[Truth be told, there's something eminently enjoyable about having Hilda at his side when he throws his weight around like this; it's one thing to be fawned over, and certainly he'd have his objections to it if he were ever deprived of that particular birthright of his. But what's even more fun is the power play of knowing full well that the resort staff doesn't want to extend the same courtesy to his companion that they're delighted to offer him. Getting what he wants is always sweeter when he knows full well his opposition doesn't want to give it up.

And Hilda, too, seems to grasp that game, if her winning smiles are any indication. When they sit, he opts to play it up just a little, sliding one hand across the tabletop to rest just the tips of his fingers over her own, like a warning to the staff that his influence covers her as figuratively as his touch does literally.]

He's the only one that matters. Evidently there have been a few others around; none that would be all that eager to spend time with me.

[He pauses.]

One was a girl. You might've gotten along with her.