Chapter 55

Jesse

Jesse felt her stomach fluttering with excitement as Hal drove them back to his apartment and took hold of Jesse’s bag from the trunk while she put her backpack on. They crossed the parking garage and made their way to the elevator, and she watched as Hal pressed the button for the top floor. She looked up at him, and he gave her an excited smile.

The elevator opened, and Jesse was immediately buffeted by the wind that was blowing across the top of Hal’s building. She looked across the roof and was mildly surprised to see a helicopter waiting there for them.

“Here we go!” Hal said, and she could hear the excitement in his voice as he took up her hand and led her over to the large vehicle.

Jesse followed, slightly nervous as he helped her into the helicopter. Inside, the pilot gave them both a smile as they settled into the back seat.

“Jesse,” Hal gestured to the pilot, “this is Phillip, a friend of Adam’s.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Jesse smiled over at him. “I’m Jesse.”

“A pleasure to meet you as well,” the man returned a pleasant smile.

“Are we ready for takeoff?” Hal asked as he settled in and buckled up next to Jesse.

“Yes sir,” the pilot responded, his eyes sweeping over his instrument panel for a second.

“Let’s got going then!” Hal said, his voice ringing with obvious excitement.

“You got it,” Phillip said. In a second, he had flipped a series of switches, and the helicopter came to life. It became difficult for Jesse to hear, and Hal handed her a set of headphones complete with a microphone.

“Jess?” Hal spoke into his headset, and Jesse could clearly hear him as he looked her over, taking stock of her state of being.

“I’m great!” Jesse said, and she really was. She was slightly nervous, especially as the helicopter started slowly lifting up off the rooftop. She reached over and tightly gripped Hal’s hand, and he wove his fingers between hers, gently running his thumb along the back of her hand.

Jesse turned to look out the window of the helicopter as they rose up into the sky and began to move over the city. Jesse had never been so fascinated with a view before. She was barely aware of the passing of time as Phillip flew them out, heading toward their destination. She was fascinated with the changing life beneath them, moving from the buildings of the city to the beautiful mountains covered in green.

It hardly seemed like any time had passed at all when they began to lower toward the earth and ended up on a large concrete landing pad in the middle of the woods.

“Here we are,” Hal smiled over at her, taking her hand and pressing it to his lips.

Jesse looked around with wide eyes. She allowed Hal to take the headset off her head and place it on the seat between them. Jesse kept her head ducked as Hal led her out of the helicopter.

Once they were on the landing pad, Hal lingered to speak with Phillip about something, and Jesse wandered toward the edges of the landing pad. The pad was situated on top of a building of some sort and it afforded her a somewhat elevated view of the landscape around her.

“Like what you see?” Hal asked from behind her. She felt him slip his arms around her waist, and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

“It’s beautiful,” Jesse said, her voice hushed. They were both silent, and Jesse could hear flowing water somewhere in the distance.

Jesse was finding it hard to believe that she was really standing here with Hal in this moment. For the first time, she didn’t feel stressed or paranoid while she was with him, and she was truly able to lean back into his body and relax.

“So,” Jesse spoke up. “What … what do we do now?”

Hal laughed and placed an affectionate kiss on the top of her head.

“Whatever you want,” Hal answered her, turning her to face him. Jesse looked up into his eyes, and her heart melted at the way the corners of his eyes crinkled.

“Why don’t we head down into the cabin for now?” he asked her. “You can unpack some of your things, and I can show you around a little.”

Jesse nodded, and Hal took her and led her across the landing pad, which Jesse realized was the roof of the cabin. Hal led her to a door, which in turn led to a well-lit staircase. Hal led her carefully down the stairs and then opened the door into what was an incredibly beautifully decorated cabin.

Jesse appreciated the fact that it still retained the integrity of a small cabin, with wooden logs as walls. At the same time, though, there was a very chic, modern feel to all the appliances in the cabin, which made it extremely comfortable to stay there.

“You designed this?” Jesse turned to ask him, her face lit up with awe.

“Well, I gave a lot of professionals my ideas.” Hal sighed. “And then I paid them to turn it into a reality. But I suppose the general idea was mine.”

“It’s beautiful,” Jesse said, still looking around.

“Why don’t I take you to your room?” Hal suggested. “Then we can look around a little more.”

Jesse blinked and stifled the pang of disappointment knowing that Hal was putting her in a separate room. A part of her had truly thought they would be spending their time there sleeping in the same bed. Still, she wasn’t going to let something as simple as that mess up the rest of her holiday with Hal.

Hal led her into the room, and Jesse took in a small breath. There was a large window fixed into one of the walls that looked out into the forest. She was struck by the beauty of the sunbeams filtering through the trees to land on the floor of the forest, so much so that she almost completely overlooked the furnishings of the room.

The bed was simple, with a minimalist frame and a queen-sized mattress. There was a set of drawers set out across from the bed and a nightstand complete with an alarm clock and a lamp.

Jesse set her things down on top of the dresser and smiled over at Hal.

“Oh, and there’s a full bathroom right in there,” Hal explained, pointing to one of the two doors in the room. “And there is the closet, in case you want to use it.”

Jesse nodded, taking in the information.

“I’ll just leave you for a while to unpack, and then we can decide what to do,” Hal suggested.

“Sounds great,” Jesse gave him a small smile, which Hal returned as he backed out of the room.

Jesse waited and made sure he was completely gone before she released a faint sigh. She silently sauntered over to the dresser and began to unpack all of her things and put them in the dresser in the room. Her eyes kept wandering over to the window, and she smiled as she saw a small bird alight on the window sill.

Jesse finished putting away her clothes and walked into the bathroom. She was grateful that she had brought all of her products from home and brushed on a layer of makeup and generally freshened up before she went back out to meet with Hal.

As Jesse applied a fresh layer of her deodorant, she decided that she ought to change into an outfit more suitable for the great outdoors. She had no idea what sort of things they might end up doing, but she wanted to be prepared.

Of course, she had no real, intentional hiking gear but had brought some things she had gathered over the years that she used for exercise, and they would have to suffice. She was sure that Hal would offer to buy her more appropriate clothes, but it would just make her uncomfortable to be wearing brand new clothes only to get them dirty by hiking in the woods.

Jesse appraised herself in the mirror, and she felt a flutter go through her stomach just from the thought of going back out and seeing him again. She felt slightly self-conscious as she took in her appearance but forced herself to remain calm. Hal had never been shallow before, and she doubted he would judge her for her appearance now.

Jesse sighed as she looked herself over in her mirror, getting ready to go back out and find Hal somewhere within the near-magical cabin.