Chapter 318: Candidates

James replied in eleven minutes. I have three candidates. Sending now.

Three properties arrived. Sean looked at all of them properly.

The first was a converted farmhouse in the hills, the aesthetics correct but the kitchen small.

The second was a lakeside property, beautiful in the photographs and almost certainly cold in the way properties near water were cold in autumn.

The third was a private estate house in the valley district, older stone, a proper kitchen with a range that looked like it had been used rather than installed for impressiveness, a sitting room large enough for four people to exist without requiring them to occupy each other’s space, and four bedrooms arranged around a central landing.

He called the third one.

The rental agent was efficient and pleasant and named Caroline, who understood immediately that the person on the phone was serious rather than exploratory.

The rate for the long weekend was significant.

He paid it.

[9,400 dollars spent]

[Balance: $68,778,707]

[18,800 dollars received — 2x baseline]

[New Balance: $68,788,307]

Then he texted three people.

Thursday evening. I’m taking you somewhere for the long weekend. Pack for four days. Comfortable, not impressive. James will have car details by Wednesday.

He sent it to Makima first.

Then Olivia.

Then Vanessa.

Then he sat back and waited to see what the responses were going to be.

—-----------

Makima replied in four minutes.

Where.

Valley district, he said. Private estate house. Four days.

Who else, she said.

He told her.

A pause longer than usual from Makima. He knew what she was doing in the pause. Not reconsidering. Processing the specific shape of what this meant. Three women who knew him differently, who occupied different rooms in his life, being placed in the same actual room.

Okay, she said finally.

Just that.

Then, thirty seconds later: I’ll bring food for the first night. Don’t tell me the kitchen can’t handle it.

The kitchen has a proper range, he said.

Good, said Makima.

—----------------

Olivia replied in forty seconds.

Four days?!

Thursday to Monday, he said.

I’m telling Kwon I have a family thing, she said. He won’t ask. He respects family things. A pause. Do I actually have a family thing.

Yes, said Sean.

That’s surprisingly touching, said Olivia. Who else is coming.

He told her.

Makima I know. Vanessa I’ve heard about but never met. A pause. She’s very composed right.

Yes, said Sean.

Good, said Olivia. I like composed people. They make me look organized by comparison. Another pause. That’s not actually true I am organized. But the map thing was a lot. Another pause. Don’t tell her about the map.

I won’t tell her about the map, he said.

The color-coded map, said Olivia.

I know which map, he said.

Okay good. A pause. Thursday. I’m excited. I’m going to be very cool about being excited but internally I am extremely excited.

I can tell, he said.

Is it obvious, she said.

A little, he said.

I’m going to work on that, she said. See you Thursday.

—------------

Vanessa’s reply came three hours later.

Not because she hadn’t seen the message. Because this was how Vanessa processed things. She read, she considered, and then she responded when she had decided what to say.

Four days is a long time, she said.

It is, he said.

Makima and Olivia, she said.

Yes, he said.

A pause. Sarah is going to want details I won’t be able to give her.

Tell her it’s a professional retreat, he said.

She won’t believe that, said Vanessa.

No, he said. But she’ll accept it.

True, said Vanessa. Another pause. I’ll need to arrange coverage at the store.

You have three days to arrange it, he said.

I know. I’m not saying no. A pause. Sean.

Yeah.

This is a deliberate thing, she said. You planned it.

Yes, he said.

Not because of anything happening, she said. Not a problem to solve. Just because.

Just because, he said.

He heard what she did with that. The specific thing she did when something arrived that she hadn’t modeled in advance and was processing in real time.

I’ll have Sarah close the store Friday, said Vanessa.

Good, he said.

Thursday, she said.

Thursday, he confirmed.

—---------------

Thursday arrived with the specific quality of a day that knew it was the beginning of something.

James had the car at six thirty.

They collected Makima first, which was correct because Makima’s building was the building and because Makima with a bag standing in the lobby of the place she’d managed for fifteen years was its own specific image that Sean held briefly before James opened the car door.

She had brought food. He’d known she would. Not one bag. Three. She looked at his expression when she saw his expression about the three bags.

"The kitchen has a proper range," she said. "You said so yourself."

"Three bags," he said.

"Four days," she said. "Get in the car."

He got in the car.

They collected Olivia at seven fifteen. She was outside her building with a single perfectly packed bag and the specific energy of someone who had been ready since six and had spent the extra time managing the externally visible signs of how ready she was.

She got in the car and looked at Makima and smiled the real smile immediately.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," said Makima, with the warmth she gave people she’d decided about quickly.

They looked at each other for a moment with the specific assessment of two people who had heard about each other from the same person and were now finding out if what they’d heard was accurate.

"You’re exactly what he described," said Olivia.

"So are you," said Makima.

"What did he say," said Olivia.

"Nothing I’m going to repeat in front of him," said Makima.

"That’s fair," said Olivia. She looked at the three bags. "Did you bring food."

"For the first night," said Makima.

"What are you making," said Olivia.

They were talking about the first night’s dinner before the car had pulled away from the curb. Sean sat between the window and the conversation and said nothing and felt something that was simple and warm and didn’t need examining.