She waited, and the minutes crawled by, and then finally it was closing time, and the band was coming off the stand, and people were leaving. Terry sat alone in the darkened dance hall for a few minutes, and then McKay appeared, looking wornout and drained of vitality. He was wobbling a little, and there was a drink in his hand. He finished it off and smiled at Terry.

“Let’s go,” he said. “The chariot awaits without, milady.”

He had a foreign sports car, low and streamlined. As they got in, Terry said anxiously, “Do you think you’re all right for driving, Bob? I mean—”

“You think I’m too looped to drive? Let me tell you, baby, it takes five times as much alcohol as I’ve had tonight to interfere with my coordination.”

And he was right—he drove recklessly but with good control. On the way home, they talked. She told him of her so far unsuccessful attempt to crash the movies, and he spoke of his—highly successful—orchestral career. It had started in college, and he had just skyrocketed on to fame with mostly the same group. At twenty-eight, he was on top of the world, making a hundred thousand a year and worshipped by everyone.

And yet he was worried. The strain of such intense music-making was taking its toll on him. To keep going, he needed drinks. But they took their toll, too. He was tired practically all the time, now. His temper frayed easily. Sometimes he muffed notes from sheer fatigue. But, he told himself, he was going to fix things soon. He was going to take a month’s vacation in Bermuda or some place tranquil like that, and when he came back he’d have all his old stamina once again.

They reached her house and he kissed her goodnight, chastely, and she went in. That night she was unable to sleep for sheer excitement.

It was love, she was sure.

How about him? Was he just amusing himself by driving her home, or was he as interested in her as she was in him?

It turned out that he was. Terry went back to the Lafayette the next night—alone—and McKay came down from the bandstand to take a couple of dances with her while his men got along without him. They went home again together that night. This time she invited him in, and they had a couple of drinks, and they kissed long and passionately, though they went no further.

And then the next night—