After his discovery at breakfast, Cal had gone to the hotel's head waiter, determined to find out what room the gossipy woman was staying in. It had cost him, but in the end he had found out what he wanted to know.
However, he chose not to investigate right then. The time didn't feel quite right to him. Besides, he had other things to do—like arrange to go home. He didn't want to stay in New York forever. He would satisfy his curiosity in the afternoon instead.
Ruth made an appearance at lunch. She didn't think it would look right if she missed two meals in a row. Someone might notice and start talking, and that was the last thing she wanted. There would be plenty for them to talk about once she got back to Philadelphia. The house—and everything else—couldn't go unsold forever.
She was too busy getting lost in her self-pity to notice when Cal walked up to her. He stood slightly behind her and waited for her to acknowledge him, but after a few seconds he realized she wasn't going to. He loudly cleared his throat. Ruth whipped her head around, startled by the sudden noise.
"Oh," she said, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I didn't realize you were there."
Cal swallowed the first reply that came to his mind and said, "I'm sure you have a lot on your mind right now."
Ruth nodded.
He continued, "I just wanted to ask if you would be available sometime this evening—so we can discuss a few things."
"Yes, I will be. When did you have in mind?"
"Around eight o'clock. I'll meet you in the lounge."
"All right."
*****
Meanwhile, Jack and Rose were happily unaware of what was going on around them. They ordered lunch in their room and settled into a discussion of the future.
"What do you want to do?" Jack asked.
"You mean in general or in life?"
"You can tell me either." He grinned.
"Well, in life, I guess I…I don't exactly know. Everything's always kind of been decided for me. I've never thought about it too deeply before."
"If you could do anything, what would it be?"
"I'd…I'd head out to the horizon whenever I felt like it," Rose said, looking into his eyes.
"Do you really mean that?" Jack's tone was serious.
"Yes. I meant it when I said it that first time. Why? Would you not want to live like that with me along?"
"It isn't that," he replied carefully. "It's just I want to give you the kind of life you want and need—" Rose started to interrupt him. He held his hand up, asking her to wait. "I know how structured your life has been. I know how completely restricted you've been—in every way. I just don't want you to grab for the opposite too quickly and then realize you'd rather have something more secure, that's all. I trust that you love me, but I want to know you know what we'd be getting into."
Rose was silent for a moment as she considered his words. "I understand. I really do. I truly don't want to just stay in one place and always pretty much know how the day's going to go—at least not right now. Maybe eventually I will, but right now I want to live those stories we made up for ourselves."
"Okay. As long as you understand everything we won't have."
"I'll have you."
Jack smiled. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Where shall we go first, then?"