don’t know that.”
“Yes I do. Just because I don’t want to be around the same woman as long as you do doesn’t mean I don’t catch a vibe now and again.”
“How ‘bout you catch a vibe to the jaw?” Grant said, draining his glass.
“I think you should get your new girlfriend to bring you another drink. How those drinks working with your pain meds?”
“Wonderfully. Better since I threw up, I hope,” Grant said quietly.
“Look, how long has it been since you were sitting in a bar, talking with an—no, no, sorry, talking with two, no, three attractive women?”
“You’d better drink up, you’re not quite drunk enough yet.”
“I think two of them actually like you. The Greek girl, she’s hard to read. I like her, but she’s got an edge on her,” Rex said.
“Like you don’t? You an expert on women now, I guess? You, of the ‘love-’em, use-’em, mostly abuse-’em’ brigade?”
“Never said I wanted to settle down like you did.. You became right respectable there for a while when you were with Annie. Now … you’re just a goddamn hermit.”
“You just like raising hell.”
“So do you, but you liked the girl more.”
Grant leaned back in his chair, looking around the bar. He hadn’t really stopped to look around this part of the hotel, as Rex had been talking when they walked in, and Isobelle caught his eye immediately when he saw her. Annie and Kat came shortly thereafter, and then he had to go upstairs and throw up. A two-hour drive, a car crash, a hospital visit, and a reunion with two very old friends made him think he had covered quite a bit of ground in a very short time. Maybe now it was catching up to him. He hoped he wasn’t going to be sick again.
The bar was like the rest of the hotel. It was old looking, dark wood. Not the kind of thing you would normally see in the desert, but more like the boardroom of an old law firm somewhere in New York or Chicago. He thought again of the small motel he and Annie had stayed in the first time they were in Palm Springs. It was simple, like his life then. He could see the small pool, the lounge chairs, Annie. He shook his head to clear his mind. He needed to think about the hotel he was at now. Annie was here.
Grant was sure that the Ritz was not a new experience for Rex, but Rex wouldn’t notice things like the interior, the manicured grounds outside. Usually Rex would only be looking for his next adventure. Although, perhaps his recent brush with the law had siphoned some of the swagger out of him. Grant certainly hoped so. He glanced at Isobelle, and his thoughts shifted. He admired the way the darkness of the wood perfectly framed Isobelle’s olive-brown skin, with her white, starched shirt.
“Are you listening to me?” Rex asked.
“Not usually, if I can help it,” Grant said without looking at Rex.
Isobelle returned from the other end of the bar, bringing a drink for Rex. “Here you are,” Isobelle said.
“I wanna meet ’em,” Rex said quickly.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is. I can’t sit here and waste my time with this goober all day. If I go down there, will you introduce me?”
“Of course.”
“And … ”
“And what?”
“And you will keep my friend here company while I go talk to the lovely ladies at the other end? Not that you’re not lovely, too.”
“Of course,” Isobelle smiled.
“See why I picked this hotel? They even provide baby sitters. What about those two over in the corner?” Rex asked, looking at the man and the woman in sunglasses.
“What about them?”
“Do you know them?”
“No, I do not, why do you ask?”
“They just look out of place, don’t you think?”
“That is hard to say. It is a resort hotel. We get all kinds of people in here. Like you, for instance,” Isobelle said, still smiling.
“Are they watching me?” Rex asked.
“They are wearing sunglasses. I cannot tell where they are looking. Why might they be looking at you?”
“Long story.”
Grant watched Isobelle as she was talking with Rex. Seeing Annie again made him feel great, in spite of how his body felt from the car wreck. Before, when he had been en route, still uncertain if Annie was even going to show up at all, he hadn’t been at all sure how he would feel, but he found it an energizing experience. His attempts at amity with other women had all gone badly, or had not gone anywhere at all. It always came back to their comparison with Annie, which always fell short. Trouble was, he was still in love with her, which he had hoped was not the case.
He had been all this time trying to put his feelings behind him, trying to forget what had happened, trying to get on with his life, miserable as it was. Seeing her walk into the bar today made all his aches disappear. Her tanned skin, her fit body, her smile that would make you forget where you were, what you were doing. Her shiny blonde hair invited you out in the sun, to be where she had been. Her blue eyes told you everything was going to be all right. The thought that he might be seeing her for the last time just made him lonelier. Now, he had to deal with his feelings for Annie all over again. He had to move on.
Talking with Rex again was a help. Even though Rex could be difficult at times, he still brought back a lot of memories, some of which he had been trying to suppress, or dislodge completely, but it was refreshing to have them brought to the surface of his mind. Grant kept his gaze on Isobelle.
“Listen, I’m going to have one more drink with you, and then I’m going to go see if those ladies at the other end of the bar want to fight over me.”
“They probably want to fight with you. Why wait?” Isobelle said.
“Hey, are you getting any of this?” Rex said, looking at Grant.
“What?” Grant asked.
“Still not the bright one. You’d still be moping around whatever shithole you are living in now if it weren’t for me. You certainly wouldn’t have a shot at a couple of good looking women sitting there alone at your place, now would you?” Rex asked.
“My place isn’t a shithole, you’ve never been there, you wouldn’t know.”
“That’s not the point. The point is, you would be doing nothing, like always.”
“You don’t know what I’m doing,” Grant said.
“I know what you’re doing now, and you wouldn’t be here at all if I hadn’t put this thing together.”
“You
