out front.” She smiled and winked at me as she left for the ladies room.
I watched her go, suddenly worried about the time delay. I had not anticipated a bathroom break. I watched Liz take a place in line at the women’s “lounge” and started to panic.
I went for the coats. As I handed the claim tickets to the short lady behind the counter, I felt an arm reach around me from behind. My heart stopped. I knew without looking. I could smell her. I turned and pulled back, but she was up against me, obviously drunk, with her hand on my chest.
“So what are you doing after you drop her off?” Morgan giggled, looking up at me, her eyes glassy from cocktails and wine.
“Are you fucking crazy?” My voice was filled with surprise, shock, outrage. I tried to back up but was already against the counter.
“What? I’m leaving town on Sunday, you’ll be safe. Christ, she really makes you uptight, doesn’t she?”
Trapped, my eyes scanned the wide, crowded hallway. The lady returned with the coats and I clutched them, desperate to make an escape. “Will you please not do this?”
Morgan giggled, her face close to mine, breathing up at me. “Jeez, since when did you become such a stick in the mud?” She patted me on the chest with one hand and reached down with the other and brushed her fingers quickly and discreetly between my legs. “Aren’t we going to celebrate our job offers? I know you know how to celebrate.”
I tried to push past her and stopped cold. Liz was there, only a few feet away, standing and watching and listening. How much of it had she seen and heard? Morgan turned and smiled, embarrassed for Liz, a condescending empathy in her eyes. I was nothing but an object in the world to her. Something to be toyed with when it suited her and then tossed aside.
I could see it about to happen and then happening. There it was, the moment I’d been dreading, playing out right in front of me and I was helpless to do anything but watch. Liz’s eyes went back and forth, from Morgan to me. The recognition slowly crept into her face and eyes. She was shocked, stunned, confused, and angry all at once. She started to speak, made only a soft grunting sound, and then slowly shook her head and turned around, accelerating as she walked.
Morgan looked at me, smiling and almost laughing. “Man, she really looks pissed.” I wanted to hit her, to punch her right in the face and knock her out, but I started to go after Liz instead. Morgan caught my arm as I turned. “What are you going to do? Chase after her like a buffoon? Do you think this is a fuckin’ movie or something? Let her go, before you embarrass yourself in front of everybody.”
I pulled my arm free and went out through the crowd.
Liz had already ordered a cab. She stood with her arms folded across her chest as the doorman blew his whistle and waved. I came up beside her.
“Liz, c’mon, it’s not like that.” I reached out for her, but she moved her shoulder and shuffled away from me. “Liz,” I said again, softly. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say after that. She turned and looked at me. Her face quivered. Her eyes watered at the edges.
“Can you not embarrass me any more than you already have?”
I started to speak and she cut me short, putting her hand on her forehead and shielding her eyes. “Please!” She wiped her face and looked at me coldly. “Please. Just shut up and don’t make a scene. You’ve done enough already.”
“Liz. You’ve got the wrong idea. I just—” I hesitated. I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t make my voice sound like I believed anything I was saying, let alone like it was the truth. All I could manage was, “It’s not what you think.”
“Fuck you.” She turned to me and snatched her jacket from my hand as the cab pulled up behind her. “You fucking bring me here. In front of all of these people. Everyone knows. Everyone’s looking at me thinking what a fucking fool I am, feeling sorry for me.” She was crying now. She was angry but trying not to scream at me. The doorman held the cab door open for her and pretended not to hear.
“Liz, it’s not like that.” I held my arms