30

                                    

                                          
Celeste let out a deep exhale of relief as they stepped out of their Uber in front of Jess' apartment building, the slight drizzle of one of the cooler days of early July feeling like a fresh breath of air. She had been reluctant to wait any longer and asked for Logan's help to pay off her settlement for the time being until she signed the sales contract of her house, which was happening any day now, so she could leave Paris without any further delays or strings. All NDA-s and settlement contracts were signed and sealed - she was through with that part of her life. She'd even torn apart her old passport in front of Henri and his legal team, along with "bon débarras*'' quite demonstratively. He'd been clearly a little shocked and embarrassed of that development and about not getting his way. She felt her confidence returning the moment she'd done that, knowing her own contracts protected her now.
Jess placed his hand around her as he pulled along both of their suitcases with his other hand, glad to be home. After being away for a while Jess' apartment seemed smaller than ever with the towers of boxes, luggage and garment bags lining the walls and his study almost completely full of her art, books and other personal items. It was imminent that they needed a better solution than this and fast.
"You know, it's funny... it's like my body is tired, but my mind is wide awake," Odette sighed as she kicked off her sneakers and landed back first onto the bed, stretching herself out like a starfish, having slept on the plane. She was going through a lot of pregnancy symptoms - increased need for sleep, some bloating, thirst and nausea among them. In a way she also appreciated these symptoms as reminders that something was happening, growing, and she wasn't just imagining it, there still being weeks to go before the ultrasound would show anything nore meaningful. She did sign up for a blood test to make sure, but she really didn't need it - she just knew.
"Do you want me to order some food?" Jess asked, beginning to unpack his own things.
"Maybe later," she sighed, wondering in which box her own clean clothes were.
Jess ordered some food anyways, knowing that once either one of them was hungry, the wait would've been longer than either of them would've appreciated, settling for some Chinese which would be easy to reheat later.
"Do you feel up to looking at apartments now?" Jess asked, as he returned to the bedroom from the kitchn, realizing with every minute how urgently that they needed to get a bigger place and seeing that neither of them was really planning on going to sleep just yet.
"Apartments? I thought we were set on a townhouse," Odette asked confusedly, in a disappointed tone, lifting her head off the pillow.
"Don't the recent events affect our budget?" Jess inquired, having already toned down his expectations. He'd already begun thinking in his mind what neighbourhoods they could look at with just his money. They clearly now needed at least 3 bedrooms, a good school district and good commuting possibilities and while not leaving them with the most attractive selection of options, he knew he could fix up a place just like he'd done in Philly if needed, if it showed promise.
"Jess, I might have given up the value of the house, but this doesn't really change that much," she explained. "Can you hand me my bag?" she asked, gesturing towards her leather tote bag, in the hallway, where she kept her laptop sleeve in.
"You've shown me yours, I think it's my turn to show you mine," she said as he returned, opening up her account statements tab after tab.
"So basically, this is what I trade with," she said, showing him her portfolio currently estimated roughly at 75 000, adding, "up to 10% fluctuation is normal, and this is from where I take out my monthly income," continuing onwards to her debit accounts, all containing significant five figure sums. "And then there's this", she began, opening up a trust fund statement. "I set this up in the fall for the baby. I might have to dip into this to get us the place we want, and because of this she might not be getting a fancy penthouse as her first college apartment, but I think there's time for this to grow and it's still plenty to pay for her college and whatever else she might need," Celeste explained, showing Jess the 3,5 million trust fund. "I might have to get a job after a few years, or set up my own company or something. More work, less idling - but truthfully I was going a little out of my mind this past half a year anyways," she added with a weak smile.