She took his hand and pulled him into the motel room.
Matt’s door buzzer sounded.He pushed the button that opened the door and went to the top of the stairs to wait for Amanda.
The doorway was filled with a rent-a-cop, a huge one Matt did not know.
“Sorry to bother you, Mr. Payne, but there’s a young lady here says you expect her.”
“Of course,” Matt said, and ran down the stairs.
“Thanks a lot,” Matt said to the rent-a cop.
“Hello,” Amanda said softly, and walked quickly past him and up the stairs. She was wearing a suit with a white blouse. He could smell soap.
He closed the door in the face of the rent-a-cop and went after Amanda, carefully averting his eyes so that she wouldn’t have any reason at all to suspect he was looking up her skirt as she went up the stairs.
She waited for him at the top of the stairs.
“You know what he thought, don’t you?” Amanda asked.
“No. What did he think?”
“He thought I was a call girl.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“I’m not being silly. He as much as accused me in the elevator. And why not? Who else would be going to a bachelor apartment at this hour?”
“A friend,” Matt said.
“God, I’m sorry I ever got started on this!”
“I’m not.”
“I meant it, Matt, when I said I’m here as a friend.”
“Absolutely. I know that.”
She met his eyes, and then quickly averted hers.
“Do you know how to warm up a hamburger?” Matt asked. “I put the coffee in a pot, and we can heat that. But the hamburgers are cold.”
“You put the meat patty in a frying pan,” Amanda said. “You have a frying pan?” He nodded. “And—you said french fries?” Matt nodded again. “You put french fries in the oven.”
“I’ve got one of those, too,” Matt said.
“Good,” she said. “Show me.”
“I’m glad you came,” Matt said. “Thank you.”
“Just as long as you understand why I came,” she said. “OK?”
“Absolutely. I told you that.”
She went in the kitchen. He turned the oven on and handed her a frying pan.
When she bent over to put the french fries in the oven, he looked down her blouse and told himself he was really a sonofabitch.
When she stood up, he could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew he had looked down her blouse.