I walk straight to the hotel lobby bar. There are a pair of bartenders behind the bar. I don't know the woman but I know the man, he greets me with a smile, "What can I get you?"
I have only ordered three or four drinks from him in just as many years, but its always been the same drink. Makes me appreciate Indie even more.
"I'll have a Captain and Coke please."
He smiles again and walks away. The bar itself is not very busy, yet it takes him five minutes to get back to me. Indie would be laughing by now. He places a tile coaster in front of me and as he places my drink upon it I reach in my back pocket for my wallet. I turn to see Laticia standing behind me.
"Roberto, this is a very good friend of mine, I'll be picking up all of his drinks tonight." She shoots him a smile and a look, his only response is a nod and a quick retreat to the other side of the bar. "You think I could get your bartender to come work for me?"
"Indie? Well she isn't My Bartender. She's just a woman that likes to hang out there and serve some drinks. You're more than welcome to ask her if you like." Laticia and I both know that we are just making a point of making small talk before she tells me why she asked me up.
"So why did you ask me to come on up?" Thank goodness neither of us deals with small talk.
"Now you see that's why I like you so much James, straight to the point. Well then follow me to the observation deck." Laticia turns and heads towards the casino.
She is wearing a back less black dress that starts at the neck and ends just above her ankles. Her hair is pulled back just enough to expose the back of her neck, and the slit in her dress is just high enough to expose her left calf as she leads me. She leads with such grace, and walks with self confidence, it wouldn't be hard to fallow this woman anywhere she wanted you to go.
As I follow her I cant help but smile to myself and remember a friend of mine from so many years gone. I never met her, but this is how I always envisioned her.
Strong, beautiful, and always in control.
Laticia leads me to a door behind the registration desk, and the up a single flight of stairs and down a hall way. She slows her pace as we come to a security door at the end of the hallway. She taps in the pass code on the number pad and motions me to follow as she opens the door.
I was rather surprised as to what I saw as I entered. I was expecting a wall of monitors, workers at keyboards, and the sound of security personal trying to keep an eye out for the bad guys. Instead what I saw was a very large lounge that over looked the casino. It was set up more like a studio flat than an observation deck. There was a kitchen on the far wall, a single door that I imagined lead to a bedroom, and the rest of the open space was filled with some small tables, a couple of couches, a few televisions, and a very elaborate stereo system. Leticia walks into the kitchen as I just stand near the door we entered from. "Welcome to my place James, make yourself at home."
I felt a little bit out of place.
"James would you like another drink?"
"No thanks I'm good." I looked down at my glass it was just ice. Perhaps I should have said yes.
I began to feel a lot out of place.
I decide to head over to the wall of windows to look down over the casino.
I don't look to her as she walks towards me, in the reflection of the glass I can see her extend her hand towards me. "I made you a drink anyways." There I stand one empty glass and one full. "So wondering why I asked you up?" I turn to look at her, but she isn't looking at me. She is looking into the casino, I pick up that she is focusing her attention to something particular on the casino floor. I look back to the floor, I try to guess her gaze and then I see what she is looking at.
Laticia takes a sip from her glass, "Do you know her?"
I cant see her face, but I know her. She's wearing a similar dress as Laticia. Her back is to me, but I know who she is. We once had a talk, many years ago about her decision to get that tattoo, I had never seen it before tonight, but I know its her.
Its an amazing piece of art on her back and she shows it well. Just above her waist and all the way to her shoulders and neck. She described it to me once but at the time it was just a painting her eldest soon had done. Its a mired of forms and the elements. I see she went with thick dark lines and deep shading. I can see the "village" from my vantage point, the lines are very clean and distinct. Very few woman can pull off a single back piece tattoo, but she has. As I continue to think about her I haven't noticed that she has turned towards me and is looking up at me. I take a step back.
"Don't worry she can't see you, this is one way glass."
Laticia doesn't understand.

Coming up for air and feeling the sun on your face as you break the water's surface is one of the greatest feelings I know. The moment only last for less than a second, but over the years I have learned to capture the feeling. Turning on to my back and floating on the ocean's surface is another skill I have developed, with my eyes closed I can feel the sun warming my face and sending that feeling of peace that I have always looked for. This is why I am here, this is what I know is true. Moving my arms in small circles keeping myself a float, if I had the strength this is how I would spend the rest of my life. Unfortunately my body isn't as young as it use to be, and I have that crossword puzzle waiting for me on the beach.
I swim as far as I can onto the coast, only when my finger tips graze the sand below the waterline do I stand and walk the rest of the way. The breeze is warmer than normal today and it feels good. I look up and down the coast, and breath in a lung full of the air. I have never been one to believe in ownership. I don't consider the amount of what one owns as a measure of ones worth. But this beach is mine, it came with the property when I bought the bar and my home. I wonder if this is how the ranchers of the wild west felt as the walked their ranches. The thought is fleeting, there is someone laying in my beach chair, and she has my crossword.
"Afternoon Laticia." I reach down and grab my sunglasses. She doesn't look up. I reach for my towel, she's laying on it. She moves, just enough, to let me retrieve it. "So what brings you down to my neighborhood?"
"We haven't seen each other in awhile. Thought I might come down to say Hello."
Laticia, for as long as I have known her, doesn't come by just to say Hello to anyone. She is the Hotel manager of the five star on the other coast. She is in charge of the Casino as well, at age 36 she is perhaps one of the most influential people in the region. Very little gets done without her knowing about it or being part of the diescion process. I'm told that at age 12, when the hotel was just a tiny hide away for honeymooners, she was just the local flower girl. At age 17 she moved to the states to attend college, she graduated in 3 years. In 5 short years she put the Hotel on the "must stay at" list with all the tourist agencies, and within one year after getting the owners to pay for a casino, she now has most of Hollywood and the French Riviera elite spending there money at her resort. "Laticia, how long have we known eachother?"
"I don't know maybe three years now? Why?"
"In that three years when have you ever come by and just said Hello?" I smile as I throw my towel on to the back of the beach chair, just missing her shoulder. She finally looks up at me.
"I would like it if you would come to the Casino tomorrow night."
"You know I don't like it in there."
"I know, but I would still like it if you would." she smiles a lovely smile and kisses me on the cheek. She stands up and looks down at me as I look up. "Three down is Santamaría."
Laticia is a beautiful woman, and equally strong. Seldom are her request ever ignored, but I can't help but think of a song lyric as she heads towards my bar. "...her walk has a way of making grown men feel underage..."
I pick up my crossword puzzle from the sand, "HEY!!! James!" I look up to see Indie laughing. "You might want to get up her Maria just carried two live chickens into the kitchen!"
I try to think it to myself but it escapes my lips "Oh Hell, this is going to be one hell of a night."

I'm sitting at my bar, working on a crossword puzzle I do not intend on finishing. All this time and I still don't speak or read the local language. Looking over the half wall, I smile. A couple of the local "moms" came in earlier to start cooking for tonight's get together. Already I can smell the slow roasted smell of pork. I pick up my drink and swirl the ice. "Hey James."
"Hey Kid."
Indie just walked in from the front. She went into town to pick up some fruit and vegetables, and a few other things. A pack of rolling tobacco slides next to me as she sits down at the bar with me. "So is she still coming in this weekend?"
"Last I spoke to her she was."
"How you dealing with it?"
The woman she is asking about is someone I haven't seen or spoken to in 6 years. The last time I saw her, was also our last attempt at making it work out between us. She called me three weeks ago to tell me she was coming out to see me. On that last night we agreed that if the time ever presented itself we would see eachother again. At the time it was the promise two people make when the believe that they will never see each other again. I never meant for the promise to be put to the test, nor did she. When I picked up the phone I didn't know how to respond, not that it would have mattered she was coming anyways.
I take a small sip from my glass and swirl the glass, "I'm doing fine with it."
Indie gives me a small smile and a laugh, "You're so full of shit." She puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes lightly before turning and heading towards the kitchen.
I open the pouch and remove a small amount of tobacco. Placing it in the center of the paper and spreading it out I start to think about times past. As I roll the cigarette, without thinking about it, I remember I didn't tell her when she called, that I didn't want her to come.