A Masterpiece Gone

Chapter Twenty-two

Jessie touched the wood base of her banister before doing a 360 around the wide space of her living room as Jackson and Neil finally settled down on the aerial rug from her entry through the front door five ten minutes ago .  "Almost a week working here and this girl is almost cleaner than me," she whispered in amazement.  After she realized she used the word 'almost,' she couldn't help but have a little chuckle.

However, she felt like she was running out of tasks for her to do as one can only clean, do laundry, walk and look after the dogs, stop at the grocery store, respond to a few unimportant business correspondences on her behalf, and other random errands so many times.  

"Give her more responsibility," Brendan had suggested when she spoke to him the other night.  "Let her book your rides when you don't take the car out, organize your future appointments, help you do something to the backyard...."

Although it was possible Brendan may have mentioned it to Gianna to an extent, Jessie had yet to admit to her that every Wednesday or so that she would be going for counseling.  There was just something very knowing in Gianna's eyes, though she had yet to say anything.  

Jessie decided to give upstairs a quick check figuring she was up there and was delighted to see on her first stop that as requested, Gianna left her clothes on her bed neatly folded; towels and sheets were one thing, but she just didn't feel right allowing her to put away her clothes.  However upon reentering the hallway and stopping by the other rooms, Gianna was no where to be found.

"Gia?" she called down the hall towards the stairs, but there was no answer.

Being there really was nothing else for her to do today, Jessie wondered where else she could be.  Uneasy, Jessie hustled back down the stairs only to find the other rooms on the first floor and even the basement, which was not being used for anything at the moment, void of Gianna's tiny presence.  She was about to exit the kitchen to call her on her cell when the sound of plastic grating against concrete brought her attention towards the backdoor leading to the yard.

Peering out of the glass, Jessie stood amazed at the beautiful, fresh and healthy green patches of grass that now overtook where there was once just dirt left from the previous owner.  As shifted her view to the left, she spotted Gianna with a cell phone pressed against her ear while he free hand dabbed sweat off her forehead.  Carefully opening the door as so not to startle her, Jessie stepped onto the bare concrete.

Immediately, Gianna nervously locked eyes with Jessie before whispering, "Gotta go - we'll talk more about this later," into the receiver.

"You didn't have to hang up.  I didn't meant to interrupt your conversation," Jessie apologized.

Gianna slipped her phone into the back pocket of her stained dressy crop pants.  "No, it's fine," she insisted.  "It wasn't anybody important anyway."

Jessie gestured towards Gianna's masterpiece.  "This is amazing!  Thank you so much.  But you didn't have to assume this project on your own," she told Gianna, who smiled tiredly.  "I was only just toying around with the idea of planting grass yesterday."

"My pleasure.  With the first summer day lacking humidity, it was such a perfect morning to come out and garden," she explained.

Jessie gave her new grass a second look nodding in pleasure.  She couldn't wait until she got fancier patio furniture and maybe even one day put in a pool or jacuzzi considering the space.  "I know you said it's not as humid, but all that work certainly is tough under even the slightest of heat," she brought up diverting her attention back to Gianna.  "I hope you at least took a lunch break."

Gianna's face glowed red for a second before she sheepishly looked away.  "Nah.  I ended up not being hungry," she responded.

"Listen, you did way more than you had to today and it's already one o'clock," Jessie stated motioning towards her kitchen.  "I actually was going to make my own self something so why don't you go freshen up a bit while I grab your lunch out of the fridge and pour something really cold to drink."