She Knew
As soon as Helen came out onto the roof, she knew what had happened. And not because the two of them stepped away from each other like teenagers caught kissing when they shouldn't have been, or because Jessica had a look on her face like she'd just swallowed an elephant.
She knew because it was always so easy to tell with Jessica, everything showed on her face like it was written there in dark black ink.
Like when she'd shown up at her door holding her bridesmaid dress and asked if Helen wanted to wear that long black gown she had on. Her words were offering an outfit. Her eyes though, nervous and sweet, were saying I love you and I am so sorry that we had to go through this.
It wasn't the invitation to the wedding that had brought Helen back to Jessica, it was the genuine affection shining out of her eyes. The agony that matched her own. She had seen, then, that Jessica had finally been honest and that she was learning to deal with it.
So Helen walked out on to the roof calmly, talking about dinner being ready, and then greeted Josh. Didn't matter if they had kissed or only talked about Josh's obvious crush, Helen knew as soon as her girlfriend looked at her who Jessica loved and wanted to go downstairs with.
As they left, Jessica slipped her hand into Helen's as Helen smiled and started to tell her about the nightmare that had been her evening. The relatives and the questions and the looks, oh the looks with those people and their bluntness and... she went on and on because Jessica was enjoying the story. Didn't matter if Jess was straight because, really, she always came home to Helen. She was in love with Helen and not with whether or not Helen was a girl or a guy. If Helen was a girl than Jessica would stay with her, despite her thin arms and jasmine flower scent, softness and gentleness, and her lack of boy-parts.
Love was love, and Jessica and Helen were Jessica and Helen.
She didn't worry about Josh.