A Masterpiece Gone

Chapter Twenty-one

Jessie gave the camera a wink with an exaggerated open-mouthed smile before the sound of their clicks echoed around the small mundane room. "That's a wrap!" some male voice exclaimed behind the camera equipment followed by some faint applause among the eight people in the room.

Although it certainly was not as many shots as a real photoshoot, Jessie's grumbling stomach definitely was more than thrilled to be finished with the newspaper's little write-up on her relationship with new music producer, L. C. Fitz, who she was set to see on Tuesday, and grab a quick lunch somewhere with Jenny before heading home.

Smirking, Jenny stood from her stool off to the left. "Seriously with that last pose?" she asked shaking her head.

Jessie laughed. "Whenever I am in the paper, excluding the tabloids, I always have this polished look as if I am posing for my annual school portraits," she explained. "I wanted to give them an option of me looking fun."

"If you mean fun as in carnival clown, I think you nailed it," Jenny teased with a wink. "Seriously, though, given everything going on in your life, you look great."

You'll see about that in just a few minutes, Jessie thought to herself smoothing out her silky black top.

"Thanks, babe. Did this cut into your lunch time too much?" she asked. "If so, we can take something to go and I will even come back to your office with you."

Jenny laughed. "Please, I loved that I was allowed to come watch your interview today. Besides, you forget I make my own hours," she stated with feigned sass. "My next appointment starts in a little over an hour so that leaves us plenty of time to grab something."

Although Jessie put on her sunglasses once they hit the foyer of the building, one fan recognized her just as she made her way out of the revolving doors onto Fifth Avenue. Jenny instinctively and protectively was about usher Jessie away, but Jessie shook her head. She certainly did not mind, especially since the girl wasn't hostile and in spite of her latest success her fan base was not as big in the United States.

"Perhaps twenty-one is too old to really jump on a celebrity like this, but I've been listening to your music for as long as I can remember," the fan gushed. "And I just want to say thank you for making such powerful music with lyrics that always speak to me."

Jessie remained touched. "That is very kind of you to say and I appreciate you being such a loyal Heartbeat all these years," she told her with profound gratitude.

The girl continued to beam. "I'm proud of it. Anyway, I know you probably get swamped with autographs and pictures all the time so I don't want to take up any more of your time," she said about to head towards the corner. "It's great to see you in New York."

Taken back by the girl's considerate behavior, Jessie told her she had no problem signing something or taking a photo. Astonished, the girl excitedly whipped out her phone for a quick selfie before hugging Jessie goodbye.

"If you're in the mood for caffeine, there is a great eatery many people don't know about just two blocks from my building," Jenny said as she began to walk up the block, blending with a group of tourists rolling their matching gray luggage set. "It may be out of your way going back because we do have to take the train for three stops, but we would get some privacy to talk."

"That's no problem at all and some green tea with lunch sounds good right now," Jessie responded happily, using the brief bonding moment with her fan as a picker-upper. "All I have to do is just alert my driver."

After just a five minute ride below ground heading towards uptown, Jenny led Jessie just two more blocks before they entered the tiny, but extremely clean eatery that only consisted of approximately a dozen tables of four several feet away from the counter. The only people there were two old men debating politics over some type of croissant sandwiches and four business women downing coffee over a slide show presentation on an iPad.