JESSE PHONED THE FOLLOWING MORNING. KATHY HAD HER ANSWER ready. She hadn't slept much, but she had finally decided to call Mr. White first, and if Mrs. Sloan's appointed executor confirmed what Jesse had told her she would travel with him.
"So you don't think that he wants to sell the properties," had asked her mother, who, as was the usual thing when Kathy was restless, hadn't slept much either.
It was hard to say, but Jesse had mentioned the word partners and would not probably have taken so much trouble, travelling so far to see her, if he didn't want to keep them.
He found her condition reasonable and gave her the number. A short while later, Kathy called back. She felt much more convinced after speaking with Mr. White that she had a good motive for going back to the island.
* * *
They caught a plane on Monday and arrived in the city where Kathy had been with Mrs. Sloan for two weeks. The late lady's family insisted they stayed with them in their sister's house, and, at first, they refused, but in the end, interpreting the gesture as a signal that the family wanted to be on good terms with them, they accepted. Nevertheless, when Kathy found herself back in the same bedroom she'd left but a few days before, she felt she couldn't bear it.
"What's the matter?" asked Jesse when he opened his door and found Kathy in the corridor.
"This is wrong," she said. "I shouldn't be here."
He stared at her like the day they'd met. His eyes as intense, though noticeably more trusting.
"We should have swopped bedrooms. I don't feel too comfortable myself either. So many memories to deal with, plus the responsibility of the inheritance and the uncertainty regarding the family's apparent welcome."
"I didn't expect you to understand so fast," said Kathy, glad but astonished. Then she heard another door being opened somewhere near and, with an unthinking movement, she jumped into Jesse's room and onto Jesse's foot.
"Come in," he said ironically after closing the door.
"I'm sorry. I heard a noise and…"
He was looking at her, sort of smiling, and Kathy felt embarrassed and comfortable at the same time, which was dangerous, for she had felt that way twice in her life before and knew what it meant. But the comfort didn't show on her face, only the anguish that arose every time she was presented with a new difficult situation. It was so transparent. She was so transparent. It was a long time since Jesse had met someone like her. Had he ever? Every minute spent with her made it clearer to him why Mrs. Sloan had so swiftly felt attached to this concerned young woman.