This is the twelfth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, and Part XI before continuing.
Once I had changed, I looked around my apartment for something I could bring that would say, “I am not a total mooch.”
When my eyes landed on my wine rack, I decided I couldn’t go wrong with the traditional gift of a bottle of wine, so I grabbed one and headed upstairs.
As soon as she opened the door, I held up my bottle of wine at the exact same time that she held out a glass of wine to me. We both laughed.
“Great minds really do think alike,” she said.
“I guess so,” I said, taking the offered glass of wine as I handed her the bottle. “You can either keep this for next time or drink it on your own. I don’t care as long as I can add more pieces to the puzzle than you.”
“Sorry, I stayed up all night and finished the puzzle.”
My jaw dropped as my mind tried to process that information and come up with a suitable response. Before it could land on one, she laughed and said, “I’m kidding! Of course, I haven’t finished it. But I would be lying if I said I hadn’t touched it since you left. Do you know how addictive those things are?”
“I do. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all day, even with all the craziness going on right now. I was looking at chimneys while driving home from work, and I got kind of angry at them.”
Jessica laughed, knowing I was referring to the many chimneys in our Paris landscape that all look alike, driving us crazy as we try to figure out which one fits on which rooftop.
Then she waved me in, and not only did I find the puzzle (almost) exactly as I had left it, but there was even a charcuterie board lying next to it.
“Did you just have this lying around?” I asked in amazement.
She shrugged. “I mean, I had the ingredients lying around. When you said you were coming up, it was just a matter of throwing things on the board. I figured it might be good for us to have something to nibble on so we’re not drinking on an empty stomach.”
“You’re amazing.”
“Nah. It’s not like I had to cook anything.”
I chose a wedge of soft cheese (my weakness) and nibbled on it as I considered the board, already looking for where I could find a piece’s destination.
Jessica joined me and we spent a few minutes nibbling and puzzling in silence before she said, “So, I take it the fire hazard outside your front door was all Randy’s stuff?”
I blushed. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t really thinking about it as a fire hazard. I just wanted it out of my apartment ASAP. He came and cleared it up, by the way, so it’s totally taken care of.”
She nodded as she took a sip of her wine. “Did you two talk when he came to pick up his stuff?”
“I wouldn’t call it ‘talking.’ Although he did say he wanted to talk about it because he still wants me in his life. Can you believe that?”
“Can I believe someone wants you in their life? Absolutely.”
I rolled my eyes. “No. I mean the fact that he thought I would want him in my life after what he did to me.”
“Honestly, I would be more concerned if he didn’t. You guys have been living down there for how long?”
“Ten years.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Of course, he’s having a hard time adjusting to the thought of living without you. He hasn’t had to confront that reality for the past decade. Up until now, he’s had both you and Nikki in his life. He probably wants to continue having both you and Nikki in his life. He just hasn’t thought about how that would work.”
“You mean the fact that it will never work in a million years because the next time I see Nikki I’m going to stab her in the throat?”
“That would make things more difficult,” she deadpanned.
To be continued…