Love & Lies

Chapter Four

Jessie mentally went through a list of people with whom she used to maintain good relationships here, but the two she thought of were not connected to Lauren or Jenny and they were not men.  Besides, even if that were the case, Jenny and Lauren knew her circumstances and would not surprise her with other acquaintances without her permission.

She quickly tip-toed to the door to look out the peephole, but all she could see was a hand holding up some white plastic bag.  Before she could ask who it was, the voice called out, "I believe you left this in the vestibule, Ma'am!"

Jessie tried to think what she could have possibly left behind, but remembered she had not unpacked a few single rolls of paper towels.  Feeling a little bit better, she opened the door to see Phil lifting up the bag.  "Thank you," she said.  "Did you happen to see my boyfriend come back down?  He would have come back up so you didn't have to abandon your post just for that."  She reached for the bulky, but lightweight grocery bag not sure if Brandon gave him the same impression as they did for Dan while he was waiting for her outside earlier.

"No, I must have just missed him.  It was no bother.  I have to go up to the fifth floor, anyway, to quickly check the connection of the security camera before calling maintenance," he explained.  "I noticed you left this behind in the vestibule when you were holding the door, but neither of you heard me calling."

"Thank you for making the trip up," Jessie answered and closed the door as Phil began to walk away.

She put away the paper towels and leaned against the counter.  She began to drum her short, unpainted fingernails realizing she had no idea what to do with herself now.  It was too early to begin dinner and although she had a bowl of cereal hours ago, she was not overly hungry.  

Because she did not want to fall into a slump being that her mood was much better, Jessie debated whether she should just go for a walk close to her building so she did not get lost.  She felt bad that she did not think of this when Brendan was here, but she figured after being in public today she was completely safe.  

By the time I'm done, I will be ready to make dinner and will try to see if Jenny's around to make plans, she thought with determination.  All the exercise will probably help my appetite.

To kill even more time, Jessie decided to take the stairs all the way down to the foyer.  She noticed Phil had not returned to his post yet as she let herself out both sets of double glass doors.

Jessie decided to go in the opposite direction like she had when Brendan first met her to take her to the store.  She recalled seeing only houses and figured it was safe to continue straight so she would easily find her way back.  After a few blocks of nothingness, Jessie decided to head the other way.  Dissatisfied with the fact that her phone told her it was still too early when she finally reached her building, she decided it was safe to head in the direction towards the grocery store to extend her walk.

By the time the grocery store came into view, she stopped at the corner and resurveyed her surroundings.  Like before, the avenue was not that busy and people just went about their business.  She turned to the direction of boisterous laughter to the right and spotted two college aged girls in the crosswalk with Starbucks coffees seemingly hysterical over something about their psychology professor.

Hmmm, I did want to visit the Starbucks so why not today?  she thought as her eyes followed the direction of the girls crossing the street.  Maybe I can relax there with whatever newspaper they have.

She gave the grocery store one last glance, grinning to herself as she remembered what Brendan challenged her to do.  I'll see how well I do at this establishment, she challenged in her mind.