"Wonderful!" she muttered. "Just wonderful!" And she said a silent thank you to Roland Grant, the rich man who had willed her this lodge with its secret viewing rooms and its idyllic setting in the mountains.
And then she remembered Maxine's phone call, and she remembered that the three teens would be coming up to visit in another week. I wonder what they're like now? She thought. Almost grown up. Bucky and the twins would be teenagers now. She began to consider in what rooms she would put them up.
In the room next door, the young couple was kissing.
CHAPTER TWO
Due to the recession, there was also a shortage of summer guests at the lodge this year, which was a pity, for this had been the sunniest summer in the four years since Jessica had taken over Lake Lodge. Jessica lamented the shortage of guests not because she was losing money – she didn't need the money because Roland Grant had willed her enough in cash to keep her living high for the rest of her life – but she lamented the small turn-out of guests because she loved people, loved playing hostess to them, loved watching them, whether they were aware that she was watching them or not. She had always been an extrovert and a voyeur, and for Jessica, that meant the more people around, the better.
Well, at least the kids are coming, she consoled herself. She was sitting on the end of the lodge pier, her feet dangling in the clear lake water, her skin warmed by the intense mountain sun. Thought it was early August, the air at this altitude was nippy, and the sun felt like a loving warm hand caressing her richly tanned skin.