Leaps and landings

17

Spring was in full bloom and Jess and Odette had decided to go for a walk along Chelsea Waterside Park and the High Line. The area was surprisingly slow that day, some sporting event across Manhattan drawing a lot of the crowd. So they took their time and ate some sorbet along the way. They'd spent nearly a week intensively researching and adjusting the stories of Odette's life, Jess typing notes into his phone whenever he thought of something, and this day was no different. They'd settled on the double recliners on the High Line to rest for a while and Odette had just finished telling him about the way she was brought up - a team of nannies, teachers, therapist and trainers to make sure she lacked anything other than the actual parental love. Her family had always resorted in showing their love for her through material things, leaving her doubting if they really wanted her around at all. The only positive of the whole thing was that the therapist they'd stuck her with when she'd been acting up, had actually been pretty good and taken her side in all of this rather than her parent's, hence she'd maintained a fairly healthy outlook on life despite everything.

"So I guess, this is one of the reasons you're so determined to have a kid, to correct their mistakes?" Jess assumed. He'd actually read several stories about women deciding to have children on their own, wanting to understand her better. The stories had been mostly about their ticking biological clocks, something he couldn't quite wrap his brain around, but there were several about women trying to reprimand past regrets or looking to give their lives that something that was otherwise lacking.

"It's a part of it I guess," Odette replied. "But more importantly there's the age, I don't want to be an old and tired mother. They say it's the easiest when you're in your twenties, full of that 'party all night' energy, and now I already feel like my energy is not the same it used to. And I think kids just give some new layer meaning to life. I've been career obsessed, worked myself to the bone, and now I honestly just want to enjoy everything else. I don't need to stress about the money and I can work smaller bits, and I don't want to be one of those mothers who doesn't have time for my kid," she explained.

"So which one have you imagined having, a boy or a girl? I'm sure you have," Jess asked, wanting to see if she'd open up even more. It was like her own secret inner world that he'd never really gotten to see before.

"It's always a girl in my head, but I guess it's natural. Especially when I was thinking of doing this on my own. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with a boy," she added, through laughter. "But I really wouldn't care, as long as it's healthy," she added.

"Have you thought of how you'd raise her?" he asked. He wanted her to keep talking, to get to see that side of her. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, he could see how just the bare thought of it made her radiate joy.

She eyed him dubiously, wondering what had gotten into him, having not expected him to be this interested in the topic.

He stroked her fingers that had been resting on her knee, assuringly.

"I had a period at the end of last year, when Logan was really in his own mindspace and I just felt lonely, so I pretty much read every high-rated parenting book on the planet. But I guess, one thing I'd like to avoid is baby talk. I read some studies how their speech will develop faster and I just don't like the way people act when they do it, but I don't know...maybe it's inevitable?" she laughed.

"Yeah, I tried that with Doula, and I guess I kept it up publicly, but when I was alone with her, I swear I slipped a few times myself," he shared, laughingly.

"Aw... That's adorable," she commented, with a wide smile.

"A lot of French people raise their kids quite strictly, lovingly, but teaching them to behave really well. I'm not really sure how good I will be at that, but I suppose my nannies have left the imprint on me that some things should work a certain way, kids should abide by rules, eat proper food at strict mealtimes, and respect people. But I guess I'd try to find some middle ground between that and what they seem to do here," she added, noting a child throwing a tantrum 60 feet from them with her eyes.