Journey of Jo & Jess

Seeing Him...Again

Jess' POV

"Sorry we didn't call."

"Hey, life's about the spontaneous, right?" he asks.

"This your place?" I ask.

"The Inferno, yes,"

"It's nice," Jo says.

"Thanks."

"Hey, why don't I come out there?" he asks.

"We didn't mean to interrupt your work," Jo tells him.

"No problem. Hey, Lee. I'm gonna take a break for a while," he says.

"Thank god," Lee, replies.

"You didn't have to do that," I tell him.

"It's fine."

More awkward.

"So, first time on the West coast?"

"First time on the West coast."

"Okay... the sights."

We just nod at him.

"Ocean," he says, pointing.

"I wondered what that was."

"Sand."

"Keeps the ocean in its place," Jo adds.

"Sky."

"We got one of those back East."

"And then you have the boardwalk. Sunglasses, smoothies, bootleg cd's."

"Good ones?" I ask.

"Not bad. I never actually bought one. My neighbor Stan did. He's not my neighbor anymore. He used to work at Lockheed, but they shut down the Burbank plant."

We talked for more before he had to go back to work. We sat and read until it was time for him to go home.

--

When we get back to Jimmy's house Sasha doesn't seem happy, so Jess and I leave, so they can talk.

We end up going to a bookstore Jess had spotted. We wandered around, not really finding anything we wanted. Suddenly Jimmy comes in.

"Hey, when you say "We're going to check out a bookstore on the boardwalk,'" you be a little more specific," he says.

"What?" Jess asks.

"I've been wandering around for over an hour. I've been to three different bookstores. I have been worried sick about you two. Do you hear me!?"

"I'm sorry," I reply.

"Outside!" he yells.

"But-" he cuts Jess off.

"Outside!" he repeats.

Jess and I share a look, pulling our jackets back on as we walk out. We meet Jimmy on the sidewalk.

"You in trouble?" he asks.

"What?" Jess asks again.

"When you left home, were the cops after you?"

"No," I reply.

"No 'cause they shouldn't be, or 'cause they haven't found the head yet?"

"What's up, Jimmy?" Jess asks.

"I just- you just showed up here, man."

"I know we did," Jess says.

"No call, no letter. Just like-"