Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter 4

The drive home was a blur. Jess's thoughts whirled over everything that happened at the Purgatech offices. Everything Dylan had talked about sounded almost too good to be true. But she so desperately want to believe that the technology Purgatech was working on what allow her to further explore her beliefs.

But her excitement wasn't only about Purgatech and what they had to offer. Seeing Dylan again was a shock to the system. It stirred up so much. She was already reflecting on so much that it happened in her past, but not to have Dylan back in the mix, Jess 's emotions were all over the place.

She was confused. She was excited but still on the fence about Purgatech. And the fact that her relationship with Kyle hadn't been the best these past few weeks were all weighing on her so much that she honestly didn't know what she was going to do.

Unfortunately, when she pulled her car into the driveway and saw Kyle's car parked at the curb, she realized she was going to have to deal with at least one of those things head on.
She turned off the ignition and sat there in the driver seat for a few moments. She hadn't even told Erica about going to the Purgatech offices. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to bring it up to Kyle. But she did know now wasn't the best time to do that. She snatched the envelope off the passenger side seat and shoved into her bag opening the door next in the car.

By the time she walked up the steps to the porch, she saw Kyle standing in the front window looking out at her. He gave her a weak smile and a sheepish wave. Jess took a deep breath before she went inside.

"Hey babe," Kyle said softly from the living room.

"Hi."

"I've been trying to reach you and Erica didn't know where you where. Everything okay?"

Jess' cheeks flushed at this question. Could he tell? Did he know where she had been?

"Yeah, I'm alright. I've just got a lot on my mind that's all."

"Yeah, well I guess a lot of that's my fault, isn't it?" He walked towards her and pulled her in for an awkward hug.

"I'm just as much to blame as you are I guess," Jess said pulling away from him. She took off her jacket and made she made sure to cover her bag with her jacket as she placed it on the couch.

"No, you aren't. After everything that you've gone through lately, I should have been more understanding. You were right."

Jess cringed. She felt like a jerk. He was here to apologize and she'd been off with her ex doing something that she knew full well Kyle wasn't going to approve of.

"Look, you could go on all day about who is more at fault but why don't we just try and put it behind us and move forward?"
"That's exactly what I thought of when you came over here and I couldn't get in touch with you."
Jess plucked her cell phone out of her back pocket. "Oh, sorry about that. I had my phone on silent. I just needed to think and needed to clear my head so I went for a drive to the country.

"Let me guess. You went leaf peeping, huh?" He reached forward and put his hand on her back. Jess's heart skipped a beat. Dylan had just done the same.

She edged away from him. "Yeah."

"And?"

Jess spun around and looked at him wide-eyed, but the way he was smiling at her made her realize that he had no idea what she'd done.

"Did it help I mean?"

"I guess so. It was kind of bittersweet to be honest."

"I know how much You & Gram used to love to do that. Maybe next time we can go together."