"Want to watch about 30 minutes more of the movie before I have to go?" She asked her husband.
"Well, I only have a half hour before I have to go to rehearsal." He replied.
"Yeah...I only have that amount of time too, I just said..." She trailed off, unsure if she was even being heard by him anymore.
"Wait," he said, suddenly coming back down to earth, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going for a walk around the marina." She replied carefully.
"With who?" He asked quickly.
Why lie? She replied "KSL." He looked at her and said "Are you going on a date?"
It wasn't like him to kid around like this, but his lilt was clearly joking.
"No...if it was a date the only reason I'd end up sweating is if he was getting us a hotel room." She replied.
"Is that what you want for your birthday?" He asked.
"A hotel room?"
"Yes."
"....What I want for my birthday is to be able to afford a hotel room."
***
When she recounted the story to KSL later, she said "I wanted to say 'you want to get me a room with KSL?' 'cause that's weird."
KSL gave his hearty laugh and then said "When is your birthday again?" as if to switch gears in the conversation.
"Saturday. Why, did you make other plans already?" She asked, a little upset.
"No, no, it's just..." He held up his fingers to tick off numbers in his head, "I don't think I'll have enough money by then."
She was confused. "Money for what?"
"For a hotel room." He said with a smile, looking over at her sideways as they walked with the sunset to their backs.
