"Excuse me," the older man said to the desk clerk. "There has been a cancellation." He handed the clerk a key. "Why don't you put this officer and his lady in 901?"
"Yes, of course," the desk clerk said and snapped his fingers for a bellman.
"Thank you," Caroline said.
"I'm sorry about the mix-up with your reservation," the older man said. He nodded at her, and then at Charley, and disappeared through a door in the paneled wall behind the counter.
Nine oh one turned out to be a corner suite consisting of a sitting room, a bedroom, and a butler's pantry.
As soon as Caroline tipped the bellman and he was gone, Charley said, "Jesus, what do you suppose this is going to cost us?"
"What you are supposed to say, Darling, is 'I was wrong and you were right, and I'm sorry I doubted you.'"
"Consider it said," Charley said. "And what do you think it's going to cost?"
"Do you really care?" Caroline asked. "And anyway, I've got a bunch of traveler's checks."
"No. What the hell," Charley said. "Why not?"
"Why not, indeed?"
"I'm going to take a shower," Charley said, and headed for the bathroom. In a moment, he was back. "Hey, look at this, they even give you a bathrobe!"
He held a thick, terry cloth robe in his hands, embroidered with the logotype, "ANDREW FOSTER HOTEL San Francisco."
"Between the hotel and me, Darling, you'll have everything your heart desires," Caroline said.
As soon as I hear the shower running, I'm going to get in there with him. Surprise, surprise!
She looked around the room, hoping that there would be something to drink-preferably something romantic or erotic, like cognac. She was disappointed, but not surprised, to find a liquor cabinet full of glasses, but no booze. She considered calling room service, but decided that getting in the shower with him was the highest priority. She could call room service later.
She found the bottle of scotch they'd bought in Nevada and set it on the bar. Then she changed her mind and took it and two glasses to the bedside table. And then, after taking Charley's clothes from where he had tossed them on the bed and throwing them onto the floor, she took off her clothes, added them to the pile, and went into the bathroom.
When she opened the glass door, she found him shaving. He told her he'd learned how to do that in boot camp at Parris Island when he had first joined the Corps. She found it delightfully masculine.
She wrapped her arms around him from the back.
"I'll wash yours if you wash mine," she said.
"Mine's already clean," he said.
"Bastard!"
He turned and put his arms around her.
"Christ," he said. "This is like a dream."
"If it is, I don't want to ever wake up."
"We have fifty-six hours," Charley said, "before I have to report to Mare Island."
"Say, 'Caroline, you were right about driving straight through so that we would have some time in San Francisco.' "
"You were right, Baby," he said.
"Fifty-six hours?" Caroline said. "However are we going to pass all that time?"
"Well, for openers, I'm clean enough," he said, and turned the shower off. "How about a quick game of Hide the Salami?"
"And then what?" she said, dropping her hand to his mid-section.
"And then another game of Hide the Salami," Charley said. "The second time we'll start keeping score."
"You're on," she said.
There came the sound of chimes.
"What the hell is that?" Charley asked.
"I think it's the doorbell."
"One of the characters in the fancy costumes is out there, and he's about to tell us they've made a mistake and we'll have to get our asses out of here."
"We're going to have to see what it is," Caroline said.
"Yeah," Charley said.
He turned her loose and stepped out of the shower, put one of the terry cloth robes on, and went out of the bathroom.
Caroline got out of the shower, quickly toweled herself, and pulled on a robe. She wiped the steam from the mirror and looked at herself.
I can't go out there looking like this!
But, of course, she had to. Charley was ill-equipped to deal with people who managed a world-class hotel like the Andrew Foster.
She went out of the bathroom.
There were three people in the sitting room. Two bellmen, one of whom was stocking the liquor cabinet with liquor, and the other in the act of taking the cellophane from a large basket of fruit. Caroline also saw a bottle of champagne in a cooler.
"I'm so sorry to disturb you, Madam," the third man announced; he was the older man who had announced the reservation cancellation downstairs. "But when I checked, I found that the bar wasn't stocked, and I thought I'd better remedy that."
"Thank you," Caroline said.
"And I wanted to make sure you understood that because of our mix-up about your reservation, your bill will be for the room you reserved; I mean to say there will be no increase in price."
"Oh, hell," Charley said. "I can't let you do that."