Time With Jessica
Sweet and savory the short session is
Jessica lives in a cold place. No matter the sweaters or stockings underneath her jeans– she’s cold.
Two scarves, wool cut-off gloves– no hat. Messes up the hair.
Too much time spent perfecting lush curls just to have them flattened and frizzed by tight, ugly hats.
She’ll trudge through the snowy, slushy streets in subterranean temps to visit her favorite coffee shop. Beckoning her winter woes.
Wide double doors meet a dimly lit, spacious loft. Might as well be Christmas; yellowy bulbs stringing about inside, setting the scene.
She’s associated pleasantness here ever since it opened eight months ago.
The staff smile from ear to ear. Gift her branded mugs and caramel corn. If she only had swelling cheeks like these to greet at home.
The music is calm. Folksy, indie. Not too overbearing. Remnants of her college years when only schoolwork overwhelmed her.
Now, anything else that overwhelms– was just potential and possibility back then.
A future full of time to read all the books. Listen to all the albums. Meet all kinds of people. Maybe a relationship too so they could, I dunno, share a dance or a starlight view?
She teleports to her wholesome past.
Even if Jessica could still create those things, It’s too late, she suspects.
Anxiety, kicking in. Oh dear.
But the frothy latte culled for half-off settles her nerves. Never expecting to spend most of her late afternoons in a place she can remain anonymous and known at the same time.
Where her basic needs are met:
A cozy plush to sit and write.
Tables that rest just below her chest.
Staff to check in on her, offer things like pens or a lined notebook.
Sometimes Patrick, another regular, brings his fox-hued retriever along. They let him.
He’ll come read his novels while Jessica sinks into the mulled carpet floor petting and admiring his curious half, Chuckles.
Sweet and savory the short session is.
Her part-time pet. Always the right dose; bursts of tender exchange with a sentient being. His inviting brown eyes and wag-talking excitement fill her insides with glee.
Patrick can tell they like each other a lot.
He knows in deep form that Jessica needs it.
More than she cares to reveal it.
