‘‘Ed,’’ Chesty Whittaker said to Bitter, ‘‘can I rely on you to get them home safely?’’
‘‘Yes, sir,’’ Bitter said. ‘‘And I’m sorry.’’
‘‘The two of you together are too explosive for your own good,’’ Chesty Whittaker said.
Then he followed Stanley S. Fine and Cynthia Chenowith out of the dining room.
‘‘As Jim’s guest, I know I’m not in a position to say this, but I will. The two of you were disgusting,’’ Bitter said.
‘‘Go with the good people, Edwin,’’ Canidy said. ‘‘I have all the self-righteousness I can take for one night.’’
‘‘I told Mr. Whittaker I would take care of you, and I will,’’ Bitter said.
Whittaker and Canidy looked at each other, and then, simultaneously, they both gave Bitter the finger.
‘‘Fuck you, Edwin!’’ they said in chorus. And laughed.
Bitter walked quickly after the others.
Whittaker caught the sommelier’s eye and ordered a bottle of cognac.
‘‘Nothing very elaborate, you understand, my friend and I are just junior officers, but something decent.’’
‘‘I have just the thing, Mr. Whittaker, a very nice, not very well known label, by the people who bottle Grand Marnier. ’’
‘‘That will do nicely,’’ Whittaker said.
When the cognac was delivered, he interrupted the waiter’s ritual pouring by taking the bottle away from him and filling the snifters well over half full.
‘‘I am going to miss you, Richard,’’ he said.
‘‘Me, too,’’ Canidy said.
‘‘Here’s to strays and orphans,’’ Whittaker said. ‘‘You and me and Fulmar, wherever good ol’ Eric may be.’’
They took a swallow of cognac.
‘‘Aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces,’’ Whittaker said.
‘‘Whatever you said,’’ Canidy said, and they took a second swallow.
‘‘Draft dodgers,’’ Whittaker said.
‘‘Especially good ol’ Eric, who is obviously smarter than you or me,’’ Canidy countered.
They drained the snifters with the third toast. Whittaker picked up the bottle and started to pour again.
Not looking at Canidy, and very softly, he said, ‘‘I used to wonder how I knew Chesty was bedding her. I never caught them, of course. But I knew.’’
Canidy looked at him but said nothing.
‘‘You realize, of course, Richard,’’ Whittaker asked, ‘‘that I am confiding in you only because I am confident you will get your ass shot off in China?’’
Canidy nodd
ed.
‘‘And then I knew how I knew,’’ he said. ‘‘Because I love her. And because I love him.’’