"Then why all the 'ma'am's and 'milady's?"
"In case I forget your name, of course. If you're used to hearing me call
you 'milady', you'll never realize..."
Rolling her eyes and swatting his shoulder, Mandi said, "Yeah, right.
Seriously, Ed. Why?"
"I like it. If you don't, just say so. I'll stop."
Sipping her Coke again without taking her eyes off him, Mandi seemed to give
the matter some thought. After a moment she set the can on the desk and went to
the door.
"Ready?" she asked.
Cade nodded and went to the door, opening it to check the hallway. Seeing
nobody in the corridor, he nodded again and waved her past him.
Mandi swept past him in a flash. Her blur of motion turned hard right just
outside the doorway and disappeared. Cade peeked out in time to see her slash
her keycard through her room's door lock, then disappear again.
'Yeah, she's definitely quick,' he thought, opening the door to his room
fully and standing well clear of it as he mentally counted 'One... two...
three...'
A rush of air passed him with the blur that was Mandi. She set three
suitcases and a cloth bag on the floor by the bed and disappeared. Cade held his
position and counted again.
"...Four," said Cade as Mandi again blasted into the room.
"Four what?" she asked.
"Seconds. There and back, that is. The lock must have slowed you down on the
first trip."
Grinning at him, Mandi opened one of her suitcases on the bed and took out a
terrycloth bathrobe, which she laid to one side as she continued rooting through
the bag.
Cade closed the door and came to stand near her as she produced a container
of shampoo made to look like a miniature champagne bottle and handed it to Cade.
After studying the faux-vineyard label, Cade handed it back with a shrug
and, "Yes'm. That's very nice."
"Not what you were expecting, was it?" asked Mandi.
"I wasn't expecting anything. I just came over here to see if you'd pull
anything interesting out of that bag."
"Interesting? In what way?"
Shrugging again, Cade said, "Just interesting. No way in particular," and
headed for the bathroom to make a coffee.
As he primed his travel mug with instant coffee and waited for the sink
water to run hot enough, Mandi said, "You don't exactly seem absolutely thrilled
about me being here."
With a short laugh, Cade looked at her in the wall mirror and shook his head
unbelievingly.