Hughson didn’t worry a lot. He made sympathetic noises. “You’re not taking Mardi with you?” he said anxiously. “She an’ I are gettin’ on well together.”
I moved a little closer so that I could hear.
Curtis looked down at Mardi. “I’ll take you home first,” he said, “or do you want to stay? I’m damn sorry about this….”
She shook her head. “I’ll stay. You go on. Maybe you can come back.”
He hesitated. I could see he didn’t want to go and he was sore as hell.
Hughson put in: “I’ll see her back. You don’t have to worry.”
“All right, I’ll see you to-morrow,” Curtis said to Mardi.
He went out of the door quickly, not bothering to say good-bye to any of the others. That’s the sort of guy Curtis was. No one was of any interest to him unless he was sure that he was going to get something out of them.
Mardi said to Hughson: “I’d love a gin-and-lime.”
“Sure, I’ll fix you one. Just wait a moment. I won’t be long,” kidding himself that she was going into mourning until he came back.