A/N: BOBO, I wish you would continue writing. But I do understand the writer's block. I'm having a lot of that myself. Anyway, I'll have this chapter dedicated for you, hoping you would be inspired to write an update some time soon…
CHAPTER 4 CONFRONTATIONS
She looks peaceful… It isn't easy to see in the dark, but the dim light emanated by the full moon in the open window made it possible for the other to make out the features of her face: her long eye-lashes, the perfect contours of her nose, the tempting shape of her lips, and her long blonde hair radiates in the moonlight… The other wished she could see her eyes, but when the other couldn't, she simply imagined those pair of crystal blue orbs, looking back at her, smiling at her…
"Jessie…" Katie suddenly awakes, and realized she had fallen asleep on the long bench in front of her locker. She just checked out after working the morning shift and was really tired. She closed her eyes… She hadn't seen 'her' today… Just like in the last seven days…
Where are you?...
"Wrong locker room." A voice made Katie almost jump out of her skin. She wasn't expecting any company inside the locker room.
"Tad." Katie says without enthusiasm. Tad was putting some of his things into his locker.
"I believe her locker is in the other room." Tad grins at Katie and winks at her. Katie sighs.
"What are you talking about?" Katie growls at him, feigning innocence. It's not like Tad couldn't see through her, but it's worth a try. Tad shakes his head in amusement.
"You've been calling her name in the past few days, and I'm beginning to suspect that you and I are now batting for the same team. I'm shocked. But I don't have any problem with that. I don't think it would be healthy for you to repress such feelings though." Tad had been reassigned from the ER to the psych ward, and Katie thought the job was getting to him. She rolls her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Katie repeats.
"You know, I didn't want to say anything at first… But you did call out Jessie's name a few times this week. And she wasn't even here." Tad raises an eyebrow at her. Katie looks a bit flustered for a bit, but regains her composure. Tad locks his locker again.
"I didn't."
"You called Grace 'Jessie'." Tad says firmly to remind her as he faces her.
"That's a lie."
"You called ME Jessie. And then when I drove you home the other night, you fell asleep on my car and you called Jessie… What's up with that?" Tad looks suspiciously at Katie. He could vividly remember when Katie fell asleep on the front seat and started dreaming… His bestfriend uttered Jessie's name more than five times…
"I'm not batting for the same team. I'm straight." Katie sulks, and crosses her arms. She then gets up from the bench and stares at Tad. Tad studies her face for a while.
"Stop giving me any ideas and stop calling her name then." Tad says in a tone as if she's challenging Katie to do the hardest thing. Katie smiles.
"Fine. I will never say 'Jessie' again."
"You just said it." Tad points out.
"What? That doesn't count!"
"But you're thinking about her, admit it." Tad grins.
"I'm not thinking about Jessie!" Katie wails at Tad. Tad grins wider.
"There you go again."
"Stop trying to get into my nerves, Pincus." Katie glowers at her bestfriend.
"I already am." Tad laughs and walks out of the locker room with Katie marching after him.
"You are so…" Katie trails off, thinking of the right word but couldn't think of anything…
"Don't say it Katie, you need me." Tad taunts her, unworried. Katie, unfortunately, crashed her car on their first day back from Ecuador and has to take a ride with Tad everyday until she gets her car back. She didn't suffer any serious injuries, just a few scratches which was a miracle. Tad was damn worried about her. Katie wasn't even drinking that night, nor was she in the influence of anything else. She was sober, supposedly coherent, but reportedly out-of-focus that night. He wondered what was bothering Katie, she hadn't be so happy in the past few days, but his bestfriend just wouldn't tell him…
"You're so gonna pay for this."
"I know, but you'll be the one paying for now." Tad reaches the parking area and finds his car. He opens his side of the door and Katie opens the other side. They jumped in…
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Katie narrows her eyes on Tad.
"Just relax." Tad starts his car and drives away. The two of them, as usual, is having a nice conversation about how did their day go, the latest episode of Heroes, and the gossips at the hospital. It was after almost twenty minutes of driving that Katie realized they weren't passing the same route as they do everyday.
Tad steers the car into a new subdivision in Fort Lauderdale: The Dream Neighborhood… Katie's jaw drops as they passed through the newly built houses. Many people are scattered around, checking each one of them. She then reads a sign…
'OPEN HOUSE'…
"Are you going to buy a house?" Katie turns to Tad, smiling.
"Well, I do want to have a family someday." Tad smiles, all the while thinking about Grace… Katie noticed the way her friend smiles, but decided not to taunt him about it.
"It's nice Tad, but I am not buying any house any time soon."
"Come on, Katie. We'll just check it out." The two got off the car and started going over the houses then. The squeezed themselves into the crowd of people to look at the houses. Every house is a two-storey, though it varies in sizes and colors.
They started checking out each of the houses, with Tad always enthusiastic about every one of them. Katie merely crosses her arms, and rolls her eyes occasionally. Tad does look silly like this. She never thought of him as a family man ever. Though it impressed her that he thinks about his future seriously…
Katie and Tad goes over the seventh house, and Katie stops abruptly in front of it, rear-ending Tad. With them having the same height, Tad hits his nose at the back of Katie's head.
"Aww. Don't you know it's dangerous to make a stop in the middle of a crowded street?" Tad frowns, while rubbing his nose.
"Don't you know it's dangerous to tailgate?" Katie says, then heads immediately to the two-storey, peach house, with a wide front lawn, a cozy porch, and nice oak doors. When they came in, they realized the house was fully furnished. There were potential buyers inside the house already, looking around, just like them. Katie stares in awe. They reached the one of the three bedrooms. Katie stares in admiration. The room was dimly lit in incandescent light, the ceiling was low and the floor, made of expensive wood. The bed was white and fluffy.
"Just what I've always wanted…" Katie couldn't believe it, forgetting for a while that it was Tad who was interested in buying a house and not her.
"What, the bed?" Tad frowns.
"No, the warmth…" Katie loves the feel of this house. It feels so homey.
"I think it's nice." The sweet female voice made Tad and Katie turn around simultaneously.
"I think so too. I think I'll buy it." The other so-familiar voice made Katie raise an eyebrow… Jessie is standing by the bedroom door, with Julie by her side. It was only then that Jessie and Julie realized the two people staring at them.
"Hi Tad, hi Katie." Julie smiles at them. Tad smiles back. Katie maintains a stoic face.
"Hey, Jules. Good afternoon, Dr. Sammler." Tad greets.
"Please call me Jessie." Jessie smiles at Tad. The four then fall into a very unpleasant silence. Tad clears his throat.
"Uh… Any one of you buying a house?" Tad asks.
"Yeah, Jessie is." Says Julie.
"I love this house. It's perfect. I'm buying it." Jessie smiles.
"Hey, I found it first." Katie says warningly. Jessie turns her head at her direction, the same with Tad and Julie.
"So?"
"This house is mine." Katie says firmly. Tad frowns at her.
"You're going to buy the house?" Tad asks in disbelief.
"Yeah." Katie says without looking at Tad, but glaring at Jessie.
"I've been touring the house for thirty minutes, so technically, I was here first." Jessie informs Katie.
"Got any proof?" Katie crosses her arms.
"Do you want to fight over it? We can bid on it." Jessie says almost arrogantly. Tad and Julie watched in amusement.
"Just because you own the whole Utah, doesn't intimidate me." Katie retorts with a metaphor. Of course Jessie doesn't own Utah, just a considerably big part of it… They own the biggest estate there.
"I WILL BUY IT." Jessie says firmly.
"I WILL TOO." Katie replies.
"Do you really have to fight over this? There are so many other houses, you can't---" Julie was interrupted.
"This is my dream house." Jessie says.
"I dreamed it first. I'm older than you." Katie replies which almost made Tad laugh.
"What makes this house special to have you two fight over it?" Tad asks.
"Warmth." Jessie and Katie answered in duet. Then they glare at each other.
"If you want the house so bad, why don't you share it?" Tad suggests. Jessie and Katie glower at him.
"Share it? If we divide it, it wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't like it." Jessie says in disbelief, thinking of how silly Tad is.
"Well, there's an easier alternative. You can both buy it and get married. Everybody wins. No arguments. Case closed. Katie keeps calling your name anyway." Tad slips, then feels a pair of eyes burning him alive. When her turns at Katie's direction, his bestfriend is burning deep red.
"Whoops… Got to go. See you at the hospital!" Tad runs out of the house before Katie could even catch him. Jessie and Julie followed them with amused looks on their faces…
Tad runs to his car for his life. Just before he could lock himself in, Katie jumps into the front seat beside him and hits him on his right arm.
"I can't believe you said that!" Katie hits him again. Tad rubs his arm.
"The look on your face was priceless!" Tad laughs. Katie was so annoyed.
"I thought you're my bestfriend. Now I'm not so sure." Katie slouched on her seat and crosses her arms, and pouts like a child. Tad watches her for a while…
"You're in love with her aren't you?"
"What?! You're this close to having your arm amputated, Tad." Katie motions an inch with her right thumb and index finger.
"You are…"
"No one's in love with anyone, Tad… Now drop it…"
"You are so stubborn sometimes…"
"Shut up Tad…"
She never even wanted a house… Tad shakes his head. Katie did say that she's not buying any house, any time soon… And she had to fight with Jessie over this house…
They didn't talk all the way to Katie's apartment building. She said goodbye and goodnight, and heads to her door. Her apartment seemed quieter when she came in. It felt so lonely. Katie couldn't sleep right away, so she tried to keep herself occupied. She baked, she watched tv, she played music… And finally, she fell asleep. Only to get awakened by the loud ringing of her telephone at 4 in the morning…
"Hello…" Katie rubs her eyes. She glances at her digital clock. She had only been asleep for ten minutes.
"I think I'm in love with Tad." The female voice echoed from the other line, sounding too loud for Katie's ear. She closes her eyes again…
"You only realized that now?" Katie asks lazily. Can her friends be more clueless?
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You've been in love with each other for so long, Grace. Everybody knows that, except you and Tad."
"Really?" Grace couldn't believe it. Katie opens her eyelids and rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, really."
"But we're not even dating."
"Cut the crap. You slept together in Ecuador." Katie couldn't forget those two leaving her to share the tree house with Jessie. Unconsciously, a smile forms in her face as she remembered how Jessie's face was illuminated in the moonlight…
Really beautiful…
"Look at how malicious you are." Grace says indignantly.
"You mean nothing happened in Ecuador?" Katie frowns.
"Nothing! We just… Cuddled…" Grace feels embarrassed by admitting this, but she couldn't lie. Nothing happened in Ecuador. She hears Katie laughing on the other line.
"You called me at this time in the morning to tell me that?" Katie is still laughing.
"Don't mock me. How about you, did something happen between you and Jessie while in Ecuador?" Grace intends to embarrass Katie as much, but surprises herself.
"Yeah…"
Pause…
"She made me cry." Katie admits.
"Damn! You mean she's that good?" Grace jokes.
"It wasn't tears of joy. I know what you're thinking. Who's the malicious one now?" Katie's eyebrows contorted as if its ends are going to actually meet.
"She harassed you?" Grace jokes again.
"What? NO. Do you realize she's smaller to try something on me?"
"Yeah, it's not like she would need to use force, but…" Grace trails off, feeling Katie's killer eyes on the other line. "What happened?"
"We said some harsh things… We hurt each other…"
"You do that everyday…"
"I know… I really feel sorry." Katie says sincerely.
"You should tell her." Grace encourages her.
"I did… Then she told me how she wished she had never met me… That I would have been better as a distant memory…"
"Oh… I'm sorry…" Grace wished she could be there and comfort Katie, but knew that Katie is strong and will be able to face this, whatever this new adversity is…
"Remember the girl I was telling you about? That one I saw outside the church in December…"
"Yeah…"
"It was Jessie…" Katie smiles, and Grace was surprised. The world is getting smaller every time…
Pause…
"What's going on between you two?" Grace sounds serious.
"There's nothing between us…" Katie sighs… Is it disappointment, or something else?
"How can you explain the sexual tension every time you're around each other?" Grace could definitely feel that.
"There's nothing sexual about it." Katie reacts defensively.
"Maybe, but it's so confusing… There's a fine line between attraction and hatred, but in your case, everything's in the gray area…" Grace had always thought it was confusing, that Katie's firm on making Jessie feel that she hates her, but she couldn't help throwing annoyed glances at the blonde every time she's talking to Hanna or Julie… But when Jessie's alone, Katie still stole glances of the doctor… And then there's that time when Katie actually called her 'Jessie'…
"You're right… Right now, everything is so gray…"
"If you really are sorry, you should try talking to her again."
"I'm not sure about my feelings anymore…" Katie sighs… Grace paused…
"What feelings?" Grace wondered if Katie would actually admit what she and Tad had been suspecting.
"I don't know… Do I hate Jessie because I'm still in love with Eli and Jessie reminds me of him, or do I hate Jessie because I actually like her and it just so happen that she's Eli's sister?"
And Grace was right. Though it was implied, Katie does consider that what she feels for Jessie isn't hate… It could be something more. Katie could be rediscovering herself, and not having the time of her life doing it… It was something new, after all…
x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x
Broward General Medical Center… Katie is about to finish her morning shift and Grace came in early for her afternoon shift. Julie is encoding the inventory of their available medicines in the computer, while Mae, another nurse-on-duty, is cleaning up the mess they created after treating that victim of a car accident a few minutes ago…
"I was calling you last night, where were you?" Grace curiously asks, and Katie looks up, thinking Grace was talking to her. But before she could answer, she notices she's looking at someone else; at Julie.
"She's with her new boyfriend." Mae grins, and Julie smiles. Katie turns her head curiously at Julie…
Don't you mean 'girlfriend'?... Katie sulks. Are Jessie and Julie actually planning to buy a house and move in together? She did see them house-shopping yesterday, and she fought over the house with Jessie. And she realized she hadn't made any proper arrangement with the agent of that house. Not that she was really planning to buy a house, it was an impulse triggered by Jessie's same interest with that particular dwelling. She silently blames herself, and hopes Jessie hadn't bought it…
"You have a new boyfriend? Why didn't I know that?" Grace smiles at Julie, intrigued. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Katie not looking so happy, but obviously pissed. She haven't been so fond of Julie or Hanna lately…
"You know what Mae, I was planning to keep quiet about it." Julie mocks anger, then laughs. Katie rolls her eyes.
"So tell me, who's this guy? What's he like?" Grace looks too interested for Katie's taste. Wasn't Grace supposed to be her friend?
"Yeah Julie, what's SHE like? Is she blonde?" Katie says with so much sarcasm. Grace, Mae and Julie turn their heads simultaneously at her.
"Excuse me?" Julie asks with amusement. Katie sure doesn't look happy.
"You can drop the pronoun game now. We all know who you're talking about. You went house-shopping with her yesterday." Katie crosses her arms and slumps on the swivel chair behind the oak table, which, Katie forgot for a moment, was Jessie's chair. Jessie is currently making rounds…
Katie sulks even more upon hearing Julie's annoying giggles…
"Are you jealous?" Julie purposely goads her, while Katie throws back a dangerous look.
"NO. Why would I be?"
Just then, Jessie comes back into the ER and stops in front of her table, and upon seeing Katie sitting in her chair, she merely looks at her; her face unreadable. It was only when her celphone starts ringing again that Katie realized someone was standing in front of her. Upon realizing that Jessie was waiting for her to vacate her chair, Katie flushed bright red and gets up from her chair. But before she could leave the table, Jessie reaches from the right pocket of her white coat for her celphone and seeing who was calling, she leans over the table, pulls the drawer to Katie's direction, throws her celphone in, and slams the drawer shut. Jessie then marches away from the table and heads to their bathroom on the far end of the room… Katie, after watching Jessie close the bathroom door, looks down at the drawer, pulls it open, and realizes that the phone is still ringing…
Yvette Lawrence?... The one who's calling is one Yvette Lawrence. Who is Yvette Lawrence, what does she want from Jessie, and why is Jessie dodging her call? The celphone stops ringing…
Meanwhile, Grace, Julie and Mae had seen the whole scene…
"She keeps ignoring me all day." Katie turns to Grace's direction.
"Bad karma." Julie butts in, earning another glare from Katie.
"Ha-ha." Katie mocks Julie. "Why don't you follow her and make her feel better?" Katie growls. Julie laughs again.
"I do HAVE a boyfriend, Katie. His name's Cooper, and Jessie introduced me to him. You can stop hating me now." Julie smiles at Katie. Katie gives her a cold stare.
Before Katie could say anything else, the attendants came rushing in, pushing a stretcher. They were followed by a beautiful woman, a brunette, might be slightly shorter than Jessie, but her small frame is a contrast to the sophistication and intelligence that she exudes. Katie feels a bit intimidated and insecure just by looking at the woman…
Realizing the seriousness of this emergency by the look on the woman's face, Grace and Julie rushes to tend to the patient, who's having an arrest. Mae runs to fetch Jessie from the bathroom, and Katie could hear her banging on the bathroom door, while Katie remained standing frozen to where she stood. The man lying on the stretcher, being transferred by the attendants to the hospital bed a few feet away from her, looks so damn familiar…
It was Jessie and Eli's father, Rick Sammler; a legend in Utah, prominent businessman, and respected figure in the manufacturing world of Salt Lake City.
"What happened?" Grace asks the companion of the patient as calm as possible. She and Julie are already preparing the things they might be needing. She hoped Mae brings Jessie back into the ER sooner, because the patient doesn't look so good.
"I think he's having a heart attack… Oh my God… I was driving, and he's just so happy and excited to see his daughter again, and I don't know… He just stopped talking and… Tell me he's going to be okay, please…" The female is crying.
"We'll do our best, Miss…" Julie trails off. She grabs a machine somewhere and pulls it to the bedside.
"Lawrence… Yvette Lawrence…" The sophisticated female sobs. Katie snaps out of her daze after hearing the name. She walks closer to the hospital bed and upon seeing their patient, it only confirmed her fears…
"He's turning purple! Where's the oxygen?!" Julie screams and Grace immediately supplies the patient with an oxygen mask. Katie felt like she was trapped in a movie. She stood frozen, unmoved… Her hands are trembling…
"I think he's having an arrest again---" Grace was interrupted.
"Excuse me." Jessie makes her way to the patient, only to shock herself… Her jaw drops, and her face becomes noticeably pale. Suddenly feeling the chills creeping up her spine, Jessie rushed to the bedside of her father… "Dad!... He's not breathing!" Jessie feels her father's chest… She could barely feel hear her father's heartbeat…
Grace, Julie and Mae exchanged looks. Katie is the only one who isn't surprised. Jessie is trying to control the tears from falling from her eyes…
"Dad, hold on… Where's the defibrillator?!" Jessie screams. Julie and Mae pull the electric-shock machine closer to the bedside. Jessie starts working… "Set it! 1, 2, 3!"
"Clear!" Grace says.
"Clear!" Julie concurs.
"Clear!" Mae replies the same. Katie couldn't seem to think of anything. She couldn't do anything. She just stood there, watching…
"I'm charging!" Jessie repeated the procedure, and the electricity run through her father's body… But it was late… Too late… She knew she could only do so much…
"Dad, don't die on me please! Charging!" Jessie tries again. She needs to revive her dad. She has to. She hadn't seen him in years. This is not how they are supposed to meet again…
"Jessie…" Julie turns to Jessie, looking at her sympathetically. The nurse is aware that this case is hopeless…
Elijah Richard Sammler II is dead. And they can't do anything to bring him back… Jessie stares at her father, lying cold on the hospital bed, lifeless…
Everybody in the room falls into an eerie silence. It had never been this quiet. Katie remained watching, with Jessie's back turned on her. She wanted to walk over to her, talk to her, comfort her…
But the beautiful, sophisticated female who was accompanying Rick Sammler was able to reach Jessie first. Seeing the two standing close to each other brought an unexplainable feeling in her heart…
Katie couldn't help but wonder who Yvette Lawrence is in Jessie's life…
"You weren't answering my call…" Yvette whispers to Jessie. Jessie answers without tearing her eyes away from her father…
"I didn't know it was important…" Jessie walks out of the Emergency Room, totally ignoring everyone.
Jessie stood in the middle of the parking are of Broward. Everything happened so fast. She was crying all the time she was trying to revive her father. She stood looking at nothing in particular. She runs her right hand through her hair, cold sweat drenched her body. She could feel her heart beating wildly. Back at the Emergency Room, she felt as if she was going to explode. She had never felt so much pain in her life, nothing that would hurt as much as this. Thoughts are swirling in her head, but she was deprived of feeling anything. She scampered to a distance, and kicked a stray, empty can of coke hard that if flew into the air, missing a red Ford by inches…
"You missed…" Katie stood a few feet behind Jessie, looking at her Ford that was almost scratched by the can that Jessie kicked. Jessie didn't have to turn around to see her. Katie continued. "It wasn't your fault, you know. You're not God."
"I didn't say that I am."
"There's no point to be angry."
"You came here just to tell me that?" Jessie turns to face Katie with a glare. Katie isn't a bit intimidated by this new side of Jessie. She knows how the blonde is feeling; she felt it too.
"It's better than wallowing in self-pity." Katie's remark only earned her an even fiercer glare from Jessie.
"Ironic, isn't it?"
"What?"
"You who loathed every moment that you had to spend time and work with me is now trying to make me feel better by telling me that it wasn't my fault… Why do you even bother?" Jessie's cold stare is boring through Katie's eyes. But Katie bravely holds her gaze. When Katie didn't answer, Jessie continued. "Maybe he was right. I shouldn't have chosen to be a doctor." With that, Jessie turns her back on Katie, and walks away…
x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x
"Have you heard?" Katie hears Grace's voice from her kitchen. It's been a week since the death of Jessie's father, and Katie hadn't seen the doctor since then. Tad will be coming later tonight to join her for a movie marathon. Grace then comes back with a bowl of popcorn.
"Heard what?" Katie frowns.
"She quit."
"Who quit?"
"Jessie. She flew back to Utah, and I heard she's not coming back." Grace informs her now dazed friend.
Lots of memories flashed through Katie's mind. She had been there, at the Sammler Manor in their large estate in Salina, Utah. She remembered supervising the wedding preparations, she remember walking with Eli on her side, she remembered riding the horses and overseeing the workers in the apple plantation in one part of the estate in Salina and visiting the other Sammler-owned manufacturing companies (transportation and electrical equipments) in Salt Lake City… She remembered her wedding gown, her gorgeous bouquet, her excitement… And most of all, she remembered lying on the grass and looking at the stars with Eli…
"She has to go back." Grace continues.
"What?" Katie is pretty aware of how the news made her feel, but there's no reason to act weak about this. It's Jessie's choice to leave.
"We can't let her leave her life here."
"If she doesn't want to stay, who are we to force her to stay?"
"YOU have to make her go back."
"Why would I do that?" Katie squeaks.
"Because it's stupid of her to drop her life here just to continue her father's legacy in Utah. That's not her, that's not her life. I don't want to see her miserable because of some wrong, guilty and impulsive decision. I may not have known her long, but I saw how she loves helping people, curing them. That's what she does best, and I don't want her to stop doing that."
"If that's what you want, then why don't YOU stop her?" Katie raises an eyebrow at Grace.
"Remember what you told me?"
"I've told you so many things." Katie snorts.
"You said you're confused about your feelings… It's time to ascertain what this 'gray area' between you and Jessie is all about, Katie.
"I'm not going to go see her just to convince her to come back here, Grace. That's so pathetic." Katie says firmly.
"Maybe you're just scared." Grace states knowingly. Katie stares at her.
"I'm not scared."
"Really?" Grace smiles, holding Katie's eyes with her own. "Tell me you're not scared of seeing Eli again, and tell me that's not the reason why you don't want to come over and convince Jessie to go back."
"I don't care about Eli anymore. I'm over him." Katie adamantly answered.
"Then tell me you're not scared of seeing Jessie again, of facing what could be an unexpected adversity of this newfound and very complex feelings that you and I both know exists in your heart at this very moment." Grace challenges Katie.
Katie sighs…
Meanwhile, at the Sammler Manor, at the Sammler Estate in Salina, Utah… A table was set up in front of the mansion, and the two chairs are currently occupied by Jessie and Yvette… The butler pours a cup of coffee for each of them…
"Eli's coming home in a few days. Until then, we can open your father's last will." Yvette informs Jessie. Jessie nods.
Yvette Lawrence is a family friend. She and Jessie had been friends since gradeschool, and they both went to a prestigious and exclusive girls' school in Salt Lake City, 'til Jessie ran away. When both of them started college, they met again in Boston, where both of them studied at Harvard; Yvette taking up Law, and Jessie, Medicine. They were really close, probably more than bestfriends, but less than lovers. Yvette had always been fond of Jessie, at one point of her life, even considered having feelings for the blonde, but she contained it. It was for the best. She and Jessie remained in contact, and unknown to Jessie, Yvette had been filling her father with updates on his daughter's life…
Yvette eventually became a lawyer, but unlike Jessie, she went back to Utah. Rick Sammler then hired her as the Sammler Group's lawyer, and his very own lawyer. Jessie's father obviously trusted Yvette more than anyone. She told Jessie what happened that day, and what they were doing in Florida.
Jessie found out that her father and Yvette were on their way to see her at the hospital to surprise her. It was all planned out. Her father was going to apologize to her for wanting to stop her from doing what she wants, and to tell her that he loves her. Yvette told her how excited her father was, how happy he was, then he had that heart attack…
A supposed to be happy reunion turned out to be a fatal last meeting instead… Jessie felt like she could never forgive herself for not answering her celphone. She could have at least been able to say goodbye…
"He wouldn't be happy to see me here." Jessie sighs.
"Just ignore him then."
Eli, obviously, isn't happy when Jessie ran away, leaving him with his dad. He did tell Katie all those crap about his sister being selfish. The truth is he's just really angry at Jessie for beating him at running away. His sister was managed to run away first, so he stayed behind. He stayed with his father and followed his wishes. Instead of traveling the world with a rock band, he became active with the Sammler Group of Companies. He didn't have a choice. No one was left to help him…
Yvette noticed how depressed Jessie had seemed in the past few days. She knew Jessie would have preferred to stay behind in Florida. She did tell the blonde that when Eli comes back, she'll just phone her to come to Utah for the reading of the will. Jessie had started a good life in Florida. What Yvette didn't understand is that Jessie quit her job at Broward and decided to come fly with her back to Utah, without any clear plan.
Is she going to drop her profession to pursue this life that she ran away from?... Yvette wished it isn't…
"Why didn't you ever sleep with me?" Jessie question was so out of the blue, Yvette almost spit her coffee. She stares at Jessie's blue eyes, then she smiles.
"Had I, it would have been harder letting you go." Yvette honestly answered. She and Jessie never really dated. But she never hid the attraction that she felt toward Jessie. Jessie is aware of it.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on, Jessie. You know I loved you, I still do and maybe I always will. And to be honest, I really do want to be with you as much as I can, in the most intimate way that I could. But then, I know I'll just hurt myself in the end." Yvette looks a bit regretful, but she's not really the kind of person who dwells in failures.
"I'm a gentle lover, you won't get hurt." Jessie jokes, and for the first time since Rick's death, Yvette saw her smile. The lawyer was glad. Yvette laughs… Then she sighs.
"As much as I wanted to make love with you Jessie, I couldn't. 'Coz between us, it will always be just sex. And I have too much feelings for you to gamble with one-time pleasure. If I was going to sleep with you, I wanted it to mean something. But I know better, so I moved on."
"I don't want you to move on." Yvette will always be special to Jessie.
"Neither do I, but I had to. Jessie, you've always maintained this strong belief that you're going to find your soul mate. Had I been your soul mate, you wouldn't have ran away. I thought it was foolish and irrational, but you believed it. Who am I to compete with that?"
"I was foolish, Yvette. It was a childish notion, something I must have had gotten from those fairtytales…" Jessie sighs. "Soulmates doesn't exist."
Yvette watched her friend stare in nothingness.
Something else happened in Florida… Yvette just knew it.
Night… It was clear and every star is visible in the sky. It was so quiet, the silence was deafening. Katie turns the stereo of her car on, and searches for a station… As she drove and steered the car into the familiar vastness of the estate she was trailing, her heartbeat is striking wildly against her chest…
Her celphone rings, and she puts her headset on…
"What?" Katie growls.
"Where's the static coming from? Where the hell are you?" Tad whines on the other line.
"Utah."
"Are you kidding? What are you doing there?" Tad couldn't believe what he's hearing. He isn't even aware that Katie had left for Utah.
"I have to talk to Jessie."
"About what?"
"She quit her job. I'll make her go back."
"I thought you said you hate her."
"I need to do this." Katie sighs. She wished Tad would just stop asking her questions.
"You do realize that you're gonna be seeing Eli again, right?" Tad is concerned. The last thing he wants is for Katie to revive her feelings for Eli again.
"I don't care about Eli." Katie says firmly. She threw a few glances upon entering the Sammler Estate. Only a few things have changed. The fences are a bit older, the paddocks are wide and clear, the stable had been renovated and bigger. In a few minutes, she'll reach the manor…
"Katie?"
Katie was lost in thoughts, when a horse with its rider came out of nowhere. Trying to avoid a collision, Katie steers the car to the left, hitting an unsuspecting tree. The impact was so powerful, Katie was lucky that she had her seatbelt strapped around her. The airbag popped out, and then, everything went into a blur…
The line went dead…