The next morning Jess didn't come down to have breakfast and refused to eat any when Wanda went upstairs to bring her some.
Emily knocked on Jess's door and opened it slowly, Jess was curled up in a ball in the middle of her bed still crying.
"Hey girl, what happened?" Emily sat down next to her and gently caressed her friend's arm.
Jess sat down and hugged Emily crying.
"We broke up." After giving all the details to her friend Jess calmed down a bit.
"What do you plan to do now?"
"I love her." Jess said between sobs.
"Everybody has a past Jess, you can't push her into telling you anything that she doesn't feel comfortable with."
"I feel like I don't know her anymore."
"I think you are judging her without even knowing her reasons."
Before Jess could say anything else her dad opened the door and greeted them cordially.
"I need you girls in my studio as soon as you can." Josh said.
" Is everything ok dad?"
"Wash your face, Kathy is down stairs." He didn't reply to her question.
"What is she doing here?" Jess asked as soon as her dad closed the door.
"We'll find out when we get there. Go to the bathroom, come on hurry up."
While Jess washed her face and teeth Emily got some clothes out of the closet for her, a pair of shorts and a white polo shirt.
They went to the studio, Kathy was already there, she was sitting on a couch next to Josh's desk.
"Good morning" Emily greeted Kathy, Jess didn't say a word, they just looked at each other.
"What in the world is going on with you two now?" Josh asked looking at their very obvious signs of tears.
"Nothing." Jess replied.
"If you say so, but whatever it is you two better figure it out because I'm giving you three the ownership of my estate."
"What?!" They all said in unison.
"After carefully considering my options, I've decided to retire, and there's nobody that would do my job better than the three of you."
"Where are you going dad?" Jess asked still shocked from the news.
"Me and your mom want to travel for a few months, take it easy. These are the papers that you would have to sign to accept the even split of all my assets to you girls." Josh handed them three manila folders with a bunch of papers inside.
Kathy was speechless, she didn't know what to do, this was an awesome opportunity money wise and work wise but she would almost be obligated to see Jess everyday, she wasn't sure she wanted to make such a life changing decision in less than 15 minutes.
"Can we at least think about it? Maybe talk among us.?" Jess asked her dad.
"Of course. I understand I've shocked you big time." He addressed them all and walked out the studio.
"What do you think?" Jess asked Emily ignoring Kathy.
"I'm shocked, I don't know if we are going to be able to run this place on our own." Emily replied.
"I say we do it." Kathy said and stood up to face them.
Kathy's eyes were also swollen, and even though she tried to avoid looking at Jess, she realized that she also had been crying.
"I'll go get your dad." Emily said to Jess and walked out closing the door behind her.
Jess paced a little, she looked out the window taking everything in, she had just agreed on running a company with her best friend and her ex that kept secrets from her.
Kathy was looking at Jess, she seemed uneasy, nervous, she wanted to approach her but didn't know how, she didn't know what to say or do to get her back.
"Jess can we please talk?" Kathy said finally.
"This is not a very good time." Jess replied coldly.
"I don't mean right now, maybe later we could get together or something."
"I don't know. I truly don't have anything to talk about with you."
"But I do." Kathy spoke clearly and firm making Jess feel a little controlled.
"Why would I want to talk to you, I already told you that for me a relationship with secrets doesn't work, and this is obviously not something to take slightly, what happened in your past that I can't know about?"
"Is a long story, its complicated its painful for me to talk about it." Kathy replied, she really wanted to tell Jess, but she was afraid that it may compromise their security, their relationship.
"Then get it over with, spit it out and we can move on, we can be together again, isn't that what you want?"
"Jess that is the only reason why I'm still here."
"You mean that you've been thinking about leaving?" Jess suddenly felt weak, just the thought of not having Kathy around made her stomach turn.
Kathy only nodded.
Josh opened the door and walked in followed by Emily.
"So what's the decision then? Are you agreeing to my terms or not.?" Josh sat down on his big leather chair and spoke calmly.
"What terms? We didn't read the paper work can you summarize them for us dad?"
"I'll be happy to do so. First of all, I want the three of you living here in the house, there's plenty of room for everybody. Kathy you'll need to hire a new vet, do the interviews and choose whoever you think meets our requirements you will be supervising everything that has to do with the animals. Emily you will be taking care of the finances along with Jess, you girls are going to make a month to month budget for everything that has to do with the business, from now on all the decisions are going to be made as a group like if you three were a board of directors." He finished and handed them pens so that they could sign.
"Dad what are we going to do about school?"
"I'm sure you can finish your classes online, please Jess, just do this for me, its very important that you learn and work together, leave your personal problems outside."
"Ok. I promise."
"Does everyone agree?"
Kathy looked a little shaken but she managed to nod her approval and sign the papers.
Emily was happy and scared, she just had been handed an awful lot of responsibility.
Jess signed and excused herself, she went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face, Kathy had signed, she was going to live in the house, Jess felt relived, she wasn't going nowhere.
As Kathy was getting up to leave Josh motioned for her not to do so, Emily got the sign and stepped outside after excusing herself. She walked to Jess's room and opened the door but the place was empty.
"By the looks of both of you something happened and Jess won't tell me, is it really bad?"
"She found the envelope that has all my old papers and my license." Kathy replied appreciating her ex father-in-law's concern.
"Oh dear! I thought you were going to get rid of that."
"I must have forgotten about it."
"Are you going to tell her the truth?"
"If I don't I'm afraid I'm going to lose her. I don't know what to do." Kathy was devastated.
"I think you should, she would understand." Josh smiled warmly and stood up to approach Kathy.
"Kathy you are an excellent person, you are honest and hardworking, you have beautiful feelings and most importantly you have done nothing wrong, it wasn't your fault."
"Thanks Josh, I think I'm going to take your advise and stop being a chicken around Jess." Kathy hugged him and walked out taking a deep breath. She walked down the hall towards Jess's room, she knocked but there was no answer. On her way downstairs she saw Wanda cleaning some windows and asked her if she had seen Jess, but no luck.
Emily had found her in the back porch smoking a cigarette, very rare thing in her, she only did it on desperate situations.
She sat down next to her friend and stayed quiet for a very long time. Jess appreciated her company and told her so with a smile.
Kathy finally found her, she was sitting next to Emily smoking a cigarette.
"Emily would you please excuse us for a minute." Kathy said and sat down next to Jess.
Emily stood up and went to her room hopefully her best friend and Kathy would fix things up.
"Why are you smoking?" Kathy looked at her and took the cigarette away from her fingers gently. She threw in the grass and stepped on it. Jess didn't reply, she just sat there with her eyes fixed at something in the distance.
"Baby I'm sorry that things got out of hand, I would like to try to explain to you my situation."
"I'm all ears Kathy." Jess replied without looking at her.
"Maybe I should start by telling you that I'm not a certified veterinarian, I never studied that career and the reason why your dad hired me was because I was in trouble, I needed to hide."
"What kind of trouble?" Jess looked at her now surprised and shocked.
"Somebody was trying to kill me."
"Who? Why?"
"A drug dealer, because I was a CIA agent."
"You have to be kidding." Jess stood up and managed to remain calm. This was unbelievable.
"They killed my partner Mathew and put me in the hospital for months, they thought I was dead. After a few surgeries to fix my broken nose and a few weeks so that my broken ribs would heal my boss told me that I was going to have to resign and change my identity for my security and my family's. So I changed my name, my appearance, my career. He knew your dad, they were friends from college, your dad agreed on taking me in. Ever since then I've been Kathy Randall the vet and not Jodie Lee the CIA agent. I had to give up my family, my friends, my life in Miami, to all of them I'm dead." By the time Kathy finished she was crying, Jess had felt the pain and frustration in her voice.
"I don't know what to say." Jess kneeled in front of Kathy and hugged her tight, eventually her sobs subsided and she looked at Jess thru glassy eyes.
"I'm sorry I lied to you, but nobody is supposed to know this, it could jeopardize you, me and everybody else that we know and love."
"I know, I understand." Jess got up and paced a little bit taking all the info in.
"I know is difficult for you because you feel like you don't know me anymore but I'm still in love with you, you are the only good thing that has happened to me in a very long time, you give me strength to wake up every morning, to look forward to a future full of dreams and be happy."
"No wonder you never talked about your family, or your past. Were you even a lesbian before?" Jess bit her tongue a second after she said that, she was hurting Kathy even more.
"Yes I was. I think I'm going to go now. Today is been a crazy day."
"When are you moving in the house?" Jess changed the subject, she felt terrible, she didn't want Kathy to leave so upset.
"I'm not sure, maybe tomorrow."
"I'll help you out if you want."
"It's really not that much, my clothes, my books and my DVDs. I think I could handle that." Kathy gave her a sad smile and got on her way.
Kathy opened her house and sat on one of the couches, every time she talked or thought about what had happened she got depressed, she wished she could rewind time and do things different, she wished she had been a stronger partner for Mathew. But it was too late now for regrets. She just stayed there quietly while her face got damp with tears.
The sun was rising between gray clouds when a knock in Kathy's door woke her up. She walked slowly rubbing her swollen eyes towards the entrance and peeked thru the window to see who it was.
Jess was standing there with a few boxes in her hands and a cup of coffee.
"Good morning sleepy head." Jess said handing her the coffee.
"Hey you" Kathy replied.
"I came to help you pack, even though you told me not to."
"I knew you wouldn't listen to me anyways." Kathy smiled and helped her with the boxes.
"Where should we start?"
"It's kind of sad to leave the house behind, I felt so at home here."
"You can come visit anytime you want you know." Jess joked.
"Lets do the clothes." Kathy drank some of the coffee and headed for the room on Jess's heels.
"I'm going to take a shower if that's ok with you." Kathy waited for Jess's response.
"Go ahead. Is it ok if I go thru your clothes you know to pick them up?" Jess was being extra careful she didn't want to upset Kathy.
"You don't know how good it feels to have someone that goes thru your stuff, someone that actually cares enough to do so." Kathy turned around and got into the bathroom.
Jess's heart melted, she stared at the empty room for a few seconds and got to work.
Kathy didn't have a lot of clothes, the whole dresser fit in two of the boxes and the closet was going to be probably the same.
"Jess is it ok if I get out? I forgot to get my clothes." Kathy asked opening the bathroom door just a little bit.
"It's not like I haven't seen you before." Jess replied while she was taking down all the hangers and putting them on top of the bed.
"Why are you being smart with me?" Kathy was naked and her hair was wet, she walked to the bed and picked a pair of old faded jeans and a t-shirt.
"I don't know, I feel weird."
"In what sense?" Kathy finished getting dressed and began to comb her hair.
"This whole thing between us, I'm trying to be like before but it just doesn't feel right." Jess was honest and straightforward.
"Do you think we need some time to sort things thru?" Kathy hated the "time" but she had to respect Jess's decision.
"I think that would be good, I don't want to stop seeing you though."
"We are going to live together, don't worry."
"Ok, lets finish this up." Jess finished the closet and with Kathy's help they loaded the car with the boxes that were ready. The DVDs were neatly accommodated on a couple of displays so they just took them like that.
Kathy's truck made the usual gravel sound on the driveway, they parked and went inside to prepare the room. It was right next to Jess's.
"Who picked this room to be mine?"
"My dad." Jess lied.
"Well tell him I said thanks." Kathy smiled sensuously still a little swollen from all the crying.
"You like it?"
"I love it, its huge. In case I have an emergency in the middle of the night I could always knock in your door right?"
"Only if is a true emergency." Jess replied taking the hint.
The room had a king sized bed with a black and white set of sheets. It had a walk-in closet, a bathroom and a plasma TV hanging from the wall.
After unloading the boxes and DVD containers, Jess left Kathy alone so that she could fix her room up as she pleased.
Emily had been with Josh almost the whole day trying to learn as much as possible about the business before him and Tina left for their trip.
Wanda called everybody for dinner. It was going to be Jess's last dinner with them before they went on the trip, they were leaving the next morning to Europe and from there they were going to take a cruise to Greece. Jess was sitting next to her mom and Emily, Kathy had opted to sit as far away from Jess as possible.
They were all talking like a big old family. Making jokes, making plans. Laughing and just having a good time.
After dinner Emily went to Jess's room to watch a scary movie. Resident Evil : Extinction, it had just come out and they had been looking forward to it.
Kathy went to her room and laid down on the bed, she was tired but not really that sleepy. It felt weird to be practically sleeping ten feet away from Jess and not being able to be with her.
"Maybe we should invite Kathy over to watch the movie with us." Emily volunteered.
"I thought about it, I doubt she is going to agree."
"Stop assuming stuff my friend, go get her." Emily slapped her butt playfully and pushed her out of the room.
Jess walked slowly the few feet that separated her room from Kathy's, she stood in front of the door and knocked a bit shy.
Kathy's thoughts were interrupted by the faint noise, she walked towards the source and opened it with a creak.
"We wanted to know if you would like to join us to watch a movie?" Jess asked as soon as Kathy came into focus.
"Sounds good. I couldn't sleep anyways." Kathy replied and followed Jess.
Emily was waiting patiently on the bed with the remote control in one hand and a bag of popcorn in the other.
Jess sat next to her friend and Kathy on the edge next to her.
The movie was interesting and fast paced, sometimes they would all jump scared when one of the zombies appeared or attacked somebody.
Jess unconsciously was getting closer and closer to Kathy, their thighs were brushing slightly and she could feel the perspiration starting to build when the pores can't breathe and your nervous.
Emily was kind of sleepy, she wasn't a big fan of horror flicks and her strength was giving up on her. Her eyes kept closing and she just couldn't take it any longer.
"Sorry girls but I'm going to bed, see you guys tomorrow." Emily handed Jess the remote control and took the empty bag of popcorn with extra butter downstairs and threw it in the trash can.
"Do you want to continue watching or should we go to sleep?" Kathy asked Jess.
"I'll like to finish it." Jess replied moving to the right side of the bed to give Kathy some more space.
"No problem."
The movie ended and after turning off the TV and the DVD player Kathy walked to the door.
"You're not going to say goodnight?" Jess asked kind of sleepy.
Kathy stopped and turned around, she walked to the bed and kissed Jess on the forehead.
"Sleep tight baby." Kathy tucked her in and turned off the light.
"Kathy please stay with me." Jess almost whispered.
"Are you sure?" Kathy asked knowing that if she stayed they would be violating their space rule.
Jess didn't speak, the truth was that she just wanted to lay next to her, she didn't want to think about anything that had happened in the last two days, she wanted to take it slow, but she was definitely going to follow her heart.
Kathy got into bed and covered herself, she kept still not knowing exactly what to do.
"Baby hug me." Jess was a bit nervous, there was something about this girl, she made her feel all wobbly inside.
Kathy hugged her from behind and curled her legs to be as close as possible.
"I love you Kathy."
"I adore you Jess."
Surprisingly Jess and Kathy woke up in the same position that they went to sleep in.
Kathy was kissing Jess's back tenderly sending shivers all over her body. Jess was moaning softly, pushing herself closer to Kathy rubbing her body against her.
"You're driving me insane Jess." Kathy spoke directly in Jess's ear, she nibbled on her ear lobe making her moan louder.
"You started it." Jess turned around and kissed her on the mouth, she got on top of Kathy and kissed her neck, she sucked on it while her hand found her breast. Now Kathy was the one that was moaning and moving under Jess, her body begging for more.
"Maybe we should lock the door." Kathy managed to say between kisses.
"Ok. I'll do it." Jess practically ran to the door, she locked it and on her way back she took her clothes off. Her panties were soaking wet and she felt really warm between her legs.
Kathy watched amused the reaction that she had on Jess, she had such a perfect body, every curve was more sensual than the previous one, her skin was creamy and tanned, soft to the touch it was perfect.
Jess jumped in the bed and helped Kathy get undressed, their hands were all over each other, pulling caressing and giving pleasure in the most intimate parts.
"I want you so badly." Kathy said and pressed Jess against her.
"I'm going to fuck you so hard that your not going to be able to walk in a week." Jess was getting rough and that was driving Kathy over the hedge.
"I love it when you talk dirty mami." Kathy said and kissed her way down Jess's body. She opened her legs and took her fully in her mouth. Jess moaned loudly and gripped Kathy's hair moving against her mouth, wanting more, needing more.
"I want you inside of me please." Jess begged.
Kathy fingered Jess hard and fast getting her juices all over her hand and face.
Jess went crazy, she was moaning a little too loud, she was moving and the bed began to shake making noises against the wall. Kathy had never seen Jess like this, she was out of control, and it was really hot.
After a few seconds Jess couldn't take the earth shattering pleasure and came violently screaming Kathy's name.
Jess had a smile on her face brighter than the sun, she was gasping for air, and reaching down to touch Kathy.
"Baby turn around." Jess said to Kathy, she moved down so that Kathy could be in the middle of the bed.
Jess began to kiss her back and do little circles with her tongue, she could see how the little blonde hairs would stand up in sheer pleasure.
"Do you like it rough baby?" Jess asked and before she could get an answer she bit into the soft flesh in Kathy's butt cheeks.
Kathy moaned and held on to the pillows for balance. Jess began to lick her from behind tasting her and wanting more with each stroke of her tongue. She smelled so good even there. This was all new to Jess but somehow the desire to please Kathy was stronger than her insecurities. Kathy was kneeling on the bed with her back arched to give Jess better access to her aching privates.
Jess licked her and fingered her until she was gasping for air.
"Fuck me harder baby." Kathy said and opened her legs wider.
Jess put two fingers inside of her and with her thump she pressed Kathy's clit, her tongue licked her ass tentatively and when she saw her reaction she went crazy, she sucked on it and fingered faster. Kathy came shaking and moaning even louder than Jess.
Kathy turned on her back and Jess laid on top of her, both breathing hard and one hundred percent satisfied.
"I'm hungry baby." Kathy said after a few minutes.
"Do you want me to bring something upstairs, or you want to go to the kitchen?"
"Either way they'll know we slept together."
"You don't want them to know?" Jess asked.
"I thought you did."
"I don't."
"Ok then lets go downstairs."
"Can we shower first?" Jess got off the bed and took some clothes out of the closet.
"I missed you so much Jess, when you were in the school." Kathy was still in bed looking at Jess and her every move.
Jess stopped what she was doing and looked at Kathy, her heart ached for her, she was such a wonderful person, she loved her so much.
"I missed you too Kathy, I thought about you every minute, I cried because I couldn't see you, it was hard for me to concentrate, to do anything."
"I'm sorry about all this, I know sometimes I talk to you in hurtful ways, but baby you have no idea the things you make me feel. I'm jealous of your clothes, of everything that touches you and its not me." Kathy's eyes were getting watery.
"I'm sorry for telling you yesterday that you were a stranger to me, and I'm sorry that I asked for space, I don't want to spend another day away from you or mad at you." Jess walked back to the bed and hugged Kathy crying.
"Baby I want you to know that if you ever want to talk about what happened in your past, I promise I'll listen and that I will never in my life judge you again. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."