two of you.”
Jumping right in as if it had been rehearsed, Callie said, “You look like his mother.”
“What?”
“Where are you from?” Callie said. “Really, you could be her sister.”
“I’m from Seattle,” she said. “And you?”
“Atlanta,” Callie said. “By the way, I’m Julie. This is Joe.”
“Nice to meet you, Julie and Joe, I’m Mildred.” She pointed to an older man who was watching us from a distance. “That’s my husband. He’s also a Joe.”
“A good man, I’m sure,” I said, “judging strictly by the name.”
Mildred laughed.
“Now you two scrunch in together and smile,” Callie said.
She pointed my cell phone at us and snapped a picture. Afterward, we walked Mildred back to her husband. We all shook hands.
“We just saw “O” at the Bellagio,” Callie said. “Have you guys ever seen it?”
“We have,” Joe said.
“About two years ago,” Mildred added.
“Did you love it?” Callie said.
They agreed it was remarkable. Then we told Joe how Mildred looked just like my mother. He asked if we knew anyone in Seattle and I told him I knew a fire chief from Montclair, New Jersey, named Blaunert who had plans to retire on Portage Bay.
“That’s a beautiful spot,” Joe said.
We wrapped up our conversation. On the way back to our table I flagged down our waiter and asked him to deliver a bottle of champagne to Joe and Mildred. Then we took our seats and looked at each other.
“Well,
“You were great back there, by the way.”
“Whatever. It’s not my first rodeo. So,” she said, “will you talk to Darwin for me?”
“I think not,” I said. “He’ll want to know why I’m asking, and believe me, he’ll find out. When he does, he’ll end your affair with a bullet. So if you want to keep this going—and you obviously do—you can’t let Darwin know you’re involved with her. By the way,” I added, “how were you able to keep the affair going without Chavez finding out?”
“Easier than you might think. Remember, he’s following Eva. Since I know where she’s going before he does, I’m already there.”
“So if Eva’s going to a party at someone’s house you’re already there?”
“A better example is when she goes out of town to visit her parents, and stays at a hotel room that happens to adjoin mine.”
I thought about the logistics of Callie falling for her, approaching her, wooing her, the time involved to build this type of relationship.
“You couldn’t have set this up after you passed her off to Chavez,” I said.
Callie said nothing.
“This had to have started years ago, when you were guarding her.”
Callie remained silent.
