“Everything?” Archie asked.
“Well, not everything,” I said, reaching over and running my fingers through his hair. “But it makes me very happy to be on that stage, you know that.”
“I sure do,” he said. “But I think there are other things that could make you happy too.”
“Oh, really?”
Archie leaned in and kissed me. His soft lips on mine, his smooth, clean-shaven cheeks, the hint of his cologne, it made me forget everything else for a moment. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me toward him.
“You make me happy,” I said.
He began to unbutton my blouse, but there was a knock at the door.
“The oysters,” I said, giggling.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said, straightening himself up and tucking in his shirt. “Stay right where you are.”
I lay on the bed and listened as he opened the door. “Right herewill be fine, thank you,” Archie said. “Oh, and we’ll be needing two glasses sent up.”
“I see,” the waiter said. “I’ll send them right away.”
When Archie returned with a silver cart, a tower of oysters and an ice bucket, I told him about the way the staff had treated me in the Palm Court with my mother.
“They suggested that I was some kind of prostitute, staying in your suite while you were away,” I said. “Honestly, they were terribly rude, in front of my mother, too.”
“That’s terrible! We can’t have your reputation tarnished like that. I thought since I was away on business they would understand you were simply my guest, but I think I’ve been too greedy, wanting to spend so much time with you. Maybe I should get you a suite of your own.”
“No, I have my own apartment. I suppose I should stay there once in a while.”
“But darling,” he added as he opened his closet and took out a bottle of champagne from his stash and placed it on ice, “it’s unheard of for a woman to smoke at the Plaza.”
“How was I supposed to know? Where do you get that from, anyway?” I asked, nodding toward the bottle.
“From Europe via Canada via a guy named Eddie.”
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Not until it’s cold.”
“Just put some ice chips in mine, it will be fine.”
He shook his head. “That would be a sin, to put ice chips in Moët and Chandon. Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on this?”
I grabbed it from his hands, popped the cork to the ceiling and took a sip. “It’s not that difficult,” I said with a grin.
Archie threw up his arms in defeat, collapsed onto the bed next to me and took a swig from the bottle.
“Anyway, why is it unheard of for a woman to smoke here?”
“It just is, it’s the Plaza. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. And your poor mother.”
“Well, that wasn’t the only thing that disappointed my mother.”
“Go on.”
“The waiter let on that I’d been staying here, with you, and she was horrified.”
“Oh, Olive. Would it help if you introduced me, to show them that I’m a respectable gentleman?” he asked, continuing to unbutton my blouse.
