Leaps and landings

43

It was Saturday morning, Jess and Celeste lingered in bed, him having woken her up rather pleasantly. Celeste was now slightly propped to her side, a pillow under her belly, Jess' fingers tracing it's smooth surface.

"Are you happy?" she asked, after a lenghty pause.

"Wow, where did that just come from? Early morning and already asking the serious questions," Jess exclaimed laughingly, feeling caught off guard. She wasn't doubting his feelings for her, was she?

"Well, are you?" Celeste continued to inquire.

"Yes, I am," Jess replied, kissing the top of her belly and then her lips. His stubble was a little rough, his hair messy and inneed of a hair cut, but she didn't really mind.

He stared at her questioningly, wondering what brought this on.

"I just started wondering... I haven't seen you at work before, and I guess all the corporate stuff doesn't seem very 'you'. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but it doesn't seem like you enjoy it much," Celeste explained, hesitantly. These were the little things where she was reminded by the fact that she hadn't really known him that long - she had impressions of him, and she wanted to believe she understood him better than anyone else, but she couldn't be sure - no matter how intensive their relationship had been so far, they didn't have years of experience on reading each other.

"Well does anyone really love making status reports?" he asked in return, half-jokingly.

"Yeah, but you're a writer, an editor," she pointed out.

And in that sense she was right - those were the reasons he'd gotten involved in the business in the first place.

"Well those things haven't dissappeared, they are just a little on the back burner right now," Jess replied.

"And are you okay with that? I just mean... I just hope you know that you shouldn't think that you need to do those things for me, for us," Celeste clarified.

Jess smiled. "Yeah, I know," he replied, feeling incredibly lucky to have her. "I kind of feel it is my responsibility, not in a bad way, but the type things that we publish, it's a bit alternative, and I feel like there is a need for this type of business, and when Chris and Matthew left, I just felt I couldn't just leave it. And I think there is just a lot to do right now when things are just picking up. Later when I have a full grasp on it all, I can probably shift a lot of it to assistants to comply. I'm still learning myself," he explained.

"But do you miss the writing?" Celeste asked.

"I do, but it'll just have to wait until it can't wait any longer and it comes pouring out of me," Jess said, as if it was the most normal process.

"I'm sorry you couldn't take the book you wrote about my story any further, I really liked it," she said. She still sometimes wondered about that - he'd written it with such enthusiasm, like he'd said - it had poured out of him.

"Well I still have it, technically, and if I, we, feel like going further with that I'm sure with enough alternations in the details it'd still be possible, but it's not something I have to do," Jess replied. Getting the story out of him was one thing, getting it published was not necessarily.

"Auch, here she goes again," Celeste sensed the baby kicking, rather painfully in fact. Jess placed his hand near the spot as well with a shushing sound. He loved feeling her, envying Celeste a little for the connection she was already forming with her. He'd seen Celeste read out to her, talk to her when she didn't know he was near, and it was an amazing sight.

"I think we'll soon have more urgent things to think about than that book. And any new ones will come when they come," Jess added with a smirk, seeming content.