Mrs. Kelly Reardon

A moment of abject terror passed with Remi holding her breath until the door opened. What was on the other side seemed to be the exact opposite of what she had feared. Instead of an angry newlywed husband, ready to curse her out for disturbing his honeymoon, the woman on the other side seemed calm, if a bit perplexed. She was older, perhaps in her fifties, with short gray hair. She had one of the ship's white bathrobes on, though it didn't look like she had just come out of the shower. When she saw Remi with the laundry bin, she simply looked the maid up and down without saying anything at all. It was almost unnerving.

"Yes, dear," the woman said. Her eyes were cool and brown, and her lips were pale, and pressed together, like a secretary waiting for her instructions. "Can I do anything to help you...?"

There was a moment of silence as Remi tried to collect herself. If this woman wasn't going to get mad at her, then maybe she didn't have anything to worry about after all. "Uh, I'm with housekeeping," she explained, gesturing to the push-cart beside her.

"I can see that," the woman said, looking down at Remi's stupid uniform. There was something strange in the look on her face that Remi didn't quite recognize, but it didn't seem like a red flag.

"Do you... do you have any laundry you want collected?" Remi finally asked, biting her lip. Even though she was just doing her job, she felt a little bit ridiculous, like this woman was expecting her to be something very different and was somehow disappointed. She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was.

"We do, actually," the woman said. The corners of her mouth turned up into a little smile. "Why don't you come inside?" She stood back and held the door open for Remi to follow.

Normally, the guests just brought their laundry to the door in a bag for their room, so it could be easily returned. It was a little irritating to have to go inside and retrieve it, but seeing as Remi had knocked on the door despite the Do Not Disturb sign, she figured that she didn't have much of a right to complain, so she entered the room and left the push-cart out in the hallway.

The older woman closed the door behind Remi, pressing her back against it and staring back at her. "I'm Mrs. Reardon," she said. "Kelly Reardon. Why don't you follow me? I'll show you to the laundry that needs to be taken care of. It's in the bedroom." This was already weirdly personal. Remi had to wonder if this was just what this woman, 'Kelly,' was like. Safiya had never mentioned any encounters like this on this floor, but then again, she was pretty forgetful. And now she was leading Remi to her bedroom? These older guests were all so... open. It was a little weird.