"How about some breakfast?" he said, getting up off the wooly carpet, which had been their seat for a great part of that night.
She appreciated his casual tone, and rose to join whom she now considered a friend - he'd earned it, and had a flat backside to prove it.
It was six thirty in the morning. The Pink Roses Hotel dining room was just opening its doors and the smell was more than appetizing - it was healing.
Eggs, cereal, coffee, tea, five different kinds of juice, bacon, sausages, ham… A standard hotel breakfast - except for the cakes and muffins, which were absolutely out of this world - that would remind Kathy that life is not only made of grief, anxiety and disappointments. There are also many sweet things, and some of them she was filling her tray with at that very moment; together with a white coffee, a boiled egg and a hot ham sandwich.
"Hungry, are you?"
"Yes!" she answered, so relieved that the dreadful night was finally over.
They ate in silence. Too many words had been said in the last hours. But it wasn't uncomfortable. They were fully enjoying their breakfast and the first rays of sunlight that came through the window they were sitting next to, which announced a bright September day.
"I was thinking we could change and take a tour round the Hotel and Patty's. How does that sound?"
"Not as good as this deeeelicious blueberry cake. How do they manage to bake them? I'd polish off all the mixture before it even touched the oven if I were in that kitchen."
Jesse burst out laughing.
"But you are hungry! No wonder. You didn't eat much yesterday, what with the paperwork and the flying and everything."
"Don't forget the sleepless night."
He smiled kindly, not wanting to see Kathy in that sad mood again.
After a hot shower, a little unpacking and a little make-up, she felt renewed and ready to receive what the island - and her new situation on the island - had to offer. And the exploration began with a happy surprise. Jesse, who was much more conscious of his stay being a permanent one, had already taken care of Mac's accommodation when she met him in the lobby. The poor thing could obviously not stay any longer in a small hotel room, after his claustrophobic ninety minutes on the plane. So Jesse had managed to get Mac a suite with a private garden.
"Oh, my, this is fabulous!" she exclaimed, sharing Mac's and Jesse's excitement. "I didn't know there were rooms like this."