Love & Lies

Chapter Eight

Jessie lay in bed Saturday afternoon just smiling at the ceiling as she reflected on her conversation with Jordan on the phone last night.  I don't remember the last time I spoke to somebody in my entire adulthood for four and a half hours on the phone, she thought.  And I don't remember the last time I woke up this late!  The best thing about their conversation was that it was just really about silly things like a YouTube video that kept cracking Jordan up, Jessie's obsession with cleaning, how Jordan got dog poop all over his sneakers during his run that day...

After a couple of conversations in the past two days to fully plan tonight, Jessie was starting to get more excited than she anticipated.  However, she remembered one small thing that slowly brought down her mood - Jenny's text from Thursday.  She quickly had responded that she would get back to her later because she had to clean up a spill, but left it at that.  She knew it was a lame excuse, but she needed to buy time and now she knew she had to tell Jenny something about why today was no good before she became suspicious...if she was not already.  To her surprise, Jenny never texted her back and deep down, Jessie felt bad if she was screwing up Jenny's weekend.

Looking at her alarm clock, she decided to finally get up and took her phone off the charger.  As she opened her phone to where she last texted Jenny, she typed out the first thing that came to mind, hating how untrue it was:

---So sorry I never texted you back!  First it was the spill and then the rest of the place.  lol  How about tomorrow instead?

She knew no matter what her answer was, Jenny would ask her what she did today when she finally saw her in person, but she hoped by then she reached an answer.  Then again, the florist did say estimated delivery for the flowers would be Sunday so perhaps that would lighten the mood.

After getting a simple outfit, showering, walking Jackson, and having some brunch Jessie saw that Jenny texted her back feeling temporary relief:

---I have one a party to supervise in the evening, but I am free in the morning to the mid-afternoon.  Does that work?

Jessie texted her back that any time worked for her and recommended brunch.  For a good fifteen minutes, Jenny didn't respond, but then called Jessie's cell.  Jessie knew she was screwed as she was expecting to think of some excuse by tomorrow regarding not seeing Jenny tonight.  However, she couldn't ignore Jenny.

"Hi!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Hey, I hope I'm not disturbing your cleaning regime," Jenny joked.  "I figured I would just call you because it's easier to talk.  Brunch sounds great, but I realized that if I travel to you it will have to be extremely rushed because I would have to go home and get changed for work."

Jessie felt a pang of guilt.  "That's okay.  I am sure we will find a better day to do something," she told her.

"No, we can still do brunch, but it would be easier if you came here.  I have it all planned," Jenny said.  "I know your first big time in the city will be next Saturday when we all go out and Brendan will be with us, but I have an idea that won't require Brendan at the last minute and you will be completely safe.  You'll take a car from Lauren's to and from my apartment and I'll have brunch sent over here."

Jessie groaned.  "I already told you I don't want to use Lauren like that.  I'll just call - " she began before being interrupted.

"I knew you were going to be difficult so I already called Lauren myself and booked your arrival and pick-up times," Jenny declared, triumph in her tone.  "Could you be ready by 9?  I know that's early for brunch, but by the time you get here depending on traffic I figured it was safe."