He raised his voice and waved his left hand. “Sean!”
The bartender turned and at first seemed to make a face. But then he grabbed a cocktail napkin and started coming toward them.
He put the napkin in front of the blonde.
Bayer said, “What would you like—”
“Mary,” she said.
“A Bloody Mary?” Bayer said.
“No, silly.” She giggled, and showed a bit of her crooked teeth. “My name is Mary. Mary Callahan. I’ll have”—she looked at his martini—“oh, I guess I’ll have one of those.”
The bartender said, “A Beefeater’s martini coming up,” and turned away.
“Oh?” she said excitedly to Bayer. “Is that gin?”
“Is that okay?” Bayer asked.
“I guess. You like yours, right?”
He nodded. “Want to try it before you get yours?”
“Do you mind?” She smiled.
He slid the glass over in front of her and she slowly put it to her lips and took a tiny sip.
Bayer saw that when she took the glass from her lips, there was red lipstick on the glass. He wondered how he could “accidentally” get that to his lips and see what it tasted like.
“Whew!” she said. “That’s strong—”
“You want to order something else?” he said and started to wave for the bartender.
“Oh, no,” she said, looking intently at him. “That’ll be just fine.”
Her eyes twinkle!
She put the glass back on the napkin and slid it back to him.
She offered her right hand and said, “Thank you—”
Bayer took her hand and shook it.
She repeated, “Thank you—”
“Oh, Kurt. It’s Kurt,” he replied. “And you’re very welcome, Mary.”
Bayer noticed how soft and warm her hand was—and that she made no effort to immediately pull it free after they had shaken.
Sean the bartender walked up with Mary’s martini and put it on the napkin before her.
She then, with a smile, removed her hand from Bayer’s and picked up the martini and gestured toward him.
“To new friends,” she said.
He met it with his and they clinked glasses.
“New friends,” he said, grinning.