Love & Lies

Chapter Twenty-eight

As she stared into the mirror in the bathroom by the kitchen, Jessie was in utter disbelief by how gaunt her face looked.  It had been only four days into her hermit period but everything was much harder than she had envisioned.  Lauren was set to come over Saturday for a girls' day in, but that seemed like years away after being stuck in the house having done everything imaginable including having already packed her summer clothes.  There was only so much cleaning even Jessie could do and the place was so desolate without her favorite furry companion.

She rummaged through her hair, which looked fine but became horrified by how bad her chipped nails looked.  She ended up not making it to the hair or nail salon the day before Thanksgiving and just did her own nails with a cheap bottle of black nail polish.  She normally wasn't vain, but it looked like the coats themselves actually damaged the top layer of her nails in certain spots.

Before she could stress anymore about her appearance, the sound of her ringing cell phone brought her much hope.  "Thank God you're calling much earlier, Jenny," she nearly sang as she ran into the kitchen.

Grabbing for the phone on the counter, her heart sank in disappointment when she saw Jordan's name on the screen.  Hastily sighing, Jessie channeled her inner positive self and answered the phone. 

"Hey, babe, how's it going?" Jordan's cheerful voice asked.

Being that they just spoke during breakfast, Jessie really couldn't fake anymore exciting things about her supposed stay at Jenny's house.  "Good.  How about you?" she questioned him back.

"Fine.  I know we spoke much earlier, but I just wanted to tell you I probably won't get to talk to you again until late tomorrow night," Jordan explained.  "I'm in the city right now for that meeting later, but they just called to say there is a good chance they are postponing for tomorrow due to that developing storm.  In that case, I am going to just book a room somewhere before it's too late.  And if we end up getting just dust, oh well."

Jessie's mind went blank.  "Snow?  I don't notice anything different in the weather," she reported.

"Babe, it's been all over the news.  We're only getting maybe five inches, but the winds are going to be ridiculous, maybe even strong enough to lose power," he explained.  "Does your friend have enough food?  Batteries?"

Jessie's eyes immediately went towards her own closed cabinets.  "Uh, yeah.  Some stuff," she responded, though she was not one hundred percent sure exactly what her supply of batteries was.

"The snow isn't supposed to happen until maybe six, but the winds will start to pick up around four.  Just be careful," he insisted.  "I don't have my charger so I'm going to shut off my phone after I find out what's going on with this meeting."

"Thanks, I will.  You be safe, too," she said wholeheartedly.  

After they both hung up, Jessie hurriedly looked towards the window to nothing but her dining area soaking up streams of light.  Shrugging, she parked on a stool off her counter and began to drum her fingers trying to plot her next activity.  

Jess, all this free time is making your brain mush.  Do you know what that phone call means? she asked herself.

She didn't need to look into the mirror to know that a smile was spreading across her face.  With Jordan completely gone, she was free to actually go out besides checking her mail only late at night without having to worrying about bumping into him.  

After looking down at her nails one last time, she nodded even though there was nobody in the room to receive the gesture.  With Jenny not calling until later, one last trip to the nail salon and maybe the hair salon depending on the weather would both get her out of the house and keep her from doing nothing but worry until she heard Jenny's voice.