Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (51 page)

“Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Jo, the limo is here,” Lisa comes around the corner.

“Ok,” I say.  I look at Annie.  “Wish me luck.”

“You will do fine, just follow his lead I'm sure he will keep you out of trouble,” she laughs.  She gives me a hug and then walks down the hall and says good bye to everyone and leaves.  I just stand there looking out the door at her walking down the driveway.  She has been my solid rock for the last two years and now when I need someone to tell me what to do I can’t have her there.  I will have to put all my trust in Jake.

“Ready?” He peeks around the corner.

I take a deep breath, “I don’t know.”

“Hey, you will be fine,” he walks over to me and grabs my hands.  “Just be yourself that is all you can do.  Baby, they are not going to be asking any stupid questions tonight.  Most of them should have to do with the fundraiser.  This isn’t set up for them to pick information out of us.  They are going to want a lot of pictures of us because those will be all over the news, but as far as talking to us, they won’t ask many questions.  I already had Joan make as many of them aware as she could that we will not be answering personal questions tonight.  It is a general rule for this type of event.”

“What about with all the crap the last few days.”

“From what Joan has told me that has been pulled out of the airwaves.  She basically made it sound like no one is interested in those kinds of stories about us.  They want the mushy side,” he smiles and kisses my palm.  “Let’s just go eat dinner, do some dancing, and have some really expensive champagne.”

“Sounds perfect,” I smile.  He grabs my hand and we head for the door.  I grab my clutch purse off the table by the door and follow him to the limo.  We get in first then Lisa and Mark.

“You ok,” he pulls me close.  I just look at him and smile.  This is so much bigger than me and I don’t know if I can handle it.  I don’t think he realizes how big it is for me to be all over the news like this.  “It gets easier,” he kisses my temple.  “I promise.”  I glance over at Lisa, she looks so calm, but then she has been a part of Mark’s life since the start of his career she is probably used to the press and pictures.  She looks at me and smiles.  She knows I am nervous. About twenty minutes later I feel the limo slow down and pull up to a door.  Through the tinted windows I can see a bunch of people standing with cameras.  I see one limo in front of us and people getting out.  “Here we go,” he smiles down at me.  “Just relax and follow my lead, and remember to smile.  You will be fine.”  I nod.  Our limo moves forward then stops and the door opens.  Mark gets out the helps Lisa out.  Jake moves to the back seat and I follow.  He stands up outside the limo then reaches his hand back in to me.  I see him wink at me.  I grab his hand and he helps me out.  The minute I get out of the limo there are flashes everywhere, I don’t know where to look, but I plaster a smile on my face trying not to make it show how nervous I am.  He has not let go of my hand yet as we slowly make our way to a big opening.  I see that Mark and Lisa have stopped and are getting some pictures taken.  “This is where the take the pictures that are published on our website and pretty much all over the internet,” he laughs.  He grabs my hand and drapes my arm through his.  “You’re doing great,” he kisses my cheek.

“I'm trying,” I smile.  He leads me to where Mark and Lisa where just standing and I take a deep breath.  I know they are going to take a ton more pictures.  We stand there for what seems like forever as they take a bunch of pictures.  There is a lady standing there that tells us to change our pose a couple times. 

“All set, thanks Jackson,” the lady says then Jake grabs my hand and we walk into the building.

“I'm not used to hearing people call you Jackson,” I smile.

“No?”  He laughs.

“Everyone around you calls you Jake.”

“Yeah, that they do.  Want something to drink?”

“Sure,” I smile.

“Ok, stay here by Mark and Lisa, I will be right back.”  I nod.

“So not too bad was it?”  Lisa smiles.

“No, not too bad.  I hope I look good in the pictures.”

“I'm sure you look amazing,” she smiles.

“Here you go,” Jake hands me a glass of champagne.  “Come on, I want to introduce you to a few people,” he grabs my hand.  We walk around for about an hour as he introduces me to a bunch of people.  The last person he takes me over to is his coach.  “Coach, this is Jo, Jo this is Coach Mills.”

“Well it is nice to finally meet you,” he shakes my hand.  “This guy won’t stop talking about you.” He smiles.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I smile.

“So I hear you are a detective?”

“Yes I am.”

“Trying to give this man a heart attack,” he laughs.  “I think he spends more time worrying about you then he does anything.”

“I know, and I tell him over and over again that I am a big girl and can handle myself.”

“She gives you a run for your money,” he looks at Jake.  “I like her!”

“She keeps me on my toes that’s for sure,” he smiles down at me.

“If I could ask everyone to take their seats for dinner please,” I hear someone say into the microphone.

“Let’s go,” Jake takes my hand.

“It was nice to meet you Jo,” Coach puts his hand out to me.

“You as well,” I smile and shake his hand.  I follow Jake to our table and see that Lisa and Mark have already sat down.  I take my seat next to Lisa and Jake sits next to me.

“So far so good,” she smiles at me.

“Yeah, not too bad,” I laugh.

“From here it is pretty easy, shouldn’t be too many more pictures.  They don’t allow too many people in here once dinner starts.  The ones you see in here are professionals and they are pictures to buy.”

“Oh, maybe the four of us should get one together?”  I smile at her.

“I agree,” Mark says.  “But I want one with my lovely wife too,” he smiles at her.  They are so damn cute together.  I can see how happy they are.  I look over at Jake and he is talking to the guy sitting next to him.  He looks so good tonight and I'm amazed by him.  He is such an amazing guy.  How did I get so lucky?  I put my hand on his leg and I see him smile.  He puts his hand on top of mine and squeezes.  We eat dinner and I listen to him talk to everyone at the table and smile.  They spend a lot of time talking about some of the teams they play this year.  I watch some of the other women with the guys and they all seem to be enjoying themselves listening to these guys talk.  There are a couple girls that seem like they don’t care, I assume they are newly dating and just want the publicity of dating a football player.

“How’s your dinner,” Jake leans over and whispers in my ear.

“Amazing,” I smile.  “Yours?”

“Can’t go wrong with steak,” he smiles.  “Enjoying yourself?”

“Yes,” I take a drink of my champagne.

“Good, because after dinner we are going to dance,” he smiles.  “And we have some raffle stuff to check out,” he points to about ten tables that are full of stuff.

“Is that how they raise money?”

“Some of it yes,” he looks at me.  “There is usually a lot of good stuff on those tables.”  I smile at him.  He is so cute when he gets excited about something.

“Something that you are looking to find over there?”

“Nothing specific, but I'm sure we will find something good.”  He finishes his dinner and waits for me to get done.  We sit there for about another half hour before we go start looking around.  He was right there is a lot of really nice stuff that is donated from area businesses.  There are a couple things that catch my eye, but he seems to have found something that he really likes.  I walk up next to him and look at the table.  There is what looks to be a wedding package on the table.  “What do you think?”  He looks at me and smiles.

“Come on Jake,” I laugh.  “You know this is not something we should be looking at.  People will start talking and we don’t need that.”

“Let them talk,” he puts his arm around my waist and pulls me closer.  “I keep telling you that I am going to marry you.”

“Yes, I know, but I think we should maybe move in together for a while first.”  He shakes his head and smiles.  “What?”

“Moving in with you is not going to change anything for me Jo.  You could be the worst roommate ever and I would still want to marry you.”

“I know, but I would feel better us at least living together for a while before we decide to get married Jake.  Not just so the rumors don’t start, but for the girls.”

“I know,” he smiles.  “So see anything that you like?”

“It’s all nice, but nothing I would need.”

“Ok, I will pick a couple then.”  He smiles and walks over to the counter.  I'm assuming that these raffles are not cheap because most of the stuff is top of the line.  I am looking at a package sitting there when Lisa walks up next to me. 

“Find anything you like?”

“No, Jake found some though I think,” I nod toward him.

“I saw him eyeing up that wedding package,” she smiles.

“Oh yeah, he asked me about it.  I told him I think we should be together a little longer before we think about that.”

“You know he isn’t going to change his mind on that right?”  She smiles at me.

“I'm sure he isn’t.  I'm not going to either; I will marry him, just not right now.  I think that would just be fuel to the fire for all the rumors flying around about us right now.”

“You need to stop worrying about the rumors Jo.  You know there is a reason that he pays Joan so well.  She deals with that stuff and keeps it at a decent level.  You don’t hear rumors about most of these guys unless they want them heard.”

“Except for when we started dating.”

“Well that was his fault, he didn’t tell Joan about you guys and if he would have she would have been able to stop that before it happened.”  I just stand there looking at her.  “I mean it; I don’t think anything could make you two look bad together at this point.”

“Hey, ready to do some dancing?”  Mark walks up to us.

“Sure am,” Lisa smiles.  I look toward Jake and he is talking to the lady at the raffle desk about something.  She is smiling at him and handing him some paper.  I'm guessing they are the bids that he just put in for the stuff he wants.  Lisa and Mark walk away as he walks back toward me.

“Put your bids in?”

“Yes I did, hopefully I get something good,” he smiles and grabs my hand after he puts the piece of paper in his pocket.  “The band should be starting soon want to go get a good spot?”

“Sure.”  I follow him across the room and we walk toward Mark and Lisa and two other couples that were sitting at our table.  “I am going to run to the bathroom quick,” I say to him.

“Ok,” he smiles.  I go toward the bathroom and grab my phone out of my clutch.  I have a text from Annie.

How’s it going??

Going good, dinner was amazing, now waiting for the band to start.

I so wish I was you right now! I'm totally jealous!  Have fun call me tomorrow when you get u
p


I smile.  I love that girl.  I don’t know what I would do without her.  About ten minutes later I am walking back up to where Jake is standing.  The band has started and there are a bunch of people out on the dance floor.

“How late you want to stay?”  Jake puts his arm around my waist.

“Not sure.  What were you thinking?”

“I told you at Mark’s that this was going to be a long night of me wanting to get you home,” he smiles and looks down at me.  “I think we should wait until the raffles are done though.  They usually wrap up about 9:00.”

“I'm fine with that.  It is about 8:20 now.”

“Works for me,” he kisses my cheek.  We talk to a few more people than the four of us take some pictures then Mark and Lisa do some and Jake and I do some as well.  He is all excited to get one to hang up in the new house.  We are just standing there talking when a slow song comes on and a bunch of people go to the dance floor.  Jake looks at me, “dance with me?”

“Of course,” I smile at him.  We walk out to the dance floor and I put my arms around his neck.

“You look amazing tonight,” he smiles at me.

“So do you,” I smile back.  “I especially like this new tie,” I smile.

“Some pretty girl got it for me.”  I can see how relaxed and happy he is right now.  He pulls me close and we dance for two songs.  The band takes a break and then the ladies that were running the raffle take the stage.  They start to announce the winners of them.  I watch as people go up to claim their prizes.  I don’t pay much attention to what they are until I hear Jake’s name announced.

“What did he win?” I look at Lisa as Jake walks up to get a piece of paper.

She smiles, “I'm pretty sure he won the wedding package,” she laughs.  I look at him with my mouth open as he walks back toward me.  I see guys smiling and shaking his hand.  He hands me an envelope when he gets back by me.

“Here, do with it whatever you want to,” he looks at me and smiles.  I don’t say anything but open it and look what is inside.  I can read it right now it is too dark.