My Favorite Stranger

19

Day by day.

Week by week.

Things changed for Mya.

3 months passed and she remembers getting home that night like it was yesterday.

She texted Jessie, letting her know she made it safe. Jessie texted back and they talked for a little bit until Mya fell asleep, with the jacket in her arms and the phone in her hand. It continued like this for some time but ultimately fell short.

Mya became even busier with her job, having no real time to even think, so whenever she could talk to Jessie, it was at odd, random times.

One night Jessie asked for her address, saying she wanted to send Mya a small gift. Mya replied eagerly, giving Jessie all of the details possible, but received nothing and figured she wasn't going to get anything when she realized two weeks passed with no gift at her doorstep.

Jessie was also busy, she figured. She learned. There was no way she was going to pester her about a gift. She probably forgot and that was okay.

Then Mya tried to get a week off, anything to go surprise Jessie and take some stress off the woman's shoulders, but that fell short too. Life was unruly that way.

Saylo had become more demanding. It turns out that the summit boosted their recognition and sales even further this time around. There were new partners, new investors, new money. New software that needed to be coded. Mya couldn't go a day without being booked for a meeting.

She tried her best to stay positive. To remember what she promised Jessie all those months ago. She did heal. She did take the time for self-introspection — took the time to let Tristan go and while that was a ginormous weight off of her chest, she now had a new weight to live with.

Was this how it was going to be? Weight after weight? What a life.

After the first few nights back home, the jacket lost its scent. Mya cried when that happened, feeling disconnected, but the jacket still comforted her during her hardest days. She still smiled whenever she saw it on her bed, on her office chair, wherever she left it before slipping off to work. Sometimes she took it on a night out.

Whenever there were a few minutes of silence at work or when she went on break, all she could think about was their time spent together. She still felt every kiss, every touch, every hug, ghosting her body when she thought hard enough.

In bed, some nights, when her consciousness wasn't all there, lean arms wrapped around her and helped her back to sleep. In bed, some mornings, when her dreams were the most powerful, a hot tongue slid through her middle and made her shake awake.

When she drank — which was rare now — all that swam in her mind was the last full night they had sex. Mya tried to repeat the phrase Jessie said to her in Spanish so she could look it up and translate it, but there were holes in her memory. She had just got done with extensive, passionate sex, therefore she retained nothing.

At work, Mya was appointed a secretary due to the influx of appointments and events that were overwhelming her schedule. She wasn't used to having someone do all of the sortings and organizing for her. Even though it took somewhat of a load off of her shoulders, Mya was still agitated with all the sudden changes that were happening. Whenever she found herself getting moody and reacting too quickly to little things, she tried to escape to the memories.

But the best part about all of it was that no one knew what happened during the week she spent in Santa Praiser. No one knew of Jessie and no one knew the new parts of Mya that were born. No one was in her business anymore and she finally had secrets of her own. She didn't even tell her sister about Jessie.