Pure Connections

Chapter 21

      Jennie hit the unlock button on her key fob, starting the engine as she slipped into her car. She gripped the steering wheel but leaned back into the headrest. Her guest room was a dusty, chaotic wreck—the bed propped up against one wall, the broken legs now repaired, sheets haphazardly thrown over furniture gathered all in one corner. Dried, muddy footprints left a detailed dossier of treks throughout the apartment to the kitchen and bathrooms, because, contrary to Nellie and Doug's promises, the work on the ceiling had not been contained to the damaged room. But the ceiling was fixed.

      Doug's thick Jersey accent resonated in her head. "Good as new. Three whole days ahead of schedule, too."

      She'd told him thank you, eyes busy examining the spot she could hardly believe had been a gaping hole two weeks ago, especially with the fresh coat of paint covering the initial water damage.

      "Anything for you, Jennie."

      Her apartment was ready, but for a few hours of cleaning and reordering the furniture, which Lis and Chu had promised to help with on Saturday. This was a good thing. Something she'd spent nearly two weeks anticipating. She just hadn't expected the idea of moving back in two days to leave her feeling so... Hollow? Despite her initial frustration with how long she'd be out of her own home, somewhere in the last two weeks, a part of her had begun hoping the repairs would take longer. She needed more time with Lisa—more time to get to know each other, figure out what their feelings meant, if they could do this long term. Then again, maybe the repairs had concluded at exactly the right time. This morning, Lisa's mom had shown up with a clear intent to stay, and there were things they needed to work through. If anything, the fact that Jennie had barely heard from Lisa today only bolstered the idea, and she didn't want to be in the way. Even if it had been a horrible day of cramps, policy updates and her least favorite thing—a disciplinary meeting with a waiter who had been routinely late and on his third strike. All she wanted was to go home, however temporary it was, curl into Lisa's arms with Thai takeout and watch classic rom-coms all night.

      A faint buzzing stirred up in the car, and she glanced down at her phone on the passenger seat, hoping to find Lisa's name on the display. Zia Kim. Her head jerked, and she frowned as she swiped a thumb over the answer button. "Zi?"

      "Hey!" Her voice echoed a higher pitch than Jennie recalled from their coffee date on Monday. "I know this is super unexpected, and weird, because who even calls anyone anymore, right? Me. I do."

      Jennie chuckled, her mood lightening at the rambling she was beginning to associate with her sister. "What's up, Zi?"

      "Is now a good time?"

      "Now's perfect."

      "So...Dad called. You told him we met up?"

      "I did." Jennie sat up straighter in her seat. "Is that not something we're doing?"

      "No. Of course. I guess I'm just still unsure what the rules are here."

      Jennie dropped her head against the headrest, scowling as the strained muscles in her neck ached with the motion. "I don't know, Zi. Make them up as we go?"

      "That's...something I can get onboard with." Zia paused. "Anyway, I was actually calling to see how you'd feel about lunch on Saturday?"

      "Oh." Jennie glanced back at the building beyond the curb to her right, remembering that the mess of an apartment that awaited her would be an all-day project.

      "No pressure," Zia added.

      "No. I'd love to. It's just that I'm sort of moving back into my apartment on Saturday. There was some water damage, a hole in the roof. It was a whole thing."