by Nelson, Cara
“Do you want to know why I was out of town?” he said, as if he hadn’t heard me.
“Does it matter?” Of course I wanted to know, but was it too nosy to admit that? Besides, I was still upset, amazing kiss or no. Maybe he was just trying to distract me.
“I think it does.”
“Well, if you want to tell me…”
“I’m fine telling you or I wouldn’t have offered. Hopefully you’ll learn that about me some day, if not right now. I don’t offer anything I’m not willing to give.”
“I’ll try, it’s just so unique to really want that type of directness from people,” I said.
“Don’t I know it, but I assure you, it’s no front and I’m not pretending to be that way. I am that way, just like you’re so naturally kind and assume the best in people, except me for the past few days.”
My instant horror at his comment made Simon break into a laugh. It was a fair lighthearted jab and I couldn’t help but laugh myself.
“Well, I was at a very important event,” Simon said softly.
“Yeah?” I asked. He had me drawn in; I was the fish on his line.
“Oh yeah, you see, there’s this amazing woman I know, she’s done a lot for me and I probably wouldn’t be where I was without her support. I had to go visit her.”
My first thought was girlfriend, but that was dumb. He just kissed me, after all, and I would have heard about it before if he had a girlfriend. At least I thought I would have…
“Wow, she sounds special,” I said.
“She is. And she had a very special occasion yesterday. She turned ninety-five.”
“Ninety-five! Wow.”
“Yeah, it was my grandmother’s birthday so I was home for a few days. Got to see Daniel because he was on leave.”
I would have palm slapped my forehead right then and there if I wasn’t holding my glass of wine. In the back of my mind, I could vaguely recall Simon saying something about that. I just didn’t realize that it was a few days after his visit to me.
“Did you have fun?”
“It was nice, but I can only do that thing for so long, I’ll admit. Love mamaw, but I love LA and my life here, too.”
“And your brother? Was he good?”
“Yeah, he’s good. He’s finishing up engineering school in the Air Force.”
“That’s awesome,” I said.
So there we were, just looking at each other. I couldn’t help but wonder, what next? I wanted one of those kisses. I looked deeply into my wine glass, then took another sip. Maybe if I drank slowly… I definitely didn’t want to leave. Hopefully it didn’t show in the way I acted too much.
Chapter Fourteen:
A New Approach
I was trying to talk myself out of liking that kiss so damn much and actually buy my internal dialogue that it was only for the purposes of quieting Jessie down from rambling. Well, it had felt great and my entire body liked it, not just my lips and peace of mind.
Kissing her was like hearing that introduction to a song that demanded you to pay attention, or the black ink on the bottom of a profit and loss statement. Each turned me on for different reasons. Sweet Jessie, who would have guessed that she could even get me to entertain having a woman in my life who was more than a friend or employee.
“Okay, this is kind of an awkward silence,” Jessie said. She was smiling and running her fingertips up and down the jeans she was wearing.
“Awkward? You think?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, I do. Well, I guess I should get going. You have your meeting and all.”
“How long are you going to be in LA for?”
“Until tomorrow night.”
“Any plans for tonight?” I asked.
“No, not really. Just chill with Brynn, I suppose.”
I should offer up something, I thought. I didn’t, though. I had to think this through and I knew that my every action and word was under scrutiny. What I took has one way, Jessie perhaps would take as something entirely different. She was hard to figure out because, like me, she had a huge focus at the heart of everything she did, humanitarianism in this case, and it was different than my focus and approach. Same results wanted, just completely opposite methods.
“Well, I’m going to call a cab and then I’ll get going. We’ll talk later,” Jessie said, standing up.
“Yeah, later,” I said. “Maybe I can give you a call after my meeting.”
“If you want,” she said.
I just nodded my head. Oh, I wanted, but I had to keep a game face. A guy couldn’t give his strategy away in an instant. The fact that I was strategizing about this was a bit mind blowing.
“So, I’ll be seeing you then,” she said. I saw her smiling at me. It was the ‘you can kiss me again if you want to’ look. But I couldn’t. The first time had been spontaneous so I didn’t have a chance to get too analytical about it, but now, I’d been thinking and that didn’t make for a dynamite kiss. Like everything, even the damn kiss had to be perfect.
“You can wait up here for the taxi, you know.”
“No, I’d like a bit of fresh air. It’s beautiful outside.” Jessie’s cheeks turned crimson after she said that and I loved the way it made her look, like her cheeks had been kissed by the sun a bit too much after a day at the ocean. Man, I wished I was that sun.
“Okay, well I’m glad we cleared things up and I’m sorry about my lack of understanding to your situation, Jessie.” I walked over to her and gave her a hug, holding her in tightly and then giving her two pats on the back, a friendly gesture.
*****
A half hour later, my meeting started and all the focus it had been hard for me to muster honed in. Dominic was sharing some great stuff with me and I was set to jump all over it. The ideas were huge, but manageable.
“So, should I get it all booked?” he asked.
“Um, you’d better wait, Dominic. I have to run it by Jessie first.”
“What?” His voice was clearly surprised by me saying that. I was surprised to hear me say it, too, so I got it. “She has that much control in this?”
“Her idea, the basis of it, anyway. So, don’t worry, it won’t take long. Give me until 8 a.m.?”
“Sure, Simon. Do you need me to send you over anything?”
“No, I took notes. Think I’m set.”
“Talk to you tomorrow morning then.”
“Sounds good, bye.” I hung up and then immediately sent a text over to Jessie. In case she was at a restaurant or something, I didn’t want to drop the ball on communication again. This was important.
Me: Sorry for the short notice. Are you available to discuss something right now?
I should have known I’d get an immediate response.
Jessie: Sure, what is it?
Me: Where are you? Can I pick you up? You can come over for dinner.
There was no response for a few seconds. I’ll admit, the dinner probably wasn’t necessary but I didn’t want to be alone. I could have run the info by Jessie via Skype or phone, but I didn’t want to. Besides, why waste the fact that Jessie was in town?
Jessie: Yeah, sure. What time?
Me: 20 minutes.
Jessie: Okay, I’ll be set. At Brynn’s.
Jessie (2): Duh, I am thinking you knew that.
Me: See you soon
I walked up to Brynn’s apartment door and knocked. I heard two locks being undone and saw the handle turn. It wasn’t Jessie, though, it was Brynn.
“Hi Simon, what a surprise,” she said, grinning at me.
“Didn’t Jessie tell you I was coming?” I asked. I was not about to speculate what the grin was about.
“Yeah, don’t be so serious, Mr. Business.”
“Mr. Business?”
I saw Brynn gulp. “Oops, forget I said that.”
“That shouldn’t be hard,” I replied. Was that what she called me or something? Strange one, that Brynn was sometimes.
“Hey, I’m ready,” Jessie said. I
looked in her direction and saw a woman who looked completely different than she’d looked just a few hours ago, her face was calm and composed, full of that natural joy she effortlessly illuminated. And she’d changed. She had on a sundress, her hair was up in a loose pile on top of her head, and she looked like she was set to go out to a restaurant, not over to my place for dinner.
“What time will you be home?” Brynn called out.
I shot her daggers and glanced at Jessie, who was doing the same thing.
“It’s a business meeting, Brynn, there’s no reason I won’t be back here tonight,” Jessie said.
Well played, I thought. Her spirit never ceased to amaze me. There were many sides to Jessie Martineau and most of them were quite brilliant to me, but a few scared me. She was so nice that I felt like she might be a flower and me the clueless kid trampling right over it.
“I’m so excited to hear what you have to run by me,” Jessie said as we were leaving.
“I’ll wait until dinner, if that’s okay.”
“Your call. Are you cooking?”
“No, but the take-out is ordered and waiting for us to pick up on the way back.”
“Sounds good,” she said.
We got to the car and I opened up the door for her, admiring the way she slid into the passenger seat so effortlessly. She was sexy and sleek, just like my Audi R8.
“This car is amazing. Hopefully you didn’t freak in my little econo car when I drove you around,” Jessie said, softly running her fingers on the dashboard.
“I’ve been in more of those types of cars in my life than these,” I said, shutting the door.
I walked around to the driver’s seat, feeling anticipation for something that I couldn’t fully understand.
Once I was in the car she turned to me and said, “So, can you tell me anything now?”
“Not yet, we’ll wait until we are back home and the food is in hand.”
When I thought about it later, I couldn’t even remember what we spent the ride back to my place chatting about. Pleasant, irrelevant things. Anticipation lingered in the air. A few times I caught Jessie wanting to say something and then she’d quickly close her mouth and bite her lip, an obvious sign that it was driving her crazy not knowing what I had to share with her.
I did feel completely confident that she’d be thrilled when I told her about it and that she’d love the plan, not just think I was being a jerk and taking over. Besides, I hadn’t OK’ed it with Dominic yet. She’d have the final say.
Chapter Fifteen:
Crossing the Borders
“Okay Simon, the food is here, we’re seated, and you have my full attention. What is going on?
“This is pretty great, Jessie. I know you’ll love it, at least I think you will.”
“Tell me and let’s find out,” I said. He suddenly seemed a bit nervous and awkward about it. It made me feel bad for my dramatic reaction when he’d called me back home. But then again, it had led to this moment and I liked being in it.
“Well, through talking with Dominic and a few opportunities that he ran by me, we came up with a pretty great idea. It should appeal to the mighty clash we have here between humanitarian and businessman…at least I hope it does. We had the idea of taking the concert to where the problem is.”
“West Africa?” I said right away. You know how you can hear something you don’t quite understand and your mind starts dumping loads of questions, too fast to even keep track of them all? Well, my mind did that to me and I instantly bit my lip, trying to remain quiet and listen. It was not easy.
“Yes, Freetown, Sierra Leone, in specific. You see, it’s a bigger city so there’s room for a concert. Everyone who’s interested in the event has an angle, I’ll admit that, but put all the angles together and it is a great business strategy that is surrounding and protecting the heart of the project, which is you and your goals.”
“Oh my God, Simon, it’s an incredible idea. I absolutely love it. Is it possible, though? I have about six weeks, not six months.”
“Jessie, if it wasn’t possible, I wouldn’t bring it up.”
He had such a huge smile on his face, but also an eye brow raised and expectations of an answer in his eyes. He wanted a commitment and then to move on. Well, I was going to give it to him. “Yes!” I shouted loudly, like I was standing on a mountain top shouting to the entire world. Then I calmed down, whispering, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” as I tried to process it all. Then I breathed in, realizing that I may have gone a bit overboard with my excitement. “Hey wait, is it safe there?”
“Politically, you mean?” he asked.
“Yeah, I really don’t know. The heart of my mission is anything but political, Simon. But the thought of going there is really, well…incredible.”
“I have the resources to keep things safe,” he said.
I loved that protected feeling I got when he said things like that.
“So, can I take this as a yes? You approve?”
“Do I ever!” Then my wheels started turning. “Holy cow, so much to coordinate. Most of my potential exhibitors are within a three state radius. I know they can’t afford to fly to West Africa,” she said.
“We’ll figure something out, I feel certain about that,” Simon said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know yet, but I will.”
His confidence was admirable, but I couldn’t just assume that everything would be good. I had to know it was. Simon would never expect anything less. “What venues are you thinking of for the festival?” I finally asked.
“For acts, I want hopefuls for the Blaze Line, acts that I can see perform and also get a judge for the members’ characters.”
“Like who?”
“Snowbound, Difinitive, Pardigm, Cre8ive 4um,” I began.
“I’ve heard of Cre8ive 4um, that’s about it. I saw them play at First Avenue last month.”
“Were they good?” he asked.
“They were loud,” I said.
“Not your style of music, huh?”
“No, not really, but they can play for four hours straight and I’ll smile if it brings the money in for the cause.”
“Cheers to that,” Simon said, holding up his water glass.
I listened to him talk about all the things he had taken control of, including staff, videography, and photographers, and nodded politely.
“And the booths will each pay for their spot,” he said.
“So you can raise more money for research,” I commented.
“Well, that wasn’t my thought, but sure, it would make the overhead lower so technically…”
“And how much money do you think something like this could draw in for the research?” I asked.
“Good question, Jess. After all the expenses are paid out, I estimate that we’d still come close to at least $250,000 for research.
Yeah, my jaw dropped down in shock. That was so much money, so many great things could come out of that. I pulled out some paper and started to take notes. My mind was whirling in ecstasy and I had a lot to keep track of.
“Good idea, to have a to-do list,” Simon said, smiling at me. “How often should we coordinate together to make sure we’re on track, do you suppose?”
Ding. Ding. Ding. His words made me smile inside and out. “Well, considering the timeline, I think daily would be good. However, I know that you have a crazy schedule and that may not work. What do you think?”
“Daily is great. I asked you after all, Jess.”
“Great. Skype or phone?”
“Probably phone. More flexibility. But Skype would be my first choice.”
“We’ll play it by ear, then.”
“Are you done eating?” Simon asked. When I nodded he said, “Why don’t we move over to the couch.”
My skin broke out in goosebumps again, just thinking about it, remembering that kiss from earlier this afternoon. “Let me pick it up first, it’s the least I can do,” I said, standi
ng and reaching to grab his plate.
“That can wait, don’t worry about it,” he said, standing up himself.
His entire apartment was meticulous, down to not having a single speck of dust on his computer. Who was able to do that? Only Simon Jefferson, that’s who. He must really be excited that he didn’t want to pick that up first. His excitement got me excited, too.
He put his hand on the small of back—more goosebumps—and gently guided me toward the couch, the way a good dancer guides his partner. We sat on the couch, just a few inches apart, his body angled toward mine. Our elbows each rested on the back of the couch, so that if either of us swung our hand, it’d slightly brush the other.
Simon was talking about ‘secondary marketing streams’ and I was listening, honestly I was, but I was more drawn in by the way he sounded when he said those words and the way his lips moved. He was about as perfect a specimen as I’d ever seen; one of those guys who was intense, really great looking—almost to the point of distraction—and really fit. He was slim and toned, but not a big muscle head or anything like that. He was perfect.
My mind drifted off to that kiss that he’d planted on me. It had just been to shut me up, but it had opened me up to something that I would have thought fairly impossible beforehand. The two of us were more alike than I’d thought. We just saw the path completely differently.
But...there was one thing in this crazy world that had only one approach, and that was a kiss. You may choose to go fast or slow, but there was only one way to do it—two lips connecting at some point.
I couldn’t blame it on the alcohol because I wasn’t drinking, but I felt that crazy burst of daredevil explode inside of me, compelling me to act on what I was most curious about at that moment. It surely wasn’t ‘secondary marketing streams.’
I grabbed Simon’s hand and I leaned forward, moving quickly to give him a soft kiss on the lips. His lips quivered a bit and it made me want to press a bit harder. As I kissed him harder my hand pressed against his harder, too. My heart was racing more quickly and Simon began to respond.
His arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer into a kiss that kept going and going and going. I didn’t even want to look at him because I was fearful that I’d change my mind about this moment if I did, that the practical Jessie would surface and I didn’t want her to. I wanted this moment badly…and without question.