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Previously in "Distracting," Rick left his meeting with Sam and Colin to support Lily who needed more tests, while Grace played chauffer to Jessie and Zoë only to become stranded with a stalled mini-van in the parking lot of Jessie's psychologist.
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Part 7 "No Idea"
Parking Lot Outside Jessie's Psychologist's Office
When Judy arrived there were three rather cranky girls waiting for a ride.
The girls filed into Judy's car with barely a word. Grace mumbled something that resembled a "thanks," Zoë (easily the most enthusiastic of the group) threw a "hi aunt Judy" in the mix, while Jessie quietly slipped into the backseat with a poor attempt at a smile. Judy could instantly tell that her chauffer job would be less than a bouquet of roses.
"What seems to be wrong with the car?" Judy asked the rowdy bunch, attempting to 'jump start' the conversation.
Zoë pounced on the question, "Grace turned it off while we were waiting for Jessie and now it won't start."
As soon as Grace's eyes stopped rolling, she shot Zoë the death glare. Judy, anxious to diffuse the situation, decided to launch directly into a change of subject.
"I tried to call your mother and Rick, but neither seem to be around."
Judy babbled for a few minutes about how Lil and Rick seemed to have dropped off the earth, but no one was very interested in the report. After realizing she was largely talking to herself, Judy gave up. She glanced in her rearview at Grace and Jessie in the backseat. Jessie seemed a bit preoccupied, which of course proved intriguing. Judy still couldn't believe she and Lily had been so off the mark—about both Grace and Jessie. There they were speculating about Grace's sexuality and thinking that Jessie and Tad were a hot item, when in fact Jessie was dating Katie and Grace was straight. Judy truly hoped Jessie would eventually feel comfortable enough around her to be open about her relationship with Katie. Katie was a nice kid. Judy really liked her. So, Judy decided that the best way to wade the waters (and get some choice information) might be to start the dialog herself. The 'ask some questions, get Jessie talking' route.
"So, Jessie. Did Katie ever find her English book?"
"Katie lost her English book?" Jessie asked, obviously uninformed of the subject. Katie hadn't mentioned anything to her about an English book. And, besides that, the question seemed odd. Even if Katie had lost her English book, how would Judy know that Katie lost her English book?
"Oh, didn't she leave it at the house?"
"I don't know." Jessie was completely suspicious now, and her tone indicated so. "What makes you think Katie lost her book?"
"Uh, well, I ran into her the other morning—" Judy began before being cut off by Jessie's rapid-fire inquiry.
"What morning?"
"Sunday. At Lily's." If anything, Judy feared that instead of opening a dialog about Katie, she had made Jessie even more defensive. And, worse yet, Judy was unsure whether the quickest method of damage control would be to abandon the topic, or to continue the topic in order to explain how innocent her question had been. The only thing that was clear was that Jessie appeared to have no idea what English book she was talking about, and the atmosphere was becoming more awkward by the moment.
Jessie hadn't known Katie visited Sunday morning. No one had mentioned it to her. So, while Jessie stewed in the backseat, Judy's mind was racing in the front. She felt she needed to justify herself to Jessie, who had become eerily silent.
"I dropped by to see Lily and Katie was there. She said she came by for the book," Judy added, her tone attempting to regain a casual atmosphere.
"She must have gotten it," Jessie responded, totally confused by the whole conversation.
After Judy's sparkling attempt at 'dialog,' the conversation stalled to a completely unbearable halt. No one in the car had any idea what the other was thinking, or even what had just taken place really, but everyone seemed to sense the residual uneasiness.
Finally, Judy couldn't bear the silence anymore. So, she unwisely she tried her hand again at small talk, "It was really great Katie was able to make it to the reception."
"Yeah," Jessie answered skeptically. Judy was talking a lot about Katie. And, she was totally ignoring her nieces. Something was up.
"And I really loved her dress," Judy continued to babble, checking the rearview for reaction.
Wow, Grace thought. The only thing worse than this car ride was being stuck in an immobile car with Jessie and Zoë.
"Oh yeah," Grace deadpanned. "Katie's the greatest." Grace leaned forward to talk to Zoë sitting in the front seat. "What do you think, Zo?"
"What are you talking about?" Zoë asked.
"Precisely," Grace answered, leaning back into her seat. There was another awkward pause.
"So…" Judy began in an effort to divert the conversation and save some dignity. "Any big stories from school today?"
"Oh, look. We're almost home," Grace observed, relieved. The car was just pulling onto the Sammler's street.
"Thank God," Jessie quipped under her breath as Judy pulled into the Sammler driveway.
"Thanks for the ride, Judy," Grace said as the girls scrambled to exit the car.
"Have your mom call me!" Judy yelled after them.
Judy pulled away as the girls entered the eerily empty house. It was not often the Sammler residence was devoid of life, which probably should have been a clue that something wasn't quite right. However, after the incredibly uncomfortable ride home, no one's perceptions were quite right either.
Zoë headed straight for the kitchen. Jessie took the opportunity to get Grace's opinion on the bizarro ride home. "What was that about?" Jessie asked, her voice lowered so that Zoë would not hear them in the other room.
"Honestly," Grace said, her tone utterly dismissive, "I have no idea."
Jessie didn't believe that Grace wouldn't have a single clue about what just unfurled in the car. In fact, since Grace helped diffuse the situation (if that's what you call it), she must have a pretty good idea what it was all about. Jessie herself was quick enough to link the information Grace shared that morning on the ride to school with the weirdness on the ride home in question. To summarize: Jessie suspected Grace at least had a hunch of what was going on. "What about what you told me this morning?"
"What about it?" Grace retorted before following Zoë's lead to the kitchen.
Jessie had known Grace long enough to recognize that when Grace got stubborn and incommunicative, there was nothing anyone could do to force her into a conversation, and wisely she chose to drop the subject. "Never mind," Jessie muttered, opting to forego the kitchen for the time being and instead make her way up to the attic.
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Booklovers
When Judy arrived back at Booklovers, she found Karen browsing the front display. "Karen! It's great to see you." The two exchanged a hug, made only slightly awkward due to the cane Karen used to maneuver around.
"Well, since I'm finally more mobile I decided I might as well take advantage," Karen smiled. Judy couldn't have been more relieved; Karen appeared to be in good spirits.
"How did you get here?" Judy asked knowing Karen wasn't driving yet.
"Eli dropped me off on his way out."
Just as Judy was about to suggest they move the conversation to somewhere with seating, Sam came through the front door.
"Sam?" Judy said, surprised at seeing him in the bookstore. Karen and Sam exchanged greetings.
"Well, I'm going to head off toward the non-fiction… there's chairs over there," Karen excused herself, heading off in that direction.
"I'll meet you in a sec," Judy called after her before turning her attention to Sam. "So what brings you here?"
"Guess who's still going to Australia?" Sam grinned.
Judy paused for a moment, "Wait a minute… you're going to Australia?"
"We are," Sam responded.
"I don't understand," Judy said, shaking her head. "I thought you and Rick were turning down the job because of the baby."
"Well, I was thinking about it, and I decided I really didn't want to let the opportunity go. So when we met with Colin I pitched him an idea, just off the top of my head—Rick stays here, works on the project from Sinclair, I go to Australia and deal with everything hands on. He and I collaborate through email and phone, that kind of thing. Everyone's happy."
For the little amount of effort or thought Sam had apparently lavished on his plan, he was certainly confident. Judy on the other hand was a bit slow to catch up to his level of enthusiasm. "And that's feasible?"
"Well, Colin seems to think so. I think it's a great chance for both Rick and I."
"What does Rick think?" Judy had a hard time believing that Rick shared Sam's enthusiasm for his impromptu plan.
"He doesn't really know," Sam answered, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that Rick hadn't even heard his plan, let alone agreed to go along with it.
"What?"
"Lily called and he just ran off." True, Rick's departure had been abrupt. But, overall the nearly two and a half hour meeting ended up being fairly productive despite Rick's absence. Sam pitched his plan to Colin, who then expounded upon the idea. Between the two of them, they managed to pretty much set up all the specifics.
"He ran off? In the middle of a meeting?" Judy had a hard time following most of Sam's narrative. Rick running off seemed pretty out of character for starters. And, the idea of Colin and Sam hatching a plan without Rick's consent seemed even more unorthodox.
"Yeah. Sometimes I have no idea what's going on with that guy."
"This is all very bizarre," Judy commented. "Don't you think so?" She hoped Sam might take a step back and re-evaluate this plan for what it was… seemingly premature and idealistic at best. Who's to say Rick even wanted to be attached to the project anymore? After all, just yesterday Rick had been gung-ho for turning it down.
But, Sam was unshakeable in his enthusiasm. He had managed to plow right through every question Judy had thrown at him. "Yeah, pretty wild. So, you better get packed. We take off in less than a week."
Soliloquy Judy: Wow… When all of this happened the first time, Australia and everything, I really didn't want anything more than for Sam to ask me. I pictured the outback and beaches and exotic, romantic locations. I thought it was the perfect opportunity. You know, Sam and I could really connect, get away from Sinclair for awhile… But, now? I don't know, it all just feels a bit rushed and hectic now… And with Lily's pregnancy. Being away, missing all of that. And with Mom. And the store. I just—it's not that I don't want to go, with Sam. It's just—it feels more complicated (she takes a big breath and sort of drifts away, deep in thought.)
"I've got to go make some arrangements and all that, so I'm going to go. I just wanted to come by and share the good news with you." Sam gave Judy a peck on the cheek and beamed at her before he headed out the door, leaving a totally overwhelmed Judy in his wake.
But before Judy had too much time to twist her panties into a jumble, Katie came through the door.
"Katie?" Judy asked, not suspecting a visit from Jessie's girlfriend. Judy had flashbacks of the monstrosity that was the car ride to Lily's just minutes ago. Of course, Judy thought, maybe Katie was just there to shop.
"I was hoping to find you," Katie responded. Her whole mission in coming was to grill Judy about her 'alleged' conversation with Lily in which some rather sensitive Intel about herself and Jessie had been exchanged.
"You were?" Judy could tell by Katie's demeanor and tone of voice that this was not a casual visit. Something was up. "Um, well, we could talk in the back if you wanted? Just let me drop by and let Karen know—she's over in non-fiction."
Judy led Katie over toward Karen, who oddly enough was making her way back toward the front of the store.
"Judy, phone's for you," Karen said as she approached. She saw Katie and smiled.
"Wow, when you're popular, you're popular—I'm sorry, I better get that. I'll be right back." Judy hurried off to answer her call leaving Katie and Karen in the front of the store.
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Next time in "Distracting," Rick fills Judy and the girls in on Lily's doctor visit, Katie and Karen share a moment, and Lily gets a visit from the specialist.
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