Jessica

Josie woke up to the salty smell of bacon lingering in the air. First day back home for summer break from college and already her father is trying to win her over with her favorite breakfast. She rolled over and was met with a wet kiss by her dog, Otis. They stretch simultaneously and make their way downstairs. Bacon is Otis’ favorite too.

“Morning sweetheart” her father says greeting her with a fresh plate of pancakes and, of course, bacon. Josie yawns and says “Hi Dad”. Her father stares at her quizzically, “So I have some news”. Josie continues scarfing down her breakfast, tossing a piece of bacon to Otis. “While you were away, your Mom and I were going through the storage closet and found a box of old things from Jessica.” Jessica was Josie’s birth mom. Josie was adopted when she was only 3 months old after she had been surrendered to a fire station, the same fire station where her father is the Chief in a suburb outside of Chicago. Josie has known she was adopted her whole life and that her biological mom’s name was Jessica but that was about it. Josie still has the letter that was left on her baby carrier the day that she was left in front of the firestation explaining why she couldn’t keep her along with the box. “We wanted to give you a chance to look through it, to see if there was anything you wanted out of it before we take it to GoodWill tomorrow” he continued. “Sure thing. I’m going to go on a run with Devin” she says as she takes her last bite of bacon, sharing the last nibble with Otis.

Josie returns back upstairs to get ready for her run with Devin, her childhood best friend who lives down the street. A few minutes later, the front door opens followed by Otis’ click-clacking of his feet on the hardwood floor. “Be right there,” Josie yells as she pulls on her old running shoes. As she heads downstairs, she notices that Devin is looking in the box on the dining room table. He is startled when Josie says “Hey Dev” behind him. “Hey J, I missed you!” Devin replies as he gives her a hug, “what’s this crap?” “Oh that’s just a box of Jessica’s stuff that i need to go through today, most of it is just junk” Josie responds, “Let’s go!” “Wait, hold-up. I wouldn’t say all this stuff is junk” he says as he picks up a black notebook. Josie continues walking to the front door but steps back to get a good look at the notebook. “I've seen most of this stuff but I’ve never noticed this before,” she says. She thumbs through the pages and drops the book back on top of the rest of the contents in the box. “Let’s go, I’ll race you to the stop sign.”

Later that night, curiosity gets the best of her so Josie gets out of bed, doing her best not to startle Otis who is snoring loudly at the foot of her bed. She finds the notebook again and this time, carefully reads over the pages. Most of the pages are filled with doodles or random inspirational quotes or sayings, a few addresses and the last page has a name and number on it, Cecil Jones, accompanied by a smiley face. Josie thumbs through the rest of the box's contents, nothing seems that important to her but she decides to take the book upstairs and crawls back into bed. After a quick google search, nothing comes up for Cecil Jones so she decides to go back to bed.

The next day, Devin and Josie go on another run. “So what did you do with that box of stuff?” he asks. “My parents donated it but I did end up taking the notebook, I don’t know much about Jessica so i figured maybe there was something in that book that would give me an idea of who she was or what she was like,” she responded. “Don’t you ever wonder why she gave you up?” Devin asked. “Not really. I assume she was just young and didn’t know what else to do and it turned out alright for me I suppose.” “What was in the book?” Devin asked. “Just some doodles and random notes. Oh and one phone number” Josie replied. “Who’s phone number? You should call it'' Devin dared. “No way! I’m sure the number isn’t even in service anymore, that was like over 20 years ago!” Josie exclaimed. “Let me do it then'' Devin insisted. “Fine but I’m sure nobody is going to answer,” Josie said as she ran back upstairs to her bedroom to grab the book. “Here,” she said as she threw the book at Devin. Devin finds the page and types the phone number on his iPhone. It starts to ring and he puts it on speakerphone. After what felt like an eternity, the line clicks on the other end.

“Hello?” a raspy voice answers. Josie and Devin panic briefly exchanging “Uhhs” until the voice on the other end of the phone says “Hello?” again. Devin nudges Josie. “Uhh hi!” Josie exclaims. “Who is this?” the other voice replies. “Yeah, uh, sorry, is this Cecil?” Josie asks nervously. “Yes, yes it is.” he responds. Josie stammers but finally gets her thoughts in order. “Sorry, I honestly didn’t expect you to answer. My mom, well birth-mom I guess. Her name was Jessica and she left this box of stuff and there was a notebook inside and your name and phone number were in there. I don’t even know why I called but I guess I was just curious,” she rambles on, “Did you know Jessica?” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. “Cecil?” Josie questions. “Yes, I apologize sweetheart, I was caught off guard by your question,” he continues “Jessica… yes i knew Jessica very well. She was my best friend, Bill, daughter, she was basically like a daughter to me. Oh my goodness, I can’t believe it. What’s your name, sweetheart?” Cecil asks. “Josie, sir.” “Oh my, Josie, that’s a beautiful name. That was your grandmother's name, did you know that? Well i guess probably not but she, she was the best. So was Bill. So was Jessica” Cecil sighed on the other end of the phone. Josie didn’t really know what to say, she never really thought about her birth mom until now. “Oh it's just a miracle that you called me, Josie. Listen, I have to go. I’m a Taxi driver and I have a route to run but do you live in Chicago, sweetie?” “Yeah, well my parents do, I’m back from college for summer. We live in Buffalo Grove” she said. “Ah wonderful” he replied “will you meet me at the Buffalo Restaurant this weekend, Saturday afternoon?” Cecil asked. Josie paused then responded “Yes, that sounds good.”

It’s Saturday morning and Josie texts Devin in a panic. “Dev, i’m cancelling. This is too weird. I can’t go meet a complete stranger from a notebook from my birth mom who I know nothing about” she rambles, she tends to do this when she’s nervous. Devin responds, “Go Jos, you never know what may happen. Cecil seemed like a cool dude and you might learn something about yourself going.” She knew he was right, she hates it when he’s right.

When she walked into the restaurant, she could immediately tell who Cecil was. He was sitting at a booth and he had the biggest smile on his face. He braced himself on the table and stood. Josie walked over to him. Cecil gave her a huge bear hug without any hesitation. “Oh my goodness. Hi Josie. It’s so nice to meet you,” his warm demeanor engulfed her. Am i really hugging a complete stranger right now? Josie thought to herself. Cecil had salt and pepper hair, wore thick round glasses and an old golf hat. His appearance matched his personality. They both sat down at the booth as the waitress came over to get a drink order from Josie. “Sweet Tea, please” Josie replied and smiled at the waitress. “That was your Grandpa’s order too. Sweet tooth must run in your blood” Cecil said as a somewhat sad smile crossed his face. “I don’t know much about my birth family,” Josie responded. Cecil grinned from ear to ear and chuckled, “well you came to the right place.” For the next hour and a half, Cecil told Josie everything about her family. From their personalities to their favorite meals. It surprised her how many similarities they had. It made her feel connected to something, to something that she didn’t know was missing.

Cecil was best friends with Jessica’s Dad for 43 years until he passed away a few years ago from Stage 4 Lymphoma. “It was a terrible way to go out, but he kept a positive attitude the whole time,” Cecil said. Cecil went on to explain that he had always thought of Jessica like a daughter especially since he did not have any immediate family of his own. He also broke the news to Josie that Jessica had passed away in a tragic car accident only 2 months ago, which is why he was so shocked by the timing of Josie's phone call. Towards the end of their conversation, Cecil gave Josie his address and they parted ways, promising to keep in touch.

Since the afternoon they met, Josie and Cecil did keep in touch, talking on the phone almost every day. Cecil shared stories of Jessica when she was a toddler and into her teen years and adulthood. Josie shared stories of her childhood and secretly compared the similarities between her and her birth mom.

A month later, Josie was preparing to pack up and go back to college, she decided she would give Cecil a phone call. Josie was surprised when Cecil didn’t answer. Josie needed to grab something from the store so she decided to drive by his home. She was elated when she pulled up and Cecil was walking out his front door with an envelope. “Oh what a nice surprise!” Cecil exclaimed. “Hi Cecil!” Josie replied, smiling. “I called but I just wanted to come by and say goodbye. I drive back to college tomorrow.” “That’s wonderful, I’m so glad you stopped by sweetheart. It’s funny that you stopped by, I was just about to drop something off for you” Cecil said. “You were?” Josie looked confused as Cecil handed her an envelope. “This is from your family. Your grandpa left me this hoping you might find that notebook someday. They always wanted you to know how much you were loved.” Josie opened the envelope and pulled out a cashier's check for $20,000. “Oh-my-god! Cecil! I cannot accept this. This is insane. I didn’t even know them!” Josie almost dropped the envelope on the ground. Cecil grabbed her hand and said “This money is far better off with you than me,” he smiled warmly at her and they hugged. Josie sat in her car for a few minutes, still in disbelief what has happened in the past month and now this. Yet she felt a sense of clarity for herself and the future. Josie waved goodbye to Cecil and drove away.