Chapter 12
Gil hit the Interstate Four exchange and accelerated the VW into the traffic stream. They sped over Orlando proper at 55 miles an hour. Traffic was moderate at mid-afternoon on a Saturday. Tampa, thanks to the new four-lane road, was just three to four hours of comfortable driving away.
Susan adjusted her seat-belt, lit a cigarette and looked down on the busy streets of the town. Soon they were in open country, so swiftly did the new road carry them past traffic which once would have cost them an hour or more. They were going to meet the Radfords, and Susan was still doubtful about it.
She had finally given in to Gil at one o'clock when he came home, announced that he had closed the store for the day and started once again on the line that it was only common courtesy to keep the engagement.
She sighed, shrugged, said, "All right."
She wore the simple black dress she had bought while working with Lucia but took no pleasure in wearing it. It seemed almost vile to be wearing the new dress for the first time to a rendezvous with a pair of libertines who were thinking about getting the Emorys, separately or together, into bed with them.
Gil turned on the radio and smooth music filled the small car, drowning out traffic sounds, the whip of the wind past the windows. There was little talk between them.
Gil had promised her they would do nothing more than have dinner with Paul and Una Radford. She herself doubted the Radfords would show up. She felt the whole thing was a hoax, that they would go into the South Seas House, ask for Paul Radford and get nothing more than a blank stare.
To guard against that, Gil cashed a check. They would at least be able to have dinner if the Radfords weren't there, so the long drive would not be completely wasted.
Since neither of them had been to Tampa since the big new highways were built, Gil got lost trying to find Hillsboro Avenue. He said it was a good thing they had allowed a time margin. Susan didn't care. He tried to cheer her up, tried to get her to look on the coming evening as an adventure, an interesting excursion into an area of human behavior unfamiliar to them. Susan said that she wasn't really interested in people who placed ads advertising for wife swapping partners.
Gil finally found the South Seas House. It was impressive, very expensive looking.
"Let's hope they're there," Gil said. "Our little bankroll might not be enough for napkins and water."
"We can always go get a hamburger at a drive-in and go to a movie," Susan said.
"After coming this far, I'm going to see if those cats are for real," Gil said.
It was past eight when Gil pulled into the parking lot at the South Seas House. A girl in a grass skirt met them just inside the door.
"We're looking for a Mr. Paul Radford," Gil said. "He's expecting us."
The girl consulted a chart. "Oh, yes," she said, in a very non-South Seas accent. "This way, please."
Susan's heart beat rapidly. She had been hoping the Radford's invitation was a joke. Gil followed the grass skirt across a large area, past a secluded bar, up three steps and into a dining area with a view of the water. Susan walked behind Gil, straight, proud, hiding her unease. She was a target for male eyes. Her black sheath fitted her tightly.
She felt the attention and tried to walk without her usual hip-swaying movement. She felt self-conscious and unnatural. She took a deep breath, thought to hell with feeling embarrassed, and swung after Gil, very feminine, her hair gleaming in the subdued lights, her eyes on Gil's back.
"Ah, there you are!" It was Paul Radford, rising from a table near the huge windows.
Susan recognized him immediately from his picture. She decided that he looked younger in person. His dark hair was curled close against his head, but on him it looked good. He kept it cut short enough to avoid any taint of effeminacy. He looked very masculine.
"Gil!" Radford extended his hand. "Glad you could come." So far it was like a business meeting or something.
Radford turned his attention to Susan. She saw smiling blue eyes, a firm, well-formed mouth with lips that held a promise of sensuality. It was a pleasant face. He had good white teeth.
"Susan!" he said, caressing her name, making it sound lovely. "You're as beautiful as your picture."
"This must be Una," said Gil.
The blonde Una smiled blazingly and extended her hand over the table without rising. Gil took her hand and Susan saw long, tapered fingers with perfect nails close and squeeze Gil's hand.
"It's good to meet you, Susan," Una said.
"Sit down, sit down!" Radford said, laughing good naturedly. "I've ordered for all of us, if you have no objections."
"We trust your judgment," Gil said.
Susan settled into a comfortable chair. She looked again at Paul Radford. There was something fascinating about him. He had perfect ease of manner, along with good looks. His suit was of excellent material, probably hand-tailored, much more expensive than Gil's charcoal-grey.
A waitress in a grass skirt, obviously cued in advance by Radford, brought exotic drinks on a large tray. The drink was mixed in a pineapple.
"To the four of us!" Paul Radford said.
Susan sampled the mixture through straws stuck in the top of the pineapple. It was sweet, beefed up underneath by liberal quantities of rum.
She thought, well, what the hell!
She needed something to help her get through this evening. She wondered how long it would take the Radfords to bring the conversation around to sex. When they did, if Gil didn't speak up she would. Look, she'd say, you're pretty people and all that, but I don't like the name of the game.
"Did you have a pleasant drive down, Gil?" Una Radford asked. The seating was arranged so that Una was next to Gil, while Susan's chair was closer to Paul. Una's question set the mood for a while. Meaningless chatter-no personal questions-dull conversation about the drive to Tampa, about Tampa's mushroom growth, about the differences in weather between Orlando and Miami. Susan joined in politely, working on her drink, which seemed to be bottomless.
"I must warn you," Paul said to her. "This thing has hidden fangs. It's designed to make strong men weak."
"It's good," Susan said, not willing to exchange repartee with Radford. She didn't want to become too friendly with them, to give them ideas.
Waitresses brought food. The small table was filled with appetizers, and they were only preliminaries to the main event. Susan tried tasty bits of pork, of fish, of things she didn't recognize. Her appetite had dulled by the time the entree arrived, and she didn't eat much. Una and Gil were talking between themselves in low voices. Now and then Susan could hear. They were exchanging likes and dislikes, like two young people out on a date.
Radford, as if sensing Susan's reserve, was polite. When he spoke it was pertinent, terse, sometimes quite witty. Susan couldn't help but like him. In spite of the aura of unreality about the whole affair, Paul Radford was a civilized man.
She could hardly believe that the meeting had been arranged through an ad in a tabloid" paper. She couldn't picture Paul Radford posing his wife in the nude for sexy pictures. He seemed to be several cuts above the ordinary, well mannered, cultivated. She began to talk with him, was amazed to find out how easy it was. It was much later that she realized that she was talking with great animation, laughing, enunciating each word carefully to cover the fact that she was beginning to feel the potent drinks.
When Radford suggested they move the party to the bar, she went without protest. The meal had been delicious. She felt fine. She had put the dirty implications of the evening out of her mind and was simply enjoying the company of two interesting people in luxurious surroundings.
She let Radford take her arm. When they were seated at the bar, she was next to Paul with Una on her left and Gil beyond Una. Radford ordered drinks. Hers was a pleasant concoction which tasted as harmless as fruit punch. She liked the place. She thought the Radfords were very pleasant.
"Gil," she called, leaning in front of Una. "It's a long drive back to Orlando, doll. Don't you think we should start thinking about leaving?"
"Leaving?" Una was aghast. "I thought you were staying the night with us."
"We've rented a very comfortable place," Paul said softly. "It's on the bay. There's a beautiful view, and we've stocked the bar well. We can move the party there. There's more than enough room for you two if you see fit to spend the night."
Susan squinted meaningfully at Gil, saying mentally, Get me out of here I
"I wish we could," Gil said, "but-"
"It's much too far to drive to Orlando tonight," Una said with finality. "We wouldn't think of letting you go out on the road in this condition." She patted Gil's cheek playfully. "You're getting twittered, darling."
"Don't I know it!"
"A shame to let the apartment go to waste," Paul Radford said.
"You see," Susan said, looking daggers at Gil, "we promised Gil's mother to be back tonight.
She's quite old, and she worries about her little boy."
"Oh?" Paul looked at Susan. He smiled. "At least come see the place. If you feel that you must drive back tonight, we'll fortify you with black coffee and see you off." He put his hand lightly on Susan's arm. "We don't want to lose two very attractive new friends."
"I don't think-" Susan began.
Gil said loudly, "We'll stop by for a bite. That coffee sounds like a winner."
Radford was a smooth operator. He manipulated Susan into his car before she had a chance to protest. It was a new Continental, huge and very plush. It smelled of luxury. Susan thought it amusing to think of Una, used to such roominess, trying to climb into the little Volkswagen with Gil. To break the silence as Paul maneuvered the car into traffic, she voiced her thoughts about the difference in the two automobiles.
"Una will manage," Paul laughed. "She's quite adaptable."
He drove a few blocks in silence. "Una is a remarkable woman. I think you'll like her very much."
"I'm sure I will," Susan said.
"I consider myself very fortunate to have found a girl like Una," Radford went on. "I don't deserve her. She's very understanding, very mature. She's intensely loyal. She has become so much a part of me that I can't believe my fortune."
It puzzled Susan. Why was he giving her a hard sell on Una? Was this supposed to be a wife swapping gig or a mating of likes?
"Una is one in a million," Radford said. "We understand each other perfectly. I love her beyond reason."
Why, then, was he trying to set up a deal? She began to suspect that perhaps Una Radford wasn't interested in Gil.
"I'm telling you this so that you'll understand about us," Radford went on. "I was very much alone until I met Una. I couldn't believe, at first, that there was another person in the world who could see things as I see them. The more we came to know each other, the more we knew we were made for each other. We wanted the same things out of life, the good things."
"Oh?" Susan was beginning to doubt her analysis now. She wasn't sure just what Radford was saying.
"It may be very egotistical of us," Paul said, "but we consider ourselves somewhat special. We like to think of ourselves as being two of the very few really free people in the world, free of set ideas, set morality-"
"I see," said Susan, beginning to believe that she really did understand what he was getting at.
"We think it takes a special breed of people to reach for the good things in life without being inhibited by custom and habit. That's why we find it so pleasant to discover a wonderful couple like you and Gil. I'm sure, having been with you this evening, that you and Gil are our kind of people."
Little do you know, buster! Susan thought.
Aloud she said, "I see," minking-now comes the pitch. Now he's going to say, let's choose up sides and go to bed.
His hand reached for hers, found it. "I'm sure we're all going to be very good friends, Susan. I must admit that I'm very much impressed by you-and by your husband."
Susan let her hand stay in his. To pull it away would be to admit she was not as sophisticated as the Radfords. He had done a very deft job of making it sound as if switching partners were the intelligent, sophisticated thing to do.
She was still under the spell of the expensive night club, the elegant surroundings, the urbanity of the Radfords. She knew she would have to tell Paul Radford and his sexy wife in no uncertain terms that Gil and Susan Emory were not their 'special kind of people."
For the moment, she remained silent.