Leaps and landings

7

"Jess?" Odette said, as she heard him pick up. "It's me..," she added in a trembling voice. Her throat felt dry and the room stuffy.

"Who is this?" Jess asked, feeling momentarily confused, the tremble in her voice altering the tonality enough not to recognize it.

Odette then realized she was calling from her new number, which Jess didn't have.

"Oh, sorry, it's Odette," she replied, instinctively wanting to hide her eyes in embarrassment for having assumed he'd just recognize her by her voice.

So many thoughts rushed through Jess' mind. It had been two weeks of silence. He'd never thought he would hear from her again, but he had hoped. The ache that had almost subsided, when not being reminded of it, was brought back in an instant.

"Are you there?" she asked at the lengthy silence, Jess letting just out a deep exhale. Whether it was one of relief, self-preservation or hope, he couldn't quite tell yet.

"I'm here. Hi," Jess replied, apologetically. "I just wasn't expecting your call," he added.

"I...," she began, not really knowing how to explain everything. Should she tell him that Mitchum Huntzberger had made some calls? That surely was just on a need-to-know basis. Was this good news for her or for them? Did he even want to have anything to do with her after learning her complexities? Either way this didn't feel like a phone conversation. "I'd like to see you, talk to you," she said, almost pleadingly.

"I'm in Philadelphia this weekend. A friend of mine is having a birthday party, I said I'd be there," he explained. The reason seemed almost trivial, childish, and he would've gladly skipped the event if it wasn't one of his closest friends and he himself was soon going to be spending more time in New York than Philly. Also he considered that just jumping in to the car to go see her might have seemed a little too needy, which he probably was, despite trying to hide it. He knew it'd be at least a week before he would be back in New York, but he desperately wanted to know what she had to say, he didn't want to wait. "But if you want, you could come here," he suggested, holding his breath as he waited for her response. In a way this was his defence mechanism as well, having her go the extra mile this time - leaving her the time to reconsider, if it was just a momentary thing for her perhaps.

"Tomorrow?" Odette asked.

"I should be done with by 5, or if you wan't I could make it a longer lunch," he replied, thinking over his schedule.

"5 is good. I'll take the Amtrack," she replied. She could sense he was a little guarded, and she couldn't blame him. But she took what she was offered. She hoped, she hadn't lost her chance.

It was Friday afternoon, when Rory was sitting at the kitchen counter, her laptop in front of her, going through the suggestions of their interior designer, deciding on the countertop appliances, paintings and a few decorative objects for their new penthouse. Odette could see from Rory's face that she wasn't very keen on the entire activity, squinting her nose and raising her eyebrows as she flipped through the options.

"Why in the world would someone need a toaster that costs 300 dollars?" Rory huffed, not really expecting a reply.

"It is made of gold?" Odette chuckled mildly, placing her leather tote bag onto the kitchen island and filling her water bottle. She wore a mustard color wrap blouse with a simple pair of jeans, her grey leather jacket thrown over it. She'd packed light, not wanting to show up in Philadelphia with the full weekend wardrobe like she was imposing herself on him, but hopefully, or just in case, she'd still packed her small packing cube with spare underwear, a toothbrush, and a simple pair of black leggings and a light viscose shirt dress.