Late Night Visits

Katie was still up with Koda snuggled on the far end on the couch when we came home (it was still early after all), and we filled her in on the situation. Her reaction was similar to mine which made me feel better. Koda wagged his tail, eyed Chris mistrustfully and cautiously made his way close to me.

"Wait, don’t pick him up with your dress on. You'll get hair all over it." Katie said as I bend to pick him up.

I picked him up anyways and sat down carefully on the floor with him. "I don’t even care. Katie, I'm so embarrassed."

"I feel ya. I think I would be too, but I've never made out with someone who was billionaire while repeatedly calling him the assistant." She smirked at me and Chris swatted her with a pillow as he walked by. "Why wouldn't he tell you? He must have a good reason, right?"

"I don't know. And I don’t think I care." I took a sip of wine from the glass Chris handed me. I know it was a lie because I did want to know why he hadn't been up front about it and why no one at work had clued me in. Probably because everyone thought I knew who he was and no one had ever seen us together.

There was a knock on the door. Chris got up to open it, Koda growled suspiciously, and my heart skipped a beat because maybe, just maybe, it was Nathanial. It wasn't.

"Jess?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Why are you here?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

She looked rough, not quite as rough as last time but still not her usual self. She glanced hesitantly at me, Katie, then over to Chris. "We broke up."

A sigh escaped. "Well, come on in. Was he like last time?"

She nodded and Chris closed the door behind her. Katie patted the seat beside her and Jess sank down into the cushions of the couch.

"If you want to tell us, you can, but it's not okay for you to leave like you did last time." I felt bad for the tough love, however, I was completely unwilling to get caught in between Jess and Reece's back and forth drama. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry." She sniffled some more, and while Katie still looked like she wasn't entirely sure about the situation, she laid her and on Jess' and squeezed (Such a Chris/Katie move).

Chris left to go change out of his suit with the promise to come back and bring some appetizers he had in the freezer to heat in the oven (I was starving). I ran upstairs with Koda close behind me to change out of my pretty gown and wash off my make-up. Only the comfiest clothes would do after the weird day that I had. I took a couple minutes to just snuggle with my puppy (carefully, although he had gotten pretty comfortable with me so far). I was rewarded with a wet kiss on the nose from him which melted my heart. We went back downstairs where Chris was stacking a couple of racks full of delicious looking appetizers in the oven.

I sat down on the couch beside Jess. Katie got up to join her brother in the kitchen and to give us some privacy. My four-legged attachment curled up on my lap.

"What happened?"

"Like last time, but I left faster this time. I'm sorry I left last time. I panicked thinking that the best thing that has ever happened to me was going to get away…" Jess trailed off, avoiding eye contact with me.

I let out another sigh. "That is not the best thing that's ever happened to you. You have a great career, you are a wonderful person when you're not around Rheece."

"I know, I know. Sometimes I just feel so down that I forget everything else. And I'm so scared I'm losing this next modelling gig I have lined up because I've been anything but focused."

"Jess, why don't you stay with me for a while, for real this time, until you have your feet back under you." And get away from Rheece for a while, but I didn’t say that out loud. She looked so down already that I couldn't pile more on top.

She gave me a wobbly smile. "Can I take you up on that offer? I need to get away from this situation."

"Of course, that's why I offered." This was going to be interesting for sure, and I hoped I wasn't going to regret this. "I have one condition, and that is that Rheece never sets foot in this house. While you are more than welcome here, he is absolutely not."

"Yes, of course. I totally understand that."

I felt more comfortable with my decision to let Jess stay here once I got that out in the open. Chris and Katie brought over more wine and chicken wings, jalapeno poppers, and salt and pepper dry ribs. We pigged out (Koda got a few small tastes of the ribs, I couldn't resist his puppy eyes) and filled Jess in on our eventful evening. We had just finished our stories, when the doorbell rang. I got up to answer the door, my tiny dog growling beside me. I peeked through the peephole first and almost dropped my wine.

Nathanial was standing on my front step.