"It is always a pleasure to see you, Se¤ora," Lauffer said.
When Claudia stepped away from Clete, she was replaced by Alicia, who was dressed and made up almost identically to her mother. The only difference Clete could see was that instead of pearls she wore a golden cross on a chain around her neck.
"Oh, Clete, I'm so sorry," she said.
She kissed Clete somewhat wetly on the cheek and then, while hugging him, whispered, "Peter wants you to call him."
"OK," he said very softly, so that her sister, Isabela, who was approaching, could not hear him.
Isabela, two years older than Alicia, wore her black hair piled on top of her head. A diamond-and-emerald brooch was pinned to her black dress. She was tall, lithe, and finely featured. Isabela was even better looking than Alicia, Clete often thought, but unfortunately knew it.
She did not embrace Clete, and her kiss, he thought, was the sort of kiss a bitch like Isabela would give to an alligator when good manners required her to go through the motion.
"Cletus," she said.
"Isabela," he replied.
"Would you like something to eat
? Drink?" Claudia asked.
"Yes, I would," he said. "To drink."
"I'll ring," Alicia said.
"There's whiskey here," Claudia said. "In that cabinet. Whiskey, Clete? Capitan?"
"Please," Clete said.
Claudia went to a huge cabinet, which opened to reveal a complete bar.
"You'll have to ring," Claudia said. "There's no ice."
"Straight's fine," Clete said.
"Maybe for you," Claudia said. "Send for ice, Alicia." She looked at Clete. "I don't think I've ever seen you looking so elegant."
"I bought this to be my diplomat's uniform," he said.
"You will stay now? At your embassy, I mean?"
"I declined the appointment. But I will stay."
"Meaning what, Cletus?"
"I entered Argentina on my Argentine passport," he said. "I have, in a sense, come home."
"Oh, my!" Claudia said.
"Your Argentine passport?" Isabela said. "But you're a norteamericano."
"Isabela, I was born here," Clete said. "I'm as entitled to an Argentine pass-port as you are."
"I never heard of such a thing!" Isabela snorted.
"I'm sure there's a lot of things you haven't heard about," Clete said.
"Don't you two start!" Claudia said. "I couldn't stand that."