The meeting plodded along. Louise rested her chin on the palm of her hand, the tips of her straight blond hair just reaching the table top. The participants flipped through the presentation, but Louise never opened her copy. At one point, she realized that she was holding a pen but couldn't remember what she had intended to do with it.
Antonio was Louise's first thought in the morning, but all of the thoughts that followed seemed confused and ambiguous. Had she misjudged his motives all this time? His communications had ended abruptly once he returned home to Montevideo. She assumed that it was because he wasn't interested. Was he hurt when he found out about Walter? If so, why didn't he confront her? Why let things go unresolved for so long?
As the meeting concluded, she rose and walked toward him. She stood and waited for him to finish a brief conversation and then approached.
"Hey, do you have a minute?"
"Yes," he answered softly. "I was just going back to my desk."
"I thought about what you told me last night."
"There's nothing to think about. It all happened long ago."
"Not that long!" she argued.
"True. But it doesn't bother me anymore. You're happy."
"Well, it bothers me that we never had a chance to talk about it."
"I understand," Antonio said softly. "And that's my fault."
"No, it's not anyone's fault." Louise paused for a moment. She wasn't sure exactly how to continue. "Do you think we could talk now?"
"I am a little busy now..."
"No, I don't mean here," she clarified. "Maybe we could get a drink sometime."
"You would want to do that?"
"I would like to talk about it."
"OK, then, when would you like to talk?"
"I'm free after work."
"You don't have to get home?"
"No, he's traveling," she confided. "He's coming back tomorrow."
"I guess Fitzgerald's is not an option," Antonio said with a wink.
She felt relieved at this glimpse of humor and began to smile. "Yeah, I don't want to come home smelling like beer and fried food."
"There is a trendy place called Blue," Antonio offered. "Have you been there?"
"Where is it?"
"It's in the lobby of my hotel."
"Maybe this wasn't a good idea..."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I wasn't thinking of it that way."
Antonio thought for a moment. "Have you been to Quebracho?"
"Que-what?"
"Quebracho. It's a new place. Argentine steakhouse. But they have a really nice bar."
"They don't play tango music there, do they?" Louise asked suspiciously.
"I think only on Sundays or Mondays," Antonio said. "Most of the time they play techno music."
"That seems odd."
"It's what Americans who drink like to listen to, I suppose. The guy just wants to stay in business."
--
Walter dialed Susan's phone. Her voice mail greeting sounded professional and, given the circumstances, annoyingly upbeat.
"Hi, you've reached Susan Chen! I'm sorry that I could not take your call at this time. Please leave your message, and I'll call you back!"
"Hey, Susan, it's Walter. I don't know if you saw my texts. I just wanted to make sure that you got back okay last night, and I wanted to wish you a good flight. I'll, uh, see you back in the office in a couple of days. Just give me a ring or send me a text to let me know you're all right. Okay? Okay. Um, talk to you soon."
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
