Jessica gave her father a hug hello, which in itself was rare. Gary wasn’t exactly an affectionate man. But I guess when you talk to your only daughter over the phone 1 or 2 times a month for the past 18 years it brings out the best in someone. Jessica was planning on coming up after the New Year. Once she got her head on straight again after the divorce. Truth was she knew that would never happen. She needed to talk and vent, and let’s face it; a professional isn’t always the best. With her mind not particularly on her work lately it had started to show. She was pulled into her boss’s office and pretty much forced into a long overdue vacation/sabbatical. Her boss was one of the best she had. She also just happened to be her best friend.
Karine had call Jessica in her office about 10am on the 18th. Wasn’t to “out of the ordinary”. She probably just wanted to talk about the shots from the hockey game the night before.
“Hey boss what’s up? Did you review the series from last night?”
“Yea, Jessica come in and have a seat my dear. We need to talk”
Jessica was a bit confused. They went over the series and even she had to admit there were quite a few that were a bit amateurish. There were enough of the great shots to pass but too many to throw out. Karine got up from her desk and walked over and shut her office door. Now is when Karine went from boss to best friend.
“Jessica, you need to take some time off of work. I know we have talked about this before and I respected your wishes to let you bury yourself in your work until the New Year but as a friend, and especially as your boss, I can’t let you continue like this.”
“Oh boy here we go” Jessica groaned
“Oh boy yea that’s right. Jessie….Sorry Jessica, your work is starting to show your stress. I am putting you on sabbatical.”
“Sabbatical! That is just insane. I don’t need sabbatical. I just need to get through the next two weeks, take my week’s vacation and I will be fine.”
“No Jessica, it’s already done. As of today you are on sabbatical. You’re done for three months.” Karine continued as Jessica rolled her eyes and started to protest. “Jessica stop right there. You are the best damn sports photographer this city has seen in 20 years. You worked hard to get that status and I will not sit idly by as you bury yourself and turn in shit work for a series. Now don’t worry about upcoming games. I will assign two people to the hockey games, together they should be able to turn in something comparable to you. You will be back in time for the playoffs and hopefully have your head together and continue to be my, the city’s, #1 photographer.”
Jessica really couldn’t argue. She knew Karine was right. Plus, she always did have her back and best interests at heart. So, here it was, 2 days later and she was sitting on her parents couch after 18 years trying to avoid the question of “where’s Tom”. She thought avoiding the subject and answering the first question of “what are you doing here, we weren’t expecting you until after the New Year” would keep her mother’s mind off the lingering more important questions. She knew her mom was chomping at the bit just waiting for the chance to ask again. As Jessica took a sip of water that gave her mom the window she needed.
“Jessie honey, why do you need to get your head back together and god sake why isn’t Tom with you? And enough of this ‘he’s in the shower or doing overtime’ bit. I want to know what’s going on.”
Jessica knew her mother was just playing dumb. She could see it written all on her mother’s face that she knew something was up. So she started from the beginning. They lived in a beautiful 3500 square foot huge house in Lansdale just north of the city. Jessica was intent on staying and living in the city but not Tom. He wanted “the dream house”. It was a beautiful home and Jessica got used to not always being in the middle of all the excitement the city had to offer. They were happy, so she thought. As Jessica worked her way to the top of her field Tom couldn’t be more supportive. Tom had a great job himself. He was a program designer for the city’s biggest TV broadcast company. He himself was working his way up to the top. They were living quite well. Then in 1998, and every year so far there after, Jessica was named the #1 sports photographer in the country. Offers started to pour in from lots of big named companies. Even National Geographic came knocking. The Philadelphia Company she was working for gave her a huge raise and a special copy write on her photos. Once the company had their photos that they were going to use she was free to take whatever else and sell them to other advertisement agencies and online sites to use. This is where things started to turn for her and Tom. Tom wasn’t too keen on the fact that Jessica’s paychecks were more than his. Tom started picking up more overtime to try to supplement the difference between the two. Jessica started to get a bit lonely. There were a lot of times when she was eating alone, waking up alone, and going to bed alone. So, she thought, maybe I’ll just take on another team to photograph. She already had the Eagles and the Flyers so she thought, “If I pick up the Phillies, I can do professional all year round instead of fall, winter, some spring, and then spotty college in the summer.”
It was about a year ago to the day when Jessica decided to take on the Phillies. She was excited about the new opportunity and couldn’t wait to tell Tom about it. Tom didn’t take it as well as she had hoped he would. He completely flew off the handle.
“So what do you think Thomas? I’m sure I can get some great shots from the Dugout.” She said excitedly
“Huh, what do I think? I can't believe you went and did this to me. You just can't stand it can you. I finally got the promotion I was working at and you just couldn’t take it. You just can’t stand the fact that I was finally going to be making more money than you, you just HAD to go out and pick up ANOTHER client didn’t you”. He said raising his voice. Jessica was in complete shock. She did not expect this.
“Don’t stand there looking at me like I’m insane! You’re the one who is always complaining ‘Oh Tom we never see each other anymore, we need a vacation together’, blah blah blah” he said mockingly “and then you go and do this?!!
“Tom, I’m sorry I didn’t know this is how you felt you never said anything to me. We never talked about this”. Jessica said trying to stay calm.
“Oh give me a fucking break Jessie. You don’t care what I think all you have ever cared about is your stupid photography career and your “#1 best photographer” title. You don’t give a shit about my feelings”. Tom turned and started to leave. Jessica couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Well, let me give you a little news flash, welcome to the 21st fucking century Thomas. Women are allowed to make money too. Where the hell are you going?” Jessica followed Tom out the door and onto the porch. He was already at his car with the door open when she got to the top of the porch steps. “Thomas answer me where the hell are you going? Typical you leaving in the middle of a fight that you started. Just go ahead and walk away as usual.”
“No Jessie, I didn’t start this fight. You started it back when you decided to pick up another client. And I’m going to the office. At least there if people are going to stab you in the back they at least have the decency to throw marshmallows instead of stones.” He answered in an eerily calm demeanor.
Ugh, what did that even mean, Jessica thought. Oh and she HATED when he called her Jessie. Tom drove off and she just stormed back into the house. Jessica paused for a bit to take a sip of water before she continued. It seemed as if the story was almost done. Truth was, it was only about half way. She took a deep breath, whipped a few damp tears and continued.
Jessica found herself waking up at 2am that night to the sound of the garage door opening and an empty bottle of Merlot on the coffee table in front of her. She laid completely still with her eyes closed wondering if the 8 hours Tom had been gone was enough to settle down. She didn’t hear him come in the room but she could feel his presence next to her. Not to mention the faint smell cheap roses. You know the $5 a dozen you can pick up on just about every street corner in Philly. Even in the dead of winter. She heard the crinkle of cellophane close to her as she opened her eyes. She saw the roses setting on the table in front of her and Tom had squatted down to her level.
“It’s late Jessie lets go to bed” Tom said quietly
She regretted slightly what she was about to say. “No Tom, we need to talk about what happened today. You know that” she sat up on the couch and Tom moved in to sit next to her. Close. He put his arm around her and held her close to him, pulling her into the fold of his arm as if they were newlyweds again. He kissed the top of her head.
“Look, I’m sorry about the fight, I’m sorry about what I said but, I’m not sorry on what I meant. I really don’t want you to take on this extra client. I got this great promotion and the OT is going to stop. We will be able to spend more time together. I promise.” He sounded so sincere.
Jessica looked up at him as he looked at her, deeply, like he used to. She said ok and kissed him, sexually. Jessica sat quietly day dreaming on her parent’s couch reminiscing in her mind what had happened next on the couch. She didn’t reminisce that out loud because, well, frankly her parent’s really didn’t need to hear about her sex life in detail. She just gave them the typical “preschool kiss and make up story”.
Things got a bit better after that. Valentine’s Day especially was a big surprise. He took her for the weekend to The Westwynd Farm in Hershey. What a beautiful place. What an awesome weekend. After that things got a little out of whack again. Tom was still doing overtime. His hours seemed to keep getting later and later. The Flyers schedule picked up and it looked like they were going to make the playoffs which meant travel for Jessica and less time at home. She sensed that Tom recognized this so to try to make it up to him a bit she decided to surprise him.
It was Sunday the 29th of March. Jessica woke up alone with a note from Tom.
Jessie,
Had to go work some OT.
I will be home by 4nbut you will be
at another game. See you when
you get in tonight. I’ll be asleep I’m sure.
Tom
Jessica paused and covered her eyes with her hands trying to pull herself together before she continued with what happened next. Her mom just reached over and put her hand on her knee.
“It’s ok Jessie honey, just take a deep breath.” She said with a quiver in her voice. As if she already knew what Jessica was going to say next. But how could she, how could she possibly know what was next.
Jessica looked up at the drop ceiling above her, took a deep breath and continued. “It was horrible mom. When I got to the top of the stairs, I heard a women’s voice. When I got to the double doors to our bedroom I heard a man and a woman. I opened the door and, and…” Jessica paused, “and I saw Tom in our bed with two women who were obviously naked. The room got quiet and I just stood there and watched as a third women revealed herself from under the covers. It was Alana.”
“WHAT!” Both her parents, in unison, as if scripted, were in shock at what Jessica just said.
“Yup, that’s right, Alana. Tom’s adopted sister.” Jessica could do nothing more but sob into her mother's shoulder.
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