Page 60 of Landing Love

Pritchard put a hand on his arm as he started to rise. “Come on. Finish your drink,” he pleaded quietly. “I just need you to keep the other one company so she doesn’t feel left out. She already knows you’re married, so there’s nothing to worry about. Please?”

Reluctantly, Bill sat back down and took a sip of his drink while the ladies ordered their drinks. When the drinks arrived, Pritchard suggested they move to a booth. Bill found himself hemmed in between Pritchard and the bored looking friend of the woman Pritchard was interested in.

“What’s your name?” Bill asked, trying to make the whole situation feel a little less awkward.

“Norma. You?”

“Bill.” He took a drink. He was starting to feel a bit tipsy three quarters of the way through his second whiskey.

“How long have you been married, Bill?” she asked as if she didn’t care one bit what he answered.

“Just tied the knot this week,” he said.

“A newlywed, eh? Lucky you.” She tilted her drink one way and then another, watching it slosh back and forth. “My fiancé dumped me last month, and Helen has been trying to fix me up ever since. But somehow, I keep ending up with duds. No offense, mister.”

“None taken.” Ugh. Heartbroken, bitter, and disappointed. This was not how he wanted to spend his evening, and apparently the same was true of her.

She guzzled her drink and ordered another from a passing waiter. Bill finished the last sip of his and wracked his brain for a graceful excuse to leave.

“O’Donnell here sings like an angel,” Pritchard said to Helen. “Sing us something O’Donnell.”

Pritchard was on whiskey number four already, and the ladies seemed to be keeping pace. Norma, in particular, seemed to be getting drunk with singular determination, casting annoyed glances at her friend and sighing and shaking her head at Bill.

“Come on, O’Donnell. Sing for us,” Helen said swaying in her seat. “Let’s hear this angelic voice. Don’t you want to hear him sing, Norma?”

“Sure,” Norma pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Hemmed in, Bill gave in and quietly sang the chorus to “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.”

Helen sighed. Norma rolled her eyes. Pritchard clapped and laughed.

“Bravo, bravo.” Ernie clapped loudly then elbowed him in his side.

“I should really be going, Pritchard.” Enough was enough. Bill wasn’t trying to be polite about it anymore.

“No, don’t go,” protested Pritchard and Helen. Norma just gazed drunkenly into the middle distance but didn’t move to let him out.

“Stay. Just one more drink and we call it a night, eh?” said Pritchard, a pleading look in in his eye.

Bill rolled his eyes. “Fine. One last drink and then I leave.” He had no intention of drinking his drink, but he let Pritchard order one as he caught a waiter to get another round for the table. Ann would be appalled if she saw him right now.

Norma passed out against him after finishing her drink in record time. Pritchard and Helen were necking now. Bill let his face fall in his hands. How had he ever enjoyed going out with his friends like this? And yet he’d spent countless evenings similarly engaged, pointlessly hoping that one of the girls he met might turn out to be the one.

When Pritchard came up for breath, Bill elbowed him in the side and nodded his head toward Norma, slumped against his side and snoring quietly.

“Helen, what do you say we get out of here?” Pritchard asked, nodding at Norma. “We can drop off your friend at home and then see where the night takes us.”

“Golly, that sounds great.” She draped herself across Pritchard’s shoulders and nibbling on his ear.

Bill hoisted up a stumbling Norma and walked her out to a cab. The four of them squeezed into the back.

Helen gave an address, giving Pritchard an unnecessarily long explanation for how Norma ended up her roommate. Bill couldn’t have cared less. He just wanted out of here.

Norma’s head rested on his shoulder like a deadweight. When they arrived, Bill maneuvered her into the apartment and onto the sofa and then left as quickly as he could. Pritchard and Helen were so wrapped up in each other, they hardly noticed him leaving.

In his hotel at last, he stripped off his clothes, which stank of booze and cigarettes, and took a bath.

Never again, he swore to himself as he turned out the light and went to bed, thinking of Ann.