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the argument Sean’s way. Tim and the girl left the Blue Hawk after “regretting” Sean could not join them.

Chapter Seven
    “W AKE UP, SWEETHEART.”
    Sean blinked his eyes open. Tim, dressed and shaven, stood over him. He looked around. He was in Big Nellie’s flat. He came to a sitting position cautiously. His head throbbed. His mouth held a foul taste. The smell from the kitchen of breakfast cooking added to his discomfort.
    “One thing I can’t stand,” Tim said, “and that’s a drunken Irishman.”
    “Where’s the broad?”
    “Just put her in a taxi. We never heard you come in. What time was it, anyhow?”
    “Hell, I don’t know. We closed the Blue Hawk and hit a private party. Pringle poured me here.”
    Sean wove to his feet and threaded an unsteady course to the bathroom, threw up, then dunked his head in a basin of icy water. He spread a line of toothpaste along his forefinger and pushed it over his teeth, fished through the cabinet for a brush and comb. The mirror revealed a stubble-chinned, bleary-eyed man in the throes of a monumental hangover.
    He went to the kitchen, where Tim labored over the stove. Sean opened the refrigerator and mumbled about no fruit juice, but there was beer. He uncapped one. Thank God Nellie still keeps his beer cold. He flopped into a chair and asked what time it was.
    “Six-thirty. I’ll get the eight o’clock train from Waterloo.” Tim shoved a plate of ham and eggs before Sean. He balked.
    “How’s the redhead?”
    “Cynthia? Good lay. Besides, she is a nice kid. Lost her husband in Greece. Got a seven-year-old boy. You ought to give her a call one of these days ... if Nan ever gives you a night off. ... Listen, big brother,” Tim pursued, “you’re not the binge-throwing type. What’s bothering you? Nan?”
    “Partly.”
    “Trouble with you, Sean, you’ve always got to fall in love. You’ve got to make a big affair out of it. Christ, can’t you take these women with a grain of salt?” Tim chewed a bite of ham, then waved his fork under Sean’s nose. “You’re going to get yourself in a real sling with this Milford broad.”
    ‘Tim ... I love her. I love her more deeply than I loved that other girl. I’ve never felt like this about anyone.”
    Tim dropped the fork and sighed. “You poor bastard.”
    “I said I love her.”
    “Sure, I can picture it now. You, me, Nan and Dad out at Seal’s Stadium drinking beer and watching the ball game on Sunday afternoon.”
    “Smart ass ... smart ass.”
    “She’s not one of ours and we’re not one of hers.”
    “Who in the hell says we’re talking marriage.”
    “So, what are you talking about, Sean?”
    Sean shoved the plate away, snatched the beer bottle, and sulked from the table. He leaned against the wall ... glowering, sulking, sipping. Tim’s hand touched his shoulder.
    “I’m on your side, Sean. A woman like Nan’s got more class than you and I will see in the rest of our lives. I guess she must be pretty easy to fall in love with. But I come down from Braintree every week and see you eating your heart out. You can’t get to needing a woman that much knowing you’re going to have to give her up.”
    “You’re right, of course, but it’s not that easy to kiss her off. I don’t know if I could stand to be in the same city with her and not call her. I keep telling myself to transfer out ... but ... you know how I feel about General Hansen. He’s fighting the whole goddamned Army and State Department. I can’t quit him, either.”
    “Well ... you might as well eat your breakfast.”
    They both picked at their food listlessly. Sean gave up trying to eat. “Nan Milford isn’t all that’s bothering me. Tim O’Sullivan is bothering me too. I hear you’re turning into a real hot pilot.”
    “Big Nellie talks too much.”
    “He just confirmed what I already know. You were shipped out of your fighter squadron for your own good. You were put into Invaders to slow you down because you