LEON CHAPTER 14

Welcome
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Leon tried to prepare himself for meeting whoever was answering the door bell.

He heard the latch being opened and the door swung open revealing a strikingly pretty if not somewhat older woman.

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She was more than impressive; her eyes seem to melt you into butter. She with a strong French accent said, “You must be Leon.”

He had never heard his name spoken like that before with a drawn out "ong" sound. It sounded like Le' ooongg, actually he rather liked it said that way, it had a sound of sophistication.

In this heavy French accent she spoke English mixed with a French word thrown in now and then.  

 

She said, “You must be Kathryn's young man.” He didn't know exactly what that meant but said, “Yes I am,” just in case he was suppose to.

This woman was far beyond anything he had ever met and she completely disarmed him.

Thankfully Kathryn appeared and said, “I was just changing from a beautiful dress FiFi had purchased for me.”

 

As Kathryn stepped out the door FiFi said, “He isn't bad looking, perhaps we can make something out of him. Until tomorrow then, À demain, Kathryn.”

Ellie had told him of her friend FiFi, a girl she had been friends with as a child.  Her name was Louise in those days but at the age of six she had been taken to France by her aunt and was raised there among the Bohemian life style people.

He and Kathryn left in a hurry and headed to a restaurant FiFi had recommended.  Leon was pleasantly surprised it seemed normal although the waitresses wore lacy low cut uniforms. The food was different from anything he had ever tasted before, but all in all he liked it.

As they ate he told her of the investments he had made and some potential plans he had for their money.  He said he would try to keep her better informed in the future as he hoped to have more time to do so.

 
He told Kathryn that he would like her to join him in making these decisions when she was free but understood she was busy like he was.

It seemed that she was detached from all this talk about money which was certainly different from the time they ran the store in Nome for there she was involved in everything.

As the time went by he could see that FiFi’s influence was beginning to show in many ways. As he thought about FiFi he was hoping Kathryn didn't end up like her with all the flare she had.

Leon asked her about something that bothered him, “What did she mean about ‘Your young man is here’?”

Kathryn admitted that she wasn't sure.  “She could have meant someone who served me, or someone who was my boy friend or even my lover. What do you think she meant?”

Leon just sat there not answering. He thought that someone who served could have been closer to what he was, but even that didn't seem right for they were partners.  

 

Then it occurred to him that he had promised her father that he would watch over her and not let anything bad happen to her. The one thing he was worried about was they seemed to be on dissimilar paths and headed in different directions.

As they parted he said, “I have a couple appointments before I head back to Oakland so I had better get going.”  Then she did something she had never done before, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

After trying to figure that out he concluded it must have been something she learned from FiFi.   

San Francisco through the fog
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Leon finished his meetings and as he was leaving the office he saw the fog beginning to move in fast. He hurried down to the ferry and hoped that the ferry wouldn't get fogged in so he couldn't get home.  

Luckily he managed to get boarded just before the ferry left.

As the fog moved in the lights of San Francisco faded in the distance.

To be Continued