Jennie poked around.
She didn't mean to. In fact, she had made plans for the day which definitely did not include poking around but, well, the best-laid plans and all that. They always went awry.
Jennie woke up at ten a.m. Her first thought was to wonder where she was. Her second thought once she recalled where she was and why was "Oh, shit, the alarm didn't go off." Sitting up in bed, she reached for the alarm clock to look it over. It was set to the off position. Jennie frowned at the thing, sure she had reset it after checking on Lisa the first time. She distinctly recalled resetting it and turning it on. But it was off. She set it back with a frown. Had she woken up the second time just to roll over and turn it off? That must be it, she realized and grimaced to herself.
"Way to go, Kim. The one excuse you had to stay here, the one opportunity to ingratiate yourself with the woman, and you blew it." Her thinking had been that surely she couldn't oust her after she'd gone to the trouble of rousing herself every hour to be sure she was all right. But now that she'd failed at her task, she'd have her out of there by noon if she hadn't written all night as she'd claimed she was going to do. If she had written all night, she might not wake up until two or three o'clock. Which meant she'd be out of there by three or four.
"Good show, Jen." She pushed the bedsheet aside and slipped out of bed. Now she'd have to come up with another good excuse to stay until she convinced her to cooperate.
Jennie pondered the problem while she showered, while she dried off, while she dressed, while she brushed her teeth, while she fiddled with her hair and while she dabbed on a touch of face powder. At last she gave it up as a lost cause until after she'd eaten. She always thought better on a full stomach.
Leaving the guest room, she paused in the hallway and stared at the door opposite her own. Maybe she should check on her host. She hadn't done her checking through the night. The woman might be lying comatose on her office floor.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully over the matter, then shook her head. Nope. Not a good idea, she decided. She'd neglected her duty to check on her last night; the last thing she wanted was to wake her up before she'd found some way to redeem herself.
Turning on her heel, she moved as quietly as she could to the stairs and down them. Her first stop was the kitchen. She put coffee on, then surveyed the contents of the fridge. Though she knew every single item in it, it was fun to look at all those goodies and pretend she might have something greasy and bad for her like bacon and eggs. Of course, she didn't. She settled for the less satisfying but healthy grapefruit and cereal. Then she poured herself a cup of coffee and sipped it as she peered out the window into Lisa's backyard. It was a large, neat, tidy lawn surrounded by trees, obviously professionally kept. Just as the house was.
Lisa's home bespoke wealth and class, both inside and out. It was large and filled with antiques, but outside was the true treat. The house was set on a good-sized property surrounded by trees and grass, all well kept and set up to disguise the fact that the home sat on the edge of a huge metropolis. It was gorgeous and restful, and Jennie enjoyed it as she drank her coffee.
Pouring herself another cup, she wandered out of the kitchen and strolled up the hall, her mind searching for some plot to keep her in the house for at least another night. She really had to convince Lisa to do at least one of the interviews. Jennie suspected she would never agree to do the book-signing tour and she had already let go of that idea, but surely she could be persuaded to do a couple of interviews. Possibly over the phone or via the Internet? A couple of her other authors had done it via e-mail. The interviewer sent an e-mail with the questions, the author answered by e-mail. Or there were the various messenger services; she'd heard of authors doing interviews that way as well. Geez, surely that wouldn't be such a big deal? Lisa wouldn't even have to leave her house.
