Bob broke into frantic activity, showering and dressing, selecting his clothes carefully, frantically trying to find where Carol kept his ironed shirts, getting completely dressed and standing in front of a mirror he decides he must shower again.
His mind runs hysterically over figures and he trembles, realizing how much money he can make if he plays his cards right. Thank God, for once, that Carol was away. For once, that mother-in-law of his did something right. With Carol out of the way, he could concentrate and wouldn't it be something to show her when she came home, a signed application from Leo McKern!
He soaped himself in the shower and fought for control. He was going to have to feel McKern out, to win his confidence. He was going to have to be cool and levelheaded. Above all, he must act the part of a young account executive and be levelheaded. He must give Leo McKern the idea that he was used to dealing in big numbers.
Getting dressed, he looked in the mirror and said, "Who am I kidding? My wife works for him. I'm such a success, why is my wife working for him?"
And he felt frightened ad paced the floor and wondered if he wasn't in way over his head and he found himself taking off his clothes and stepping into the shower for the third time, calming down, telling himself as he put the aftershave lotion that after all, the man had asked for information. He would be polite and give him all the information he could.
He stepped out of the shower, dried, dressed, inspected his image carefully in a full length mirror and was satisfied and glanced at his watch to see that it was only seven thirty and the minutes were dragging by.
He forced himself to sit and smoke a cigarette and think of something else. He thought of Carol and of their marriage and how, if he got even one-fourth of Leo's account, how different their marriage would be.
Bob was making the sad mistake of thinking that money was going to change their marriage. If the truth were to be known, all was not well in the Hunnicutt household. In public they appeared as the almost ideal couple, laughing interesting and attractive: a young couple going places.
Yet, at home, in bed, all was not right. Bob got very aggressive whenever he drank and was crude and rough. Carol had grown up with the notion that a man was crude toward women he didn't respect and gentle and considerate toward the woman, the one woman that he loved.
Carol never was too clear to Bob exactly what she did want from Bob. What it always seemed to boil down to was an awkward climbing on top of her with the lights out and Bob out of his mind with desire and almost groaning with the pent-up desire tensing his muscles until they were rock hard.
In fact, from Bob's viewpoint, the marriage was far from what he had thought marriage should be. He didn't like the way Carol out-earned him and he didn't like the skimpy costume his wife had to wear at work and he didn't like the idea of other men leering at his wife's figure and making leading remarks.
If Bob could be honest enough with himself, he would admit that watching his wife serving men in their cars only made him hot as hell, particularly when he knew they were flirting with Carol. That night, in bed, his desire would get the best of him and he would go too far and Carol would freeze up. "Bob, don't, it isn't nice to do things like that."
And he would fall away, groaning. No, in truth, marriage was far from what he expected. The insurance business wasn't what it was cracked up to be. It seemed that everybody had a cousin or relative or friend in the business and he hated having his wife out-earn him. There were some weeks when she out-earned him in tips. But now, tonight, all that might change!
Nervously, he looked at his watch and saw, with a sigh, that he had plenty of time. He lighted a cigarette and looked down at the ashtray, astonished to see that he had been chain smoking. He thought about eating but found he was too nervous to eat anything, all his appetite vanishing. He decided against having a drink on the basis that he wanted to be clear headed and have his wits about him. Too many drinks and he would be zonked and apt to say anything that came into his head. He had to be cool and careful.
Even though it was early, he drove to the Holiday Inn and parked in the parking lot, sitting in his car and smoking a cigarette as he glanced at his watch. It was still too early and one last cigarette could help to calm his nerves.
He thought that he was glad, in a way, that Carol was at her mothers. There were times when he resented Carol. She was cool and efficient and kept the apartment spotless, but she was all for Carol. Now she was with her mother being a terribly efficient good little girl. He could just see her smug face dissolve in astonishment when she came home and Bob threw bombs at her.
A long look at his watch and one long last drag on the cigarette before crushing it out and getting out of his car and walking across the lobby under the California stars, breathing in the cool air and straightening out his jacket. He was a trifle early yet felt he could stall in the lobby long enough and the fact that he was right on time, punctual, couldn't operate against him.
At precisely eight o'clock by the sweeping second hand, he was picking up the house phone and asking for Mr. Leo McKern.
"Halo? That you Bob?" The voice almost rasped in his ear and Bob could tell a few things from the tone in his voice. First of all, he had been having drinks; there was a slur and loud casualness that Bob detected from having cocktails with many a client. Also, there was music in the background.
"Yes, it's Bob Hunnicutt, sir."
"Come on up."
The ride up in the elevator and the walk down the ball with the Muzak playing all the time, seemed to take forever until he found himself ringing the doorbell of the room and have the door fly open and the huge shoulder hunched form of Leo McKern filled it. "What's this 'sir' stuff?" he bellowed, jugging a drink and cigar from one hand to the other and holding out his right band like a catcher's mitt and giving Bob a bone-breaking grip. "The name's Leo to everybody, get it?"
Bob tried not to wince and he smiled, liking Leo even if he did come on a little too strong. There are men like that, men that took life in large gulps and Leo was one of them. "Right, Leo," he said as he tried to grip back as they shook hands.
Leo laughed, the laughter rumbling up from his chest and he threw a big arm around Bob's shoulders as he stepped aside and drew Bob into the room, waving toward the couch with his glass and cigar. "Wantcha to meet my wife, Mona. Mona, this is Bob Hunnicutt. He's married to my local manager." Leo gives his wife a broad wink that makes her laugh. "You know, the one I told you about."
Bob felt as if his face was flushing a bright red as he looked at Mrs. Leo McKern on the couch. It was almost as if she were posed. She sat with her arms spread carelessly along the back, allowing her breasts to thrust out. And it was her breasts that Bob couldn't take his eyes from. She was wearing a red dress of some clinging material and it was plain to see that she wasn't wearing anything underneath the dress! Her nipples were only too clearly out-lined by the snug material that seemed too thin.
Bob took in a breath and looked into the pale violet eyes of Mona McKern and stammered, "How do you do?"
"A pleasure to meet you, Bob," Mona purred with her eyelids drooping in a giddy, seductive way.
Leo looked at the two of them eyeing one another, his arm still around Bob and said, "Don't mind Mona, she's such a camp, always coming on strong. Have a seat and what will you have to drink?"
Bob found himself behaving like a robot, stumbling into a seat and saying, "What? Hub? Oh, I'll have a Scotch," as he noticed that Mona was sitting with her legs curled underneath her and that her knees were exposed along with a long swoop of her thigh. Her knees looked good, bent that way. He sat back and smiled at Mona as Leo turned his back to the bar and he allowed his eyes to take in her body as she sat posed, never moving, seeming to say, here I am, look all you want. She smiled at him slowly and Bob felt a jerk in his pants thinking that he never had seen a woman smile more brazenly than that before. She shifted her hip and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Bob."