"I figured you might leave early tomorrow and I wanted to talk to you in person, not on the phone," said Mrs. Sloan's niece by way of explanation.
"I still haven't made up my mind when or where to I will be leaving," answered Kathy standing up.
They both walked to the door.
"As I said before," spoke Geneva again. "I'm grateful and honored having been left the royalties of my aunt's works. I mean, I know it was the logical thing to do, since my aunt had no children of her own. But there are two other nephews, my brother and cousin Roy, to whom she left money and this house respectively. I truly believe she put me in charge of her most precious possession, besides those on the island, which makes me feel I have the duty to somehow contribute to preserve what she so hardworkingly and lovingly achieved."
"That, summing up," she continued after a pause, "is why I am persuaded that investing in your hotels is what Aunt Mary would want me to do."
"Your aunt would want your life to be made easier, insofar as it were possible, thanks to that income, of that I'm sure."
"Well, yes. But both ideas aren't incompatible."
Kathy smiled. This woman was too worried about doing her own duty to be conspiring against Jesse and her.
When she opened the door of her guest room, she found a note on the floor.
I don't feel like sleeping in my room either. Come and we'll swop. Don't mind the hour; we'll be waiting. "We?"
She chose an outfit for the following morning, her toilet kit and pyjamas, and she stepped again into the corridor. Suddenly she recalled her years at the university hall of residence, when the murmur of the people sharing their daily anecdotes and getting ready to sleep filled the late part of the evenings. At that hour, there was always someone going into or out of a room.
"Everything okay downstairs?" It was Jesse, opening up before she had the chance to knock. The dog looked at her and barked twice. "Behave, Mac! You're gonna be roommates."
"Are we?" asked Kathy, not sure whether it was completely safe to enter the animal's domains.
"Yeah! Come in!"
Jesse's behavior had changed, Kathy thought, since the day they'd met, not that long ago - towards her, at least. And, though the change was so clearly for the better, the amount of sincerity behind this gradual but swift fondness was yet to be ascertained.