Jules walks into her cottage laying her bag on the counter as the jet lag hits hard. It is only 11 am but to her it feels like the middle if the night. It has been a hell of a week. The whole week felt like one endlessly long day which started the weekend before. If she keeps up this pace, her passport is going to have more stamps than the US Postal service.
She falls onto her couch while the upcoming weekend's schedule runs through her head. The sun is pouring through the windows and she is like a kitten lying in the sunny spot. She just lets the rays linger on her skin as she covers her eyes with her hands.
She can hear him enter the house. The sounds of his footfalls she would recognize anywhere. "Where in the hell have you been?" Offie scolds her as he enters the living room.
"I told you where I was." Jules remains in her sunny spot. There is an edge to Offie's voice that she doesn't know the source of. "Check your phone."
"There is not a single message from you, Jules." Yep, there is that edge again.
"Check your other phone…" Offie looks at her. It did not occur to him to look at his satellite phone. He sheepishly reaches into his bag and retrieves the satellite phone… the one with about 15 messages from Jules.
"A technicality." He walks into the kitchen and retrieves Jules' Ipad that has her accounting on it.
"So is that technically you are sorry for being bitchy?" Jules snuggles further into her "spot" as Offie looks down upon her.
"When did you tell me you were going out of the country?" Offie begins to scan the contents of the files.
"Apparently, when you were not listening to me." Jules rolls over and sprawls out and starts to snore.
Offie knows Jules is going to sleep it off and he has a dinner date with Pepper so this conversation will be held at a later date. He kisses her on the head as he exits the cottage. Offie knows that Donna will likely be joining Jules in the next 24 hours. It is another polo weekend in the Hamptons that Donna wouldn't miss for the world. This will wait.
Jules is awakened from her slumber by the ring of the doorbell. She staggers from the couch towards the source of annoyance. At the door is a delivery man with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Jules hands him a tip and stumbles back towards the kitchen with the flowers in hand. She rubs her face to focus her eyes and find the card.
She finds a handwritten note attached to the stems. The bouquet is one of wild flowers. She instinctively knows the sender. He has made it quite clear that he wants a second chance. She opens the envelope for the reveal. It is an invitation to dinner… in an hour. We're awake now… Jules heads to the shower to bring herself back to life.
Jules gets herself together with an excitement that she has not felt for some time. She has been on dozens of dates with him but something feels different. To her surprise, Charles arrives not in limo or even in one of his cars; he arrives in a vintage pickup truck. Much to her delight, Jules realizes that Charles is dressed in jeans and a dress shirt as he walks to the door. Jules quickly realizes that she is over dressed… really overdressed. She had figured dinner and the theater.
"Where are we going?"
"You look beautiful but we are going somewhere that does not require Chanel sling backs." He kisses her on the cheek as he takes in the outfit. Charles gives her a smile as she bolts back to her room to change. He knows Jules' tastes are simple. She was never impressed by his money. She was someone he could not buy. Countless women would fall over themselves to get his attention but not Jules. She knew how to tame the player in him. It was a game of chess between them and that made it interesting and she knew how to handle Will…that was just gravy.
She loves jeans and t shirts over Hermes and Chanel. She knows how to dress the part but it is not the authentic Jules. He wants his wild flower back. She returns sans the designer dress and heels that she had on. Instead, she is in her converses, jeans and a long sleeve t shirt. Charles knows that if there is a way back into Jules heart, the change has to start with him. He offers his arm and escorts Jules to the truck. "Shall we."
Donna walks into her apartment and falls onto her couch. Her frustration is palatable. She wants to scream but Mrs. MacEntrye across the hall would likely have a heart attack. She spies her agenda slipping from her bag as it sits precariously on the edge of the coffee table. She retrieves the bucket list from its hiding spots. She looks over the list. She compares her list to Jules. The memories flood her mind; she gets up and pulls out her old album again. She pans through the pictures laughing out loud at the Donna of yester year.
"If you always do what you have always done… you will always get what you always got." Her grandmother used to tell her that over and over again when she was young. How true her words were… She pulls out a legal pad. She jots down some thoughts, it is time to make some changes. Inspiration hits her like a wave. She works well into the night falling asleep on her couch.
