Garden of Eden (12 page)

Precisely,
said Monsieur Aurol.

They
left it at that and David finished his café creme and read the Miroir des
Sports and began to miss Catherine. He went into the room and found Far Away
and Long Ago and came out onto the terrace and settled himself in the sun by
the table out of the wind to read the lovely book. Catherine had sent to
Galignani's in Paris for the Dent edition for a present for him and when the
books had come they had made him feel truly rich. The figures in his bank
balances, the franc and dollar accounts, had, ever since Grau du Roi, seemed
completely unreal and he had never con sidered them as actual money. But the
books of W. H. Hudson had made him feel rich and when he told Catherine this
she was very pleased. After he had read an hour he started to miss Catherine
very badly and he found the boy who served at table and asked him to bring a
whiskey and Perrier. Later he had another. It was well past lunch when he heard
the car come up the hill. They came along the walk and he heard their voices.
They were excited and happy, then the girl was suddenly silent, and Catherine
said, "Look who I brought to see you. "Please, I know I should not have
come," the girl said. It was the dark handsome one of the two they had met
at the cafe yesterday; the one who blushed. "How are you?" David
said. She had evidently been to the coiffeur's and her hair had been cropped
short the way Catherine's had been at Biarritz. "I see you found the
place." The girl blushed and looked at Catherine for courage. "Look
at her," Catherine said. "Go muss her head up." "Oh
Catherine," the girl said. Then she said to David, "You can if you want."
"Don't be frightened," he said. "What do you think you've got
into?"

"I
don't know," she said. "I'm just so happy to be here." 'Where
have you two been?" David asked Catherine. "Jean's of course. Then we
just stopped and had a drink and I asked Marita if she'd come to lunch. Aren't
you glad to see us?"' "I'm delighted. Will you have another
drink?" "Would you make martinis?" Catherine asked. "One
won't hurt you," she said to the girl. "No please. I have to
drive." "Do you want a sherry?" "No please."

David
went behind the bar and found glasses and some ice and made two martinis.
"I'll taste yours if I may," the girl said to him. "You're not
afraid of him now are you?" Catherine asked her. "Not at all,"
the girl said. She blushed again. "It tastes very good but terribly
strong. "They are strong," David said. "But there's a strong
wind today and we drink according to the wind." "Oh," said the
girl. "Do all Americans do that?" "Only the oldest
families," Catherine said. "Us, the Morgans, the Woolworths, the
Jelkses, the Jukeses. You know." "It's rugged in the blizzards and in
hurricane months," David said. "Sometimes I wonder if we'll get
through the autumnal equinox." "I'd like to have one sometime when I
didn't have to drive," the girl said. "You don't have to drink because
we do," Catherine said. "And don't mind that we make jokes all the
time. Look at her David. Aren't you glad I brought her?" "I love it
that you make jokes," the girl said. "You must forgive me that I'm so
happy to be here." "You were nice to come," David said. When
they were at lunch in the dining room out of the wind, David asked, "What
about your friend Nina?" "She's gone away. "She was
handsome," David said. "Yes. We had a very big fight and she went
away. "She was a bitch," Catherine said. "But then I think
almost everyone is a bitch." "Usually they are," the girl said.
"I always hope not but they are. "I know plenty of women who aren't
bitches," David said. "Yes. You would," the girl said.

"Was
Nina happy?" Catherine asked.

"I
hope she will be happy," the girl said. "Happiness in intelligent
people is the rarest thing I know."

"You
haven't had such a long time to find out about it.

"If
you make mistakes you find out faster," the girl said.

'You've
been happy all morning," Catherine said. "We had a wonderful
time."

"You
don't need to tell me," the girl said. "And I'm happier now than I
can remember ever."

Later,
over salad David asked the girl, "Are you staying far from here along the
coast?"

"I
don't think I'm staying."

"Really?
That's too bad," he said and felt the tension come to the table and draw
taut as a hawser. He looked from the girl with her eyelashes down so they
touched her cheeks to Catherine and she looked at him very straight and said,
"She was going back to Paris and I said why not stay here if Aurol has a
room? Come on up to lunch and see if David likes you and if you like the place.
David do you like her?"

"It's
not a club," David said. "It's a hotel." Catherine looked away
and he moved fast to help her, going on as though it had not been stated.
"We like you very much and I'm sure Aurol has room. He should be delighted
to have someone else here."

The
girl sat at the table with her eyes down. "I think I'd better not."

"Please
stay a few days," Catherine said. "David and I would both love to
have you. I've no one here to keep me company while he works. We'd have good
times the way we did this morning. Tell her David."

The
hell with her, David thought. Fuck her.

"Don't
be silly," he said. "Call Monsieur Aurol please," he told the boy
who served. "We'll find out about a room.

'You
won't mind truly?" the girl asked.

"We
wouldn't have asked you if we minded," David said. "We like you and
you're very decorative." "I'll be useful if I can," the girl
said. "I hope I'll find out how to be." "Be happy the way you
were when you came in," David told her. "That's useful." "I
am now," the girl said. "I wish I'd taken the martini now that I
don't have to drive." "You can have one tonight," Catherine
said.

"That
will be lovely. Can we go and see the rooms now and get it over with?"

David
had driven her down to retrieve the big old Isotta convertible and her bags
from where the car had been parked in front of the cafe in Cannes. On the way
she said, "Your wife is wonderful and I'm in love with her." She was
sitting beside him and David did not look to see if she blushed. "I'm in
love with her too," he said. "I'm in love with you also," she
said. "Is that all right?" He dropped his arm and closed his hand on
her shoulder and she leaned close against him. "We'll have to see about
that," he said. "I'm glad I'm smaller." "Smaller than
who?" "Catherine," she said. "That's a hell of a thing to
say," he said. "I mean I thought you might like someone of my size.
Or do you only care for tall girls?" "Catherine's not a tall
girl." "Of course not. I only meant that I was not as tall."
"Yes and you're very dark too."

"Yes.
We'll look well together."

"Who
will?"

"Catherine
and I and you and I."

"We'll
have to."

"What
does that mean?"

"I
mean we can't escape looking well together can we, if we look well and we are
together?"

'We're
together now.

"No."
He was driving with only one hand on the wheel, leaning back and looking up the
road ahead at the juncture with the N.7. She had put her hand on him.
"We're just riding in the same car," he said.

"But
I can feel that you like me.

"Yes.
I'm very reliable that way but it doesn't mean a thing."

"It
does mean something."

"Just
what it says."

"It's
a very nice thing to say," she said and did not say anything more nor take
her hand away until they had turned at the Boulevard and pulled up behind the
old Isotta Fraschini parked in front of the cafe under the old trees. Then she
had smiled at him and got out of the small blue car.

Now,
at the hotel in the pines that were still being blown by the wind, David and
Catherine were alone in their room after she finally came in from settling the
girl in the two rooms that she had taken.

"I
think she'll be comfortable," Catherine said. "Of course the best
room beside our own is the one at the far end where you work."

"And
I'm going to keep it," David said. "I'm going damn well and I won't
change my work room for an imported bitch!"

'Why
are you being so violent?" Catherine said. "No one asked you to give
it up. I just said it was the best. But the two next door to it work out very
well."

"Who
is this girl anyway?"

"Don't
be so violent. She's a nice girl and I like her. I know it was unforgivable to
bring her up without speaking to you and I'm sorry. But I did it and it's done.
I thought you'd like to have someone pleasant and attractive for me to have as
a friend to go around with while you're working."

"I
do if you want someone.

"I
didn't want someone. I just ran into someone that I liked and thought you would
like and it would be pleasant for her to be here for a little while."

"But
who is she?"

"I
haven't examined her papers. You interrogate her if you need to."

"Well,
she's decorative at least. But whose girl is she?"

"Don't
be rough. She's nobody's."

"Tell
me straight."

"All
right. She's in love with us both unless I'm crazy.

"You're
not crazy.

"Not
yet maybe."

"So
what's the drill?"

"I
wouldn't know," Catherine said.

"I
wouldn't either."

"It's
sort of strange and fun."

"I
wouldn't know," David said. "Do you want to go to swim? We missed it
yesterday."

"Let's
swim. Should we ask her? It would only be polite."

'We'd
have to wear suits."

"It
wouldn't matter with this wind. It's no day to be on the sand to tan."

"I
hate to wear suits with you."

"Me
too. But maybe tomorrow the wind will be over."

Then
on the Estérel road with David driving the big old Isotta, feeling and
condemning the too sudden brakes and finding how badly the motor needed to be
worked over, the three of them sat together and Catherine said, "There are
two or three different coves where we swim without suits when we're alone.
That's the only way to get really dark." "It's not a good day to
tan," David said. "It's too windy." "We can swim though
without suits if you like," Catherine said to the girl. "If David
doesn't mind. It might be fun." "I'd love to," the girl said. "Do
you mind?" she asked David.

In
the evening David made martinis and the girl said, "Is everything always
as wonderful as it has been today?" "It's been a pleasant day,"
David said. Catherine had not yet come out from their room and he and the girl
were sitting in front of the small bar M. Aurol had installed the previous
winter in the corner of the big Provencal room. 'When I drink I want to say
things I should never say," the girl said. "Then don't say
them." "Then what's the use of drinking?" "It isn't these.
You've only had one." "Were you embarrassed when we swam?"
"No. Should I have been?" "No," she said. "I loved to
see you. "That's good," he said. "How's the martini?"
"It's very strong but I like it. Did you and Catherine never swim before
like that with anyone?" "No. Why should we?" "I'll get really
brown." "I'm sure you will." 'Would you rather I was not so
deeply brown?" "You're a nice color. Get that color all over if you
like." "I thought perhaps you'd like one of your girls lighter than
the other."