Love & Lies

Chapter Thirty-four

Unlike the ride to her New York co-op from her flight, there was absolutely no conking out on her part on the way to her home in Notting Hill. She kept staring down as if Brendan's right hand cupping her left hand on the black leather seat was going to magically evaporate into thin air. She kept replaying that scene in the airport over and over and still could not pinpoint what possessed her to just kiss him like that. The moment she felt his hands against her shoulders, she was about to break away when she suddenly felt a quick rub against the neck as he finished the kiss.

As she looked his way, they both exchanged such blissful smiles, but it was killing Jessie on the inside that they would have to put talking on hold until they got to her house. It was like Lauren all over again, but she of course understood why.

These next fifteen minutes cannot go by any faster, she impatiently remarked as she checked the estimated time on the Garmin Sat Nav attached to the dashboard up front.

She wondered what Brendan had been thinking when he simply smiled after that kiss without even explaining anything else, including his whereabouts or his father, and simply stated he would help her to the car, much like his duty in July. Judging by his immobile hand now, she knew he was not repulsed by her but she truly wondered what was going to happen as soon as they settled in her living room.

"Jess? The driver just asked you if there is a more private place to drop you off," Brendan's voice suddenly broke Jessie's thoughts.

Immediately Jessie's eyes were glued back to the Sat Nav that now said they were about four minutes away. Was I seriously daydreaming that long? she asked herself.

"No, just the front door will have to do," Jessie replied, envisioning her green attached two-bedroom freehold house with a black terraced roof.

Brendan eagerly peered through his own window anxious to get a glimpse of Jessie's house. Never having been to the United Kingdom before, he loved how the rows of attached homes reminded him of many residential areas back where he lived in New York. Jessie, on the other hand, remained indifferent when her home came into view. When she needed a place to live quickly after David, she truly thought this was going to be temporary not ever predicting the loss of her career.

"Would you like any help with your bags?" the driver asked courteously as he slowly stopped at the curb.

"Thanks, sir, but I will take care of them," Brendan answered for Jessie as he unfastened his seat belt.

Thanking the driver, Jessie got out of the car fumbling for her keys while Brendan carefully retrieved Jessie's luggage. It felt so weird even feeling the rough metal on her nicked plastic animal-print key chain for the first time in months. Ugh, I have no food to offer him, Jessie's inner hostess-mode thought as she watched Brendan secure all the bags and shut the trunk.

Despite the busy life in the district, Jessie was very careful when she moved out of David's house to have picked a quiet street mostly filled with elders who remembered how undesirable the area was back in the eighties. Save for her two next door neighbors, she didn't bother the others and they didn't bother her so when not one soul stood on her block despite the afternoon sun still blaring, Jessie was not at all surprised.

"Not like where we live back in New York," Brendan commented as he got a good look around the street.

"This block, no, but on every other street, yes," Jessie replied, the small talk making her become even more impatient.

As Jessie's key hit the lock and her panel white door swung open, the frigid stale air from her foyer stung her nostrils nearly making her skin twitch at the thought of just how dusty the entire place was under "Jessie" standards. Peeling her coat off to place in the closet later, she meticulously set it on the coat rack at the corner.