Gilmore Girls: Wish Upon a Snow

Chapter 16

"Hi Lindsay. I'm Jess Mariano." He studied her face. Something in her eyes tugged at his subconscious.
"Wait! JESS Mariano?" Lindsay beamed.
Jess knit his eyebrows together and tried to remember why she looked so familiar.
"We went to high school together. Wow! What a small world!" Lindsay laughed, pulling out her phone. She glanced at Jess, who did not seem to be registering their shared connection. "I was married to Dean," she clarified.
Jess finally recognized her. "Ah," he said. He kicked himself silently, trying to come up with something more intelligent to say. "Ah, well. I was uh, not his biggest fan, you know. Plus, I didn't have the best attendance record." He winced. Did he really have to say that- of all things?
"Yeah! Well, I'm not his biggest fan either. Thus, you know, the divorce. He cheated on me, actually. With Rory Gilmore, d'you remember her?" Resentment settled into Lindsay's features, evidence of a grudge that was never quite let go.
"Oh, yeah, for sure. We dated for a long time. So how are you? Are you remarried?" Jess fiddled with a pen on his desk. He couldn't help but notice he was hoping she would say no.
"Nope, I'm not. I was really sad things with Dean didn't work out. I had really been hoping that we could prove everyone wrong that said we wouldn't work out because we got married so young. I wish I would have listened. I got my life together after that, went to school. I'm a dental hygienist now. I live here in Philly." She gave him a small smile.
"You forgot part-time author," Jess said. His charm surprised him. Thank God he thought of something intelligent to say.
"That I did! Well. What did you think about the book? My book?" Lindsay's eyes sparkled.
Jess hated this part.
Tapping his pen on the manuscript, Jess struggled slightly. "Well. The story is good. This isn't the kind of thing that we usually publish though, we have somewhat of a type. So I would have to discuss this with Matthew and get his take on it. Unfortunately, he is gone for the day." He blurted this out in a rush. It wasn't a full-on lie. He would discuss it with Matthew and Matthew would also say no.
"A type, huh?" Lindsay said. Her eyes danced in the light. Jess recognized the first sign of impending tears. "Do you have a type?"
Jess pulled his pen back up to his face, clicking it in his hand in front of us his face almost defensively. Her boldness shocked him.
"Um, as in for women?"
Lindsay smirked. "I guess a more appropriate question would be if I fit the type you have. Rory and I definitely don't look alike." The shine was suddenly gone in her eyes and was replaced with a flirtatious twinkle.
Jess tapped the pen against his lip. "Look, Lindsay..." he began. He was interrupted by a knock at the door office door by the delivery guy. The delivery guy, Ryan, recognized Jess and opened the door. He felt comfortable with Jess as he delivered to the office at least four times a week. "Hey, just dropping off your food, man. Everything was taken care of online." He placed a bag on the desk and left quickly. Ryan had a good feeling this was a meeting he shouldn't be interrupting.
"Saved by the bell, I guess." Lindsay smiled. She slid a card across the desk. "There's my number. Let me know after you talk to Matthew so we can talk about the book. Or...whatever you want to talk about."
Jess made eye contact with her and smirked. Her eyes stirred a rush of lust within him. "Have a great night," he said simply.
Lindsay left the office.
He flipped her card around in his hand for a few moments, wrestling with his thoughts. He shut it in his desk drawer and dug into his sandwich.