Things To Say Before I Go

Chapter 3: Jess

I stared in the mirror as my night shirt hung limply on my shoulders. It was actually one of Brett's old shirts that I stole to wear. He told me that I looked good in it, so I wore it, which always made him smile. Now seeing myself in it made it feel so foreign on my body. I took it off and hopped in the shower, not wanting to think about him. I didn't want my brain to have to continue contemplating whether or not I made the right decision in telling him to leave. 

I got out of the shower, dried off and went back into my bedroom where I found a voicemail on my cell phone. It was from my sister Ali. She was just calling to check in and wondered what I was doing the following weekend because she was going to be in town and wanted to meet for lunch. I figured I'd call her back later. I got dressed and went downstairs. Coffee was the priority, as it was the only way I was going to get through the morning. I went over to the counter and grabbed the coffee pot. I tipped it over into my mug, but nothing came out. It was empty. 

I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid. Brett normally made the coffee in the morning because I always showered first, so there would always be coffee for me by the time I got downstairs. There wasn't enough time to make some now so I planned to stop on the way to work.

********************

Walking through the streets of Manhattan is an experience and if you haven't done it, add it to your bucket list. I have been to a couple of the major cities in the world, but Manhattan, or at least the friendly parts of it, are some of the best I've ever seen. I marveled at the beauty of the city as I walked down the street. The old buildings mixed with the new, the architecture of it all. It's really something to admire.

I was quickly sucked out of my state of wonder as reality hit me in the form of a person in headphones that wasn't looking where they were going. I just love going unnoticed. I found a coffee shop, which was like finding Heaven to me, and went inside. Now it's not like I couldn't make some at home. I could have, I know how to make it. I was just too lazy and gave up. The line inside the shop was horribly long and the spot I had taken was the last spot that could be had within the store. If anyone else got in line it, would've gone out the door. I had to give up coffee that morning and settle on the crappy coffee in the break room at work. 

Finally making it work, I went through the same monotonous routine of fighting through the building lobby, getting into the elevator, and suffering from claustrophobia. I made it to the break room once again, got my coffee, grabbed a couple sugars and creams and made my way to my desk, saying 'Hi' to Nancy as I passed, which had started to become a tradition. Nancy was a woman that I didn't know to much about. She had been working there when I started, so God only knows how long she'd been there. She was nice and I once heard someone say 'hi' to her, so I started doing it. She learned my name somehow and said 'hi' back, and now every morning, Kelsey and I would say 'hi' to her as we walked by. The thing was, though, that we never actually seen her face. 

Anyway, I sat down at my desk and de-crapped my coffee, trying to make it palatable. Somewhere in that process, Kelsey walked in. 

"The coffee is THAT bad this morning, huh?" she asked, seeing my disgusted facial expression. I nodded. "Good to know," she groaned, going to get some of her own. 

"You've been warned!" I called after her. 

I started to get to work. Two files had been emailed to me that needed to be forwarded to a client called Ferguson Hardware, and an order confirmation was waiting for me to print out and copy, one for the file, one for Melanie and one to be delivered to the law firm in the next building over. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do hand delivery today so I decided to put that off until the end of the day and see if I could leave it for tomorrow. I heard Kelsey say 'hi' to Nancy and make it back to her desk.