31

SUBIC BAY, MID-AUGUST

Back at his studio Havok opened the envelope and started to read the three-page typed brief. Halfway through, he heard the door open. He looked up and saw Apple, wearing the bar’s uniform and carrying a six-pack of bottled beer. She didn’t say anything but walked over to him, pulled a beer from the six-pack, and handed it to him. He accepted the bottle and watched her as she turned to the refrigerator. After placing the six-pack on a shelf in the fridge, she grabbed a Sprite before closing the door. Then she sat on the bed and used the bottle to smooth a crease in the bedspread. Havok could see her mind was a million miles away.

Without thinking, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the diamond ring he’d salvaged off the Russian ship. Holding the ring out, he blurted, “Apple, will you marry me?”

He saw her eyes close ever so slightly as her hand squeezed the Sprite bottle. Veins stood out on the back of her hand. She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she kept staring at the bedspread. She seemed not to notice the diamond ring in his hand. Havok waited, giving her time to answer when she was ready.

It was a strange silence.

Finally, she looked up. “Why do you ask me now? Do you really love me? Or is it because you feel guilty that my father died on one of your adventures?”

Havok saw the reflective look on her face. He sighed. “No, it’s not because of your father’s death. It’s just that now I realize how much you’ve cared for me and put up with my crap. I want to do right.”

“So you think you owe me for my service?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Havok said, regretting those last few words.

“You never said you love me,” Apple said, staring at the bookshelves.

He paused. “I don’t know what to say, Apple. I do love you. Again, will you marry me?”

After a minute, she responded, “Mercedes said you’re going to Vietnam to kidnap somebody.”

“Yes, we are,” Havok said firmly, “but we’ll be back. It’ll only be for a few days.”

“But then you’re going to the Caribbean right after that.”

“Yes, we are, but we’ll come back after that.”

“How long will that trip take?” Apple asked as if she already knew the answer.

“Only a few weeks,” he replied weakly.

“What about after that? Where will you go next?”

Havok could not answer that question.

Apple broke the awkward silence with a deep sigh. “Mr. Joseph Havok, no, I will not marry you and you can keep your ring.” She returned her gaze to the books. “Our lives together as a husband and wife were not meant to be. Your life is in those books. Or if not in those books, it’s in some cave in Mexico or a shitty bar on Mombasa.” She turned to look at the screen on the laptop, which sat on the rolltop desk. “Or looking for an ancient underwater city off the coast of Cuba. If we got married, you’d feel obligated to stay here, which would destroy us both. If you took me with you, what would ‘M’ have to say about it in Pensacola? She’s on that side of the world, waiting for you, and I am on this side of the world. She keeps sending you books with notes in them, so what would she have to say about me following you around?”

“I just want you to be happy,” Havok stated.

“I’m happy for our time together,” Apple said as she turned to face Havok. She had a pleasing smile on her face and a hint of a tear in one corner of her eye. “Nothing can take that away. Just as you will always find another adventure, I will eventually find somebody else to marry and live with. That is our future. In the meantime, you finish reading what Kilgore gave you and then take a shower, because you’re taking me to Olongapo for a movie.”

Apple stood up from the bed, kissed Havok on the forehead, and left the room, leaving Havok to his three-page brief and his thoughts. He looked at the unopened beer bottle and thought about how fortunate he really was: I’ve never been so gratefully indebted to anybody like her. I don’t deserve her.