" He guided her out of the outbuilding that contained all the machinery.Marie climbed on behind Jesse and began to think hard about how to reconcile t...e vast difference between reported income and expenditures. She hoped Jesse's idea had at least a little merit.Jesse pulled up in front of the equipment barn and stopped. Marie eased off and half ran to the house while Jesse put the Polaris away. He smiled as he thought of how simple his idea was. For once he felt he was ahead of Marie where. I hadn't cheated on her but I felt for the first time that it was a close thing.I spent a good hour talking to Naomi later that morning and Dad and Megan were wonderful in letting me have that time alone on the phone with her. Again, nothing was said about the possibility of a relationship but I felt closer to her after that conversation. I guess I knew it was heading in that direction now. I was no longer filled with self-doubt and I found myself beginning to imagine doing with Naomi the. I barked a laugh, which seemed to stretch into sort of a manic giggle, and told her about my most recent thoughts of her own assets. She laughed, as well, then shocked me back into silence as she picked up her over-sized purse, withdrew a black candle, fit it into a black holder, and placed it in the center of the room on the floor. She lit it with a lighter, which she returned to her purse, then sat facing the burning candle, her legs crossed, Indian-style, her back straight. She looked like a. It's a perfect deadlock... Aoshi (thinking): I'm sorry... Beshimi, Hyottoko, Shikijou, Hanya. In the end, as Battousai said, for your sake my soul was lost in a blind alley. Maybe I was a fool, saying it was all because of you... But win or lose, it ends here. No... I'll finish this with a victory for your sake!(They are motionless, watching each other.)Sanosuke (thinking): This is taking forever... It's been ten minutes, but it feels like hours... There's gotta be a clock around here.(He goes.