When I walked in the door I saw them immediately. Susan had a look of triumph on her face, and beside her, looking at me sheepishly, was Jorge. Clearly he was the friend who had accompanied her to La Rioja. As the waiter ushered me to their table I realized that I was a necessary element in whatever relationship they had formed: they needed me here to be with them, to know about them, to become implicated in their secret. They would need me in a nearby room while they made love, like a thief needs an accomplice for a certain sort of crime.

I did not look surprised, from the first moment I saw them together I pretended that this was normal, to be expected, no big deal. I did not say: what are you two doing here? I did not exclaim: what a surprise! I sat down and told them in English how insistent the hotel people had been that I should drop my bag and come here now. Susan looked at me and smiled as if she were deeply amused by what I was saying. Jorge looked at me blankly. Susan asked what I wanted to drink, and when I said a dry martini she raised her right hand to attract the waiter’s attention and then she touched Jorge’s elbow with her left hand. She held it there, almost gripping him, offering me a token of their intimacy, letting me know that touching him was natural, something she did without thinking. I opened the menu, and asked if they had made friends with Carlos Menem yet. I realized when I said “made friends” that I had begun to circle them and their newfound friendship, that I had suggested that they “made friends” easily with the most unlikely and strange people.

“The meeting is on at ten,” Susan said. “There’s going to be a torchlight parade.”

I was going to ask Susan if Jorge still took ages to come. I could not sit with them without imagining them in bed. I said nothing. I realized that I was not just jealous of them, but irritated that they had connived behind my back, had not allowed me to make the connections for them. How had they started? I was sure that they had met for the first time at Jorge’s father’s party. How had they met for the second time? Who had taken the initiative? Had they met by accident? I did not think that was possible as I ordered a steak and a salad and commented on the feeling I had that the city of La Rioja would not last long.