Betting Jessica

by Deanne Wilsted

  At two in the morning, as she was waiting outside in the cold night for someone to bring her the key for her condo, she had been sure of it. On top of it all, after eventually showing up, they’d left her there with the remains of her luggage and no way to get to the condo except a long and tiring walk uphill. Exhausted she had finally tumbled into bed at 2:30 in the morning, tightly holding onto the hope that things would be better in the morning.

  And in fact she had awakened to see a chipper sun shining through the window. She had looked around the bedroom she had claimed the night before, glad to see how pretty it was even though it was quite simple. Better yet, she had realized, climbing out of bed onto a well swept floor, the condo was spotlessly clean; something she’d been too tired to notice the night before.

  The rental company had left a pint of milk in the fridge and ground coffee was set out by a coffee maker. “God bless them,” she’d said to the ceiling, completely forgetting how she’d been left stranded the night before.

  When the coffee was ready she had poured herself a cup and wandered around the condo, appreciating the way the owners had made a rental place feel so homey. There weren’t any expensive knick knacks for renters to steal or break, but there were lots of cute little touches; like a jar filled with sea shells and colorful velvety throw pillows on the couch in front of the fireplace.

  Shivering now in the rainy cold, she consoled herself with plans to light a fire as soon as she got home. She was annoyed that she had even decided to leave the condo that day. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; the best way to revive her mood after having gone to get dressed and realizing that all her new clothes were in the lost bag.

  Instead of waiting around for the airline to deliver her luggage she had pulled on a pair of sweats and gone to explore. She’d quickly found the two bicycles left under the deck as promised, and without giving it another thought she’d pocketed her condo key, jumped onto one of them and taken off down the hill.

  The shops and restaurants in Tahoe City ran along a stretch of two lane road which paralleled the lake. Jessica had enjoyed the wind as it blew through her hair while coasting down the hill. She tried not to think about what it would take to ride back up.

  At the bottom she’d stopped to get her bearings. There didn’t look like much going on to the left, so she’d turned right and started peddling along the designated bike lane. She had barely gone half a mile when a loud siren behind her practically toppled her right off her bike.

  Jessica had braked at the curb and looked over her shoulder to find a police car pulling up right next to her. Puzzled, she’d waited to see what was going on.

  “Miss? You know that cycling without a helmet is both dangerous and against the law.” The officer had pulled out a notepad while Jessica had stared at him in shock. Was he kidding? she had thought. He was actually going to give her a ticket.

  “Ummm,” she’d finally spluttered, “of course. But I just got into town and I didn’t get a chance to find the helmet, and I was only going to go down to find a store, and then go right back to my condo. That’s all. I swear.”

  Jessica’s rambling hadn’t even seemed to reach the officer’s ears. She’d heard a loud rip and had numbly reached out to take the little piece of paper he’d handed her.

  “Don’t get back on that bike until you get a helmet,” he’d said as he climbed into his car and pulled around her onto the road.

  She glared again at the offensive bike as she determinedly pushed it up the hill. It had taken less than 24 hours and she had already gotten into trouble with the police. And not even for something fun. The stupid bike seemed to gain weight as she pushed it up the hill. She should have simply left it by the side of the road where she’d slumped down next to it ready to cry after the officer had left.

  It wasn’t until she had actually stopped and looked down at the ticket that she’d discovered it was only a warning. She’d breathed a sigh of relief and noticed the officer had also written directions to a nearby bike store.

  Picking up her dropped bike she’d decided to head there first. She’d pushed it along the side of the road while checking out the stores as she walked by. Apparently, however, she should have spent more time looking down since after about ten minutes of walking she’d heard a hissing sound and realized one of her tires was going flat. Shit.

  Good thing she was on her way to the bike store anyway, she’d thought. Presumably they could also fix the flat. Exhausted, she hadn’t even had the energy to grumble as they sold her a new helmet for $50 and a tire repair kit repair kit for $15. The bike wasn’t even hers, she’d grouched to herself. And, although the bike store had helped her patch the hole, she’d then had to push it back to a gas station to refill the air. She’d probably spent more time pushing the damn bike than she had riding it, she realized as the condo loomed ahead of her.

  The thunder that suddenly broke through her reverie was almost expected after the day she had had. Great! Just great. Jessica swore trying to finish her walk before being struck by lightning; a distinct possibility.

  It was the afternoon of her very first day and she hadn’t even made it to the store yet. If things didn’t get better by tomorrow she would seriously consider admitting defeat and taking the next plane home; her luggage was probably still sitting in Boston anyway.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Okay, Jessica thought and took a deep breath, time for a new day! She tried to decide how she felt about that as she lay in bed the next morning.

  Fine, she realized… although she would probably feel even better after coffee. The question was, should she shower first or go straight to the cafe. A shower would be easy, but the idea of caffeine tormented her. She rolled over to get out of bed and groaned in pain. Obviously the gym hadn’t prepared her for this much bike riding. She stood up stiffly and pulled on her dirty sweats; the same ones she’d been wearing for days now since her other pair were in her lost luggage and she hadn’t yet made it to the store to buy detergent for the washing machine.

  Sadly she would have to get back onto her bike. She’d finished off the small bag of coffee the management company had left for her. She didn’t really want to leave the condo at all. She was still disgruntled that the pizza delivery guy the night before had refused to stop on his way to buy her more coffee.

  Really, it’s not like I wouldn’t have paid him, she thought.

  Nothing she had said, however, could apparently convey how dire her circumstances were. At the time she had decided she would be fine without it in the morning. Now though that idea seemed idiotic. At least, having walked her bike all over town, she knew where a coffee place was. Ignoring her sore muscles she decided the bike would be the quickest way to get the coffee she desperately needed.

  Jessica cruised into the coffee house’s parking lot, gasping when she saw the amazing lake view. The sunlight which sparkled on the crystal blue water practically blinded her. She skidded to a stop and sat there for a minute taking in the scene, until she realized she was blocking the path to the door. Moving off to the side, she locked her bike up on the deck attached to the coffee place and went inside.

  The aroma of coffee assailed her and she breathed it in while she looked at all the yummy breakfast treats. With a little frown she spotted the reduced fat bran muffin and decided to be good. Maybe it would give her the energy she needed to tackle the hill home.

  “Large latte, no foam,” she ordered, “and that muffin in the front please.”

  The guy taking her order placed a tray in front of her with samples of some sort of cake.

  “These come from the bakery down the road. Try one; they’re awesome.”

  He was seriously cute, in a wicked kind of way. And the cake offer just confirmed that he was in league with the devil.

  “Um, no thanks.” Jessica smiled.

  She grabbed her latte and muffin and headed out the door to enjoy the view while she thought about what she should do with her day. Well, obviously, sh
e needed to go to the grocery store. She slapped her hand on her forehead. Darn! In her rush for coffee she’d forgotten her shopping list. She’d have to recreate it when her brain was more awake. There was no way she would take the extra trip back up and down the hill just for the dumb list.

  Jessica visualized exactly where she’d left it… right next to the project plan she’d revisited before heading to bed. It reminded her that she needed to get to work on the bet today, especially since she had wasted her first day on all the stupid bike stuff. The picture of Ian’s house was still in her pocket from the day before so at least she wouldn’t have to return home for that. She actually doubted it would do her any good since it was a view from the lake; although maybe if she showed it around someone could point her in the right direction.

  Finishing the last bite of muffin Jessica left her coffee on the table and went back inside to see if anyone could help her. There were no customers at the counter so she walked up to talk to Bad Guy.

  “Hey.”

  He looked up and smiled. “Back for that sample?”

  “Huh? Oh, no,” Jessica said. “Actually, though, could I maybe borrow a pen for a minute?”

  “Sure.” Even though there were plenty in a cup near the register, he took the one from behind his ear and smoothly handed it over.

  “Thanks,” she said hesitantly and then cleared her throat. “And, well, I know this might sounds stupid, but I was wondering if you could help me find this house.”

  She pulled the picture of Ian’s house from her pocket and flattened it out on the counter.

  Bad Guy raised his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s from the lake side. But it’s the only picture I have.”

  “Don’t worry,” he finally answered with a laugh. “I’ve seen it before. Ian Drake’s house, right?”

  Jessica blushed, embarrassed. “Well, yeah,” she said. “It’s probably not exactly what you think though, but it’s too long to go into.”

  “Hey, don’t worry. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you,” he said smiling. “It’s no problem. Here,” he wrote something on a piece of paper and slid it across the counter to her. “It’s his address, though there are no numbers, so you’ll have to sort of extrapolate.”

  “Thanks,” Jessica said, embarrassed but also struck by how incongruous it was to hear him use a word like extrapolate. She looked down at the address Bad Guy had given her and smiled.

  It may have been absolutely, horrifyingly, embarrassing but at least she now had Ian’s address. She laughed out loud in amazement. Who knew it would be that easy?

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Jessica savored the small bite of pastry she had rewarded herself with after writing her grocery list and returning Bad Guy’s pen to him. She contemplated what to do next with her day.

  Obviously she had to get to the store before she trekked back up the hill; however before that perhaps she should ride around and see if she could locate Ian’s house from the address she now had.

  She pocketed the grocery list and put on her helmet. Brushing the crumbs off her shirt she made her way between the now busy tables on the deck and walked over to her bike. The lock’s tiny key was lost in her pocket and it took her a moment of digging around to find it.

  God! She couldn’t wait to get out of these sweats. It was tempting to scrap the idea of riding around just so she could buy the detergent and get home. On the other hand, at least if she got sweaty, she wouldn’t have to wash her clothes twice.

  Although, if she did happen to bump into Ian, she better plan to run the other direction; no makeup, dirty sweats, and stinky armpits were probably not going to help her get a date. But, really… what were the chances? Anyway, she’d cross that bridge if she came to it.

  That decided Jessica started peddling toward the gas station where she had filled her tires with air the day before. She seemed to remember that they had a local map posted in their window.

  When she got to the gas station she was glad to see she was right. It would have been perfect, in fact, if only she could have figured out where she was on the map. She was looking at the map sideways, trying to make some sense out of it when one of the station attendants came over to her.

  “Can I help?” he asked smiling.

  Jessica paused, not really wanting to get into the Ian Drake thing again. Hoping the guy wouldn’t recognize the address she quickly unfolded the piece of paper from Bad Guy and handed it to him.

  “I’m just not sure where this street is,” she said.

  The gas station attendant, Travis from his nametag, looked at the piece of paper and started laughing.

  “Hmmm, well, we don’t really name streets here after fruits or,” and he looked back down, “personal products.”

  Jessica stared at him confused until he returned the paper and she saw it was her grocery list.

  “Oops,” she grimaced. “Sorry.”

  Rather than scrounge around in her pocket again she went off her memory of the street name Bad Guy had told her.

  “Actually, I’m looking for a house on Sierraview Circle. Do you know where that is?”

  Travis scanned the map.

  “Over here,” he said. “But it gets a little confusing. See? The street changes names right at this turn.”

  “Ohhh,” Jessica said. “Thanks.” She looked back at the map, still trying to figure out where exactly the gas station was. “Is it pretty far?”

  Travis looked down at her legs and smiled.

  “Not for someone in great shape like you,” he said. “Plus it’s mostly flat.”

  Jessica smiled. Wow! She love, love, loved her new figure. No one would have ever said anything like that to her before, for sure.

  “Stay on Lakeshore for about 3 miles that way,” and he pointed down the road, “till you come to Lakeview. That will take you into the right neighborhood.”

  “Thanks,” Jessica said really meaning it. She was sure she could easily follow those directions.

  She couldn’t believe it was going to be this simple, though. How huge would it be if she could tell Erik and Peter that she’d already found Ian’s house? She jumped back on her bike excitedly and took off. Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought she felt Travis’s eyes following her as she peddled out of the parking lot.

  It took her less than an hour to find the street, but then things started to get complicated. She couldn’t find numbers on any of the houses. She rode up and down the street for half an hour searching for any way to distinguish the addresses. How on earth did anyone find the house they were looking for, she wondered. Probably they figured if you needed to ask you didn’t belong.

  Every entrance looked exactly the same, a huge gate with a call box, and a long lane leading presumably to the house; either too far away to be seen or hidden behind all the trees. Jessica considered buzzing each call box till she found the right one, but she couldn’t think what she would say then. And anyway, she realized it maybe wouldn’t create quite the right impression.

  Finally, on her eighth trip down the street she saw some gardeners come out of one of the gates and begin to prune some hedges.

  “Hi,” she said as she came to a stop right by them. “I was wondering if you knew which of these houses is…” she fumbled in her pocket for a minute trying to retrieve the address. After a minute of looking she started to get desperate. She pulled both pockets inside out, but all she had was her grocery list and the lakeside photo from the magazine.

  Shit! She’d lost the address.

  The gardeners were staring at her with bemused looks on their faces. One of them gave up and started blowing the cuttings toward the street.

  “Ummm,” Jessica yelled over the leaf blower while trying to show them the magazine photo flapping in the wind, “I’m looking for 405 Sierraview Circle. Do you know where that is?” She hoped that was the right number since she’d had to go off her memory.

  They kept looking at her without saying a word. Finally one o
f them said something like, “No bla and glaze.”

  Darn it. She was sure they were speaking Spanish, and she had no idea what they were saying. She tried pointing to each house around them.

  “405 Sierraview?” she asked shrugging her shoulders and raising her eyebrows. “Which one?”

  The gardeners looked at each other and shrugged. Then one of them started jumping up and down and hitting his one hand in the other. He was speaking so fast Jessica had no idea what he was saying until she thought she heard a word she recognized. She could swear he’d just said Ian.

  “Yes, yes,” she said as loudly and clearly as she could. “Ian… Where?” and she started pointing again to each house.

  The gardener who had been talking started copying her, pointing to each house and then excitedly pointing to one in particular across the street. “Usted necesita saber quien desea a hacer? Piensa que la casa lo hace.”

  There, she heard it again. It had to be Ian’s house. “Thanks,” she said and practically ran her bicycle across the street.

  It wasn’t until she stood in front of it, though, that Jessica realized the house he had pointed to wasn’t on the Lake side. How could this be Ian’s house? Jessica didn’t know much but she did know his house was on the water. She looked back across at the gardeners who had all started working again and sighed.

  Gosh, she had felt like she was so close. Tired, she decided to give up for the day. She still had to go to the store and more than anything right now all she wanted was a hot shower. As Jessica rode down the street she tried peeking through the trees one last time, hoping she’d get lucky and spot the one house that matched her picture.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Sore, tired and dirty, Jessica dragged herself and her groceries through the condo’s front door and then, when it was closed, leaned against it to catch her breath.