A Masterpiece Gone

Chapter Eighteen

Continuing to gawk at the cheap palm tree painting that hung behind Macie's desk, Jessie finally broke eye contact in frustration. I need a vacation, she grumbled in her head wondering when Macie was going to be coming back so she could finish these last measly minutes of her fourth appointment and be on her way to her customary post-session lunch out with her parents. To be fair, she did just come back from spending a couple of nights at Holly's house, but jumping back into the mundane routine at her parents' of doing nothing was getting to her.

To kill some time, she whipped out her phone and reread her last several work e-mails knowing she was only making herself feel worse at the grievance of not being able to travel for any little career opportunities as offered on the screen because she was on unofficial lockdown thanks to her current living arrangements these past two weeks.

"I apologize I had to take that urgent call in my private office," Macie's voice hushed from the doorway unexpectedly causing Jessie to jump.

Creaking the door closed, Macie made her way back to her armchair across from Jessie and reactivated the timer on her desk behind her without even looking. "Now where were we?" she asked to the clipboard she grabbed from her end table. "Ah, yes. Brendan. How have you been doing with him being away?"

Biting her inner cheek, Jessie selfishly was livid with whatever the emergency was on the telephone for completely steering the conversation in the wrong direction when they really were in the midst of discussing Brendan's role through everything that plagued her. She of course knew that was unfair and had nobody else to blame for barely talking to him lately. It wasn't that she was angry with him; there was just nothing much to say to him on her end because her daily activities were the same nonsense everyday - wake up, breakfast, lunch, dinner, talk to whoever calls to check in, and bed with nothing to do except some television and taking Neil and Jackson out back for bathroom breaks. Because her mother would not even let her lift a finger to help with anything, she felt like a kid who was grounded for the summer.

"I miss him of course, but I am happy knowing he is taking on a wonderful opportunity that hopefully opens more doors," Jessie replied candidly.

Macie smiled. "I have to say, you are handling this separation quite well. Maybe when he gets a break, he can come back and visit," she brought up.

"We're not sure if that will be possible because his breaks really may only span just three days. Maybe, though, since I'm cooped up in my parents' house I can fly out to LA for a few days to see him instead by the end of the summer," Jessie threw in realizing how weird it felt as a grown woman to be asking somebody who still was a stranger permission to go somewhere.

Sweeping back her dark bangs, Macie paused as her smile cooled down a bit. "With your progress just beginning, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to be thinking about leaving anytime soon," she told her as she swirled her ballpoint pen between her fingers. "Whatever your parents are doing with you at home is working wonders."

"But August is two months away and I'm going to have to be getting back to work for real," Jessie argued. "If I don't go, it may be months before I see my own husband again."

"I know it's tough, Jessica, but let's take it one day at a time and see how everything falls into place in August. Besides, you mentioned spending some time with your best friend," Macie stated enthusiastically. "That had to be a nice break from everything."

Jessie could feel her blood boiling and could care less that her face probably looked like a ripe tomato. "I'm in my thirties and am living with my parents where an 'escape' is sleeping over a friend's house for a couple of nights," she admitted nearly through clenched teeth.