed it. They talked, never having to think of things to say, and were at ease with each other in silence.
”I remember times at the club I'd see you staring off in s.p.a.ce,” Mary said, ”like you were planning to go over the wall.”
They lay side by side at the deep end of the pool, facing the afternoon sun, their lounge chairs touching.
”I got pardoned,” Moran said. ”If I hadn't, yeah, I would've done it. I could feel it coming.”
She said, ”Can we get a few things out in the open?”
”It's all right with me.”
”Okay. Why'd you marry Noel?”
”I think it was her heinie,” Moran said. ”That high, insolent a.s.s, like it's got a personality all its own.”
”Are we going to only say nice things?”
”Well, you know her as well as I do. Sometimes the things that attract us are the things that sooner or later turn us off. I should've looked at her stuck-up a.s.s and known.”
He turned his head to see Mary's slender body in the yellow bikini, the delicate line from armpit to breast, her belly a shallow basin between the small-bone mounds of her hips. He wanted to jump on her.
”You asked me because you knew I was gonna ask you. Where you stand.”
”I suppose.”
”Okay, where are you?”
”Well, not too long ago I almost asked Andres for a divorce. I had the words ready, exactly what I was going to say...”
He was aware of his instant reaction: great great. He didn't tighten, begin to feel trapped. No, he liked what she was saying.
”But I chickened out.”
”How come?”
”Well...I felt sorry for him.”
Moran didn't say anything.
”Or I felt sorry for myself-I don't know. I thought, if I'm gonna leave, I should be going to something I want to do. But even if there was was something, I don't want to just walk out. I want to talk to him, so he'll understand how I feel. But we don't talk. In the six years we've been together”-she turned her head to look at Moran-”if there's a gale blowing out of Biscayne Bay in the hurricane season we might get in a good exchange about the weather. We don't even see each other that much. We have dinner together about three times a week. Half the time he doesn't get home till late, or we meet at the club.” something, I don't want to just walk out. I want to talk to him, so he'll understand how I feel. But we don't talk. In the six years we've been together”-she turned her head to look at Moran-”if there's a gale blowing out of Biscayne Bay in the hurricane season we might get in a good exchange about the weather. We don't even see each other that much. We have dinner together about three times a week. Half the time he doesn't get home till late, or we meet at the club.”
”What'd you marry him for, his money?”
”I might've.”
”I was kidding.”
”No, you weren't. But that may be the real reason, security,” Mary said. ”At first I was fascinated by him. General Andres de Boya. In a way I thought he was cute.”
”Jesus Christ,” Moran said.
”I did, at first.” Mary pushed up on her elbow, getting into it. ”Usually-well, you know-he's very formal, he's the boss, you have to do things his way. But then when you see a vulnerable side, just a glimpse, you realize he's a person like everyone else.”