She wasn’t startled, he thought with horror, because she’d known he was there.

“I was just sneaking one of Maximilian’s smokes,” she said. “Don’t tell. Or do tell, I don’t care.” She walked over to the fireplace, rubbing her arms. She had her cardigan on but her feet were bare.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Henry said. “I thought I’d just come down and have a nightcap.”

She looked across at him sitting there bare-chested, wearing only the borrowed swim trunks. “Should I leave you alone?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he said.

She took up the poker and stoked the fire. She’d come in through the door that led to the covered part of the patio, where they’d sat outside for dinner during the party, and there was a line of sight, he knew, from the outside table to the sofa. She must have seen him. She must have walked in on him on purpose. “A nightcap sounds nice,” she said. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Of course not.”

She asked what he was having and he told her, and she told him not to get up, she’d fix them both a round. She took his glass, her fingertips grazing his, and crossed over to the bar. He pulled the afghan over his lap.

“I didn’t think you drank,” he said. “Or does your brother not let you?”

“He’s not my guardian,” she said. She flicked open a Zippo and lighted it so she could see the shelf of bottles. “I just don’t care to be drunk all day, like they do.”

Maybe she hadn’t seen him. It would be too horrible if she had. And if she had, she wouldn’t be sitting down for a drink with him.

She came back with the glasses, handed him his, and sat in the armchair at the end of the sofa, the one Clara usually took, close enough that their toes would touch if they both rested their feet on the coffee table. He kept his feet planted on the ground. She turned in the chair to face the fire, away from him, her back against the armrest, her legs dangling over the other side. She took a sip of whiskey, and shuddered. “This does warm the soul,” she said.

“You must be cold,” he said. “How long were you out there?”

“Just a little while,” she said. He waited for her to say more, but that was all.