He howled, quietly, so that nobody would hear through the glass of the phone booth, and then hung up. Back at the table, Phil Ketchum ordered another scotch and soda and told the boys that he might be coming in late the next morning. They all laughed.
Once or twice a week, Phil and Bunny played a variation of the game at a rendezvous. She would be out with the girls, and he would arrange to bump into her at some nightclub or at the flicks or, once, at the corner of Seventh and Fifty-third during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Four months had passed, but the game hadn’t lost its glamour or excitement, for she would delight in bringing him to the edge before retreating coyly. Once on the subway, she told Phil that she was wearing nothing under her skirt and managed to maneuver close enough in the packed car to let him discover the truth for himself. Another time at the library, she bit him so hard in the Anthropology section that he actually screamed in surprise and caused a security officer to investigate the trouble. They would meet and flirt seriously, and the next morning he would be hot and bothered, ready to burst.
Twice in the first months of the affair they nearly were found out. Rushing to her on an October morning, when everything was still new and dangerous, Phil bumped into Bunny’s husband in the lobby of their apartment building.
“Phil? Phil Ketchum?”
He had pulled down his hat, but he had no choice but to acknowledge him. “Jerry? As I live and breathe.”
“Why you old dog, I knew it was you the minute I saw you. What’s it been, five, six years? What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“How are you, old man? I had no idea you lived in this part of town.”
Jerry sized him up and then checked his watch. “I haven’t seen you since the wedding. Bunny and I moved down here from Morningside right after. There goes the neighborhood and all that. How are you, you old dog?”
“I’m just here meeting a friend of mine.”
“Who’s that?” Jerry asked. “We know everyone in the building.”
“Friend of mine,” Phil said. “Name of Meyers. Doesn’t actually live here, but comes down for a visit sometimes, if you know what I mean.”
He looked at his watch a second time, and then through the sidelights on the doorway he checked the traffic on the street. “I’m not following.”
“Sees a woman here, I think.”
Like a conspirator, Jerry leaned in close and whispered, “Not Natalie Hoffman?”
Shaking his head, Phil put a hand on Jerry’s shoulder. “You know me, old man, never kiss and tell, and I don’t rat out a pal.”
“Sure, Phil, I understand. Just thought, y’know, she’s the type, a real looker. And her husband’s kind of a schlub. Listen, I didn’t mean nothing by it.”
“No harm, no harm.” He frowned disapprovingly.
“I’m late to work,” he said. “But it’s good seeing you, and let’s get together sometime. Me and Bunny would be thrilled to have you and Claire over sometime for dinner or maybe drinks.”
“Sounds great, Jer.”
They shook hands. At the door, Jerry stopped and turned around. “Why don’t you stop in and say hello to Bunny, if you’ve got a minute. She’s up this morning, believe it or not, and she’d love to see you. We’re in 6B.”
“Maybe for a minute, Jer. And we’ll have to make a date for drinks.” He waved good-bye to his old friend, waited in the lobby for another five minutes, and then took the elevator to the sixth floor. They didn’t even make it as far as the bed, for he took her behind the closed door, still in her housecoat.
The second close call happened the week between Christmas and New Year’s. They had arranged to meet at a matinee showing of The Bridge on the River Kwai, and there in the dark, in the back of the balcony like a couple of teenagers, they stroked and petted and fumbled beneath the coats on their laps. Coming out of the theater in the late afternoon light, eyes still adjusting to the contrast, they ran into Claire’s younger sister Kate and her high school friends, on line for the following show.
“Philip!” Kate yelled above the crowd.
He removed his hand from the small of Bunny’s back and made his way across the sidewalk. She followed close behind, certain that she had been seen. In one smooth move, Phil reached down and kissed his sister-in-law on the cheek. “Happy New Year’s, Katie.”
“Imagine running into you here in the middle of the day. Sneaking out of work, are you?”
“You caught me. You won’t tell your sister on me, will you?”
Bunny took the initiative. “Kate Dawson, I would have never recognized you. Look how grown up you are!”
Given the level of enthusiasm, Kate pretended to remember the strange woman.
“I’m your sister’s old friend, Bunny. We went to high school together, Claire and I, and isn’t it a small world, but the one day I sneak out to the movies, who shows up in the same theater but Phil Ketchum. And now you …”