They arrived at Cece's apartment rather quickly due to less traffic than usual. Nick stopped in front of the building complex.
"Nick do you want to take my car and head on over to the hospital and I can just get Cece to give me a lift?"
"Sounds like a plan; I really should go pick up Winston. He's probably high on pain meds and hallucinating by now."
Jess leans over and places a quick peck on his cheek. "Thanks for last night, it was great" and with that she gets out of the car and walks inside, out of Nick's sight. Now alone he lets out a shaky breath and picks up his mobile and texts Winston "Be there in ten buddy, hang in there."
Jess knocks on the door and Cece opens it right away.
"How are you holding up Cee?" Jess says in a soft and gentle tone of voice.
"Everything is crazy Jess, I got barely any sleep" Jess looks at her face, noticing the prominent bags forming under her eyes. "I mean, yes it was horribly embarrassing to be left at the altar but I suppose it's better finding out before instead of after we were married. And if I'm honest with myself, yes he was a really nice guy but there was no real fire there...no...passion" Jess nods her head in agreement; it reminds her of Russell; and her reasons for ending it with him.
They both collapse onto Cece's bed which was currently covered with clothes. Jess rubs Cece's arm in an attempt to comfort her best friend. "Yeah, it's for the best."
Jess felt bad that she wasn't able to spend all day with her best friend and eat ice cream and watch romantic movies but she had to deal with her dad first.
"Look I'm really sorry and I know you have more than enough on your plate right now but would you mind giving me a lift to the loft to pick up my dad...hey you know what, you should come with, I'm taking him out for breakfast and then dropping him off at the airport."
"Hang on a minute...where's your car?"
It is a known fact that nothing gets past Cece.
"Erm...I sort of...kind of...lent it Nick. He just dropped me off here and went to pick up Winston."
"O.M.G! Jessica Day, you slept with him again! I need details. Spill."
"How about you do me a huge favour of carpooling and then I will tell you."
"Deal, but you know I could get it out off you anyway if I really wanted."
Jess looks in her friends closet and finds a summer dress she left there last week. The dress is casual and comfortable, perfect for today. It was navy blue with white horizontal stripes, fitted at the waist and gold buttons up the front. In the piles of clothes covering the bedroom floor she manages to find a matching blue cardigan with three quarter length sleeves that were just below her elbows. She puts on a pair of cream ballet pumps and is ready to go. Cece was also dressed casually, a rare occurrence for the model. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a tight black tank top. To add some colour to her rather plain outfit she had an over sized orange and red striped shirt on top. They both made their way to Cece's car and head over to the loft. Jess gets out her phone and calls her dad.
"Dad, I'm parked right outside the front door if you want to head down"
"Great, coming now"
Jess seen her dad and got out of the car to lift his suitcase into the boot. They arrived at the diner and it was mostly empty apart from a family of four and a few old men drinking their morning coffees' and reading the headlines in the paper. The mood had been rather tense in the car ride. Cece was not in good form to make small talk as she had a million and one things racing through her mind, one of those being Schmidt, so the drive was rather quiet. They sat down a table, Cece and Jess sitting side by side and Bob sitting opposite. The decor was outdated but it somehow added to the charm of the place. The seats were all bright red, the floor black and white checkered and the tables black with silver edges. A short, plump woman with blonde curls tied back into a tight bun came over to take their order. Jess ordered the pancake stack; Bob the full fry with tea and Cece ordered a coffee.
"So Jess" Bob tries to ease the mood, "how did the interview go? Did you get the job?"
"No, they still need to get back to me but it looks good; I think I have a shot at getting it"
Cece smiled, "Jess that's so great babe, of course you will get it"
Bob nodded in agreement, "Cecelia is right, of course you will get it"
"Thanks dad" Jess said, happy for the change in topic from Nick Miller who she certainly did not want to talk about with her dad.
The waitress returned to their table with their orders. Jess was really hungry after certain late night activities tiring her out so she made short work of her pancakes. Bob also finished his fry in record timing. He got up and went over to pay the bill.
"Ready to head ladies? I should really get to the airport" Bob says sounding unusually cheerful.
"Yup" they both answer in unison.
They dropped off Bob at the airport and Jess got out once more and he gripped her in a tight hug. "It was really good seeing you again, it was too long since I last seen my little girl."
Jess smiles unable to break free of his tight hug "Yeah it was nice dad, I missed you too. Give me a call to let me know you landed safely."
"Will do. And Jess" He paused for a second not sure how to word his thoughts, "be careful, ok?"
She knew he was referring to Nick. Be careful not to rush into things ie use protection.
"Of course" Jess replies, happy that he was beginning to accept that she was with Nick.
Finally he reluctantly releases his tight grip on her and walks off towards the main entrance of the airport, suitcase in hand looking back over his shoulder to see Jess smiling and waving. Once he turned around the corner she got back into the car.
"Ok" said Cece, "lets go have some retail therapy, I think we both need it" Jess nodded in agreement.