Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (6 page)

“Well, get used to it,” he kisses the back of my hand again.  Again I blush.  I feel like I have no control over myself right now.  I feel like that stupid teenage girl again that came out in me last night when he first talked to him.  “What’s wrong?” He looks at me.

“I don’t know what is wrong with me.  I feel like a giddy little teenage when you are around,” I can’t help but laugh.

He laughs, “That is funny.  I don’t usually have that effect on down to earth girls.  They usually see the guy you thought I was at the beginning of the night and never get over that.  Usually the ones that get that are the, well teenagers.”

I was about to say something to him and my phone started ringing.  My mom.  “Crap, I forgot to call my mom back.” I answer it.  “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure,” she says without missing a beat.

“I didn’t even see the guy mom, all I did was pull my gun and tell him to freeze.  The rest of the squad arrested him and took care of everything else.”

“Oh, you pulling your gun is supposed to make me feel better?”

“I'm a cop, I do that once and a while,” I laugh.

“Jo, it’s not funny.”

“Mom, I used to do it on a daily basis when I worked patrol.  Ok maybe not daily but at least five times a week.” I see Jake give me a concerned look.

“Are you sure you are ok?”

“Yes mom, I'm fine.  I promise.”

“Do I need to come check on you?”

“No,” I answer almost too quickly and hope she doesn’t catch onto that.  “I honestly would like to just sit here and relax for the rest of the night.”  I look over at the clock and it is 9:30 already.

“Ok, well call me if you need anything.”  She hangs up.

I look at Jake, he is looking out the window almost looks like he is trying to piece the night together.  “Did I scare you off now?”  I sit up straight and cross my legs and pull my hand away from him.

“What makes you think that?” He seems to snap back into reality.

“You seem a little overwhelmed.”

“I'm not going to lie this is definitely not how I pictured tonight going, but I am not at all scared off.  I think it is awesome that you can protect yourself and those around you.  I will admit I have never dated anyone that was tougher than me, but I do think you take that title.” He laughs, and then looks at me, “unless you don’t want to date me, then I will keep that title.”

I smile at him, “Date you?”

“Well yes, I would like that.  There is something about you Jo.  You had me when you spilled your beer all over me.”  He looks a lot more relaxed then he did when he was looking out the window.

“What were you thinking about when you were just staring about the window?”

He looks at me, “honestly? You.  I know that there is something you aren’t telling me and I wonder what it is.  I see that picture and know that you love your girl’s dad but obviously he is not in the picture.”

I look over at the picture that he points to and see the picture of Jarrod and me on my nightstand.  I had forgotten that I put it there.  “No, Jarrod is no longer in the picture.  But it isn’t what you think.” I take a deep breath, here goes nothing. “Jarrod was killed almost two years ago in a fire.  He worked full time for the Fire Department. One night they had a warehouse fire and he never came home the next morning.  I don’t like to talk about it because it was the worst thing that could have happened to the girls and me.  Our entire world was turned upside down in one night.  I didn’t get to talk to him that day because I worked and when I got home he had to leave for work.  Sometimes I try to remember if I told him that I loved him before he walked out the door.”

He grabs my hand, “I'm sorry.  I should have just kept my mouth shut.  I promised you I wouldn’t push you into telling me something if you didn’t want to.”

“You would have found out eventually anyways, it is better that you know what happened and that it isn’t a separated type of situation.  Although that would have been better cause then the girls would still have their dad.”  I stop before I get too emotional about it.

“Jo, I'm sorry.”

“For what,” I look at him and see the worry in his eyes.

“I wish I would have just kept my mouth shut.”

“Its fine, I would have told you at some point, that is if you decide to come around again after tonight’s fun.”

He smiles at me, “I don’t think I could stay away if I was across the country.” My heart skips a beat.  I don’t know what is wrong with me.  This man makes me feel so different.  I have not felt like this in so long.  He makes me feel like I could have a future with someone.  He gets off the bed and heads for the door.

“Where are you going?”  I ask him.

“I am going to get a beer.  Would you like one?”

“Sure,” I smile.  He closes the door behind him.  I am just sitting there smiling like that stupid little teenager inside when my phone rings and scares the crap out of me.  I look at the caller ID.  “Annie, I'm surprised it took you this long to call.”  I smile at the thought.

“Are you ok?”  She asks me in a panic.  “I just saw the news and saw that this guy broke into your house.”

“Yes he did, and yes I am fine.  I just pulled my gun and waited for the team that was after him to come in and get him.”

“God, Jo, you scare the shit out of me sometimes,” she practically yells.  “Why didn’t you call me and tell me so I didn’t have to see it on the news?”

“Probably because I still have company.”

“Oh shit, that’s right! He is still there?”  Her mood changes.

“Yes, he is still here.  Downstairs getting us a beer right now actually.”

“What do you mean downstairs?”

“Well I made him hide out in my room when I knew that this guy was picking my house out of all of them on the block.  And since that was only about an hour ago we have just been sitting here talking.”

“Talking?”

“Grow up Annie! Yes, we have been talking! He saw the picture of Jarrod and me on my nightstand, so we just got done having that discussion before he went to get a beer,” I see him come back in.  I notice that he has his phone in one hand and two beers in the other.  “I have to go, I will call you in the morning, maybe we can do breakfast?”

“Sure, behave!” I can hear that smirk on her face.

I shake my head and hang up.  “Is it bad that you know someone so well that you know when they are smirking when you talk to them on the phone?”

“I'm guessing your friend whose ass I'm assuming you still haven’t kicked?” He laughs and hands me a beer.

“That would be the one. She is such an ass!”

He laughs, “Well I am glad that she knocked you over.” He sits back down next to me.  “Cheers to her, what is her name again?”

“Annie,” I smile and raise my bottle to his.

“To Annie. Remind me to thank her.” He takes a long drink.

“I'm sorry, this isn’t exactly the ideal first date is it?  Being in a house that an escaped convict breaks into then finding out that I have a not so great past.”

“I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” He moves closer to me and puts his arm around me, “Jo, like I told you, I don’t know what it is about you but you have me mesmerized.  I don’t think there is anything that you could tell me to scare me away.  Except if you threatened me with your gun, and then I may go running.”

“Is that something you should be saying on a first date?  Seems a little deep to say to someone on a first date.”

“Why should I hide how I really feel?  I mean I have not felt like this about someone in a long long time.  I'm sure we will learn a lot worse things about each other,” he laughs.  “I am going to tell you up front though, if this is too much for you or is hard for you because of the girls, please just be honest with me.  Being with someone like me can be overwhelming and a challenge.”

“A bit serious?” I smile.

“Yes, I'm only being honest.  I have had relationships that fail because of all the publicity and constantly being in the public eye.  It’s not going away anytime soon and I want you to be honest with me if it gets to be too much.  Obviously we will not let it get out right now.  I mean you have a lot of people to tell and you can do that when you want to.  I'm here and not going anywhere,” he pulls me a little closer. 

“I feel like this took a giant leap in the last half hour since I came back up here.” I look at him.

“Sorry, I'm not trying to pressure you into a relationship I am just telling you what to expect and what to do so that if this does continue we can make it work.  I like you, a lot, and I would like for this to last for a while.”

“It is nice, isn’t it?”

“What’s that?”

“Being really comfortable with someone, even though you just met like twenty-four hours ago,” I rest my head on his shoulder.

I hear him take a deep breath, “It’s amazing.”  He takes another drink. 

My phone starts ringing, again.  I grab it and see that it is my friend Bobby.  “Hey Bobby,” I answer it.

“Hey Jo, I just saw you on the news.”

I laugh, “Yeah, I figured you did.  But like I have told everyone that has called me tonight, I am fine.”

I hear him laugh, “I figured, but I wanted to check in anyways.  Just wanted to make sure that everything is good.  Were the girls home?”

“No, my mom has them, I was just home unpacking everything from the move.”

“Well that is good; at least they weren’t in any danger then.  And I know you can handle yourself,” he laughs again.  “Well it is late and I just wanted to check on you, I will let you get back to your unpacking.”

“Thanks Bobby,” I smile and hang up my phone.

“You have a lot of worriers in your life don’t you?” Jake rubs my arm.

“You could say that.” I smile at the thought of my sides of the conversations that he has heard tonight.  “Most of them will probably call me tomorrow, like my brother, and Jarrod’s parents.”

“You still close to them?”

“Jarrod’s parents? Yes, absolutely I am.  They are the girl’s grandparents and have been a major help.  They actually bought my house so that the girls and I could move out.”

“You have a lot of supporters don’t you?”

“I would have never made it through the last two years if I didn’t.  My mom and step dad have saved me a lot of times when I was ready to give up.  I actually pretty much lived at their house for the last six months.  I couldn’t bear going back to the house.  I never thought it would be this hard.  If I would have known that it would be so hard I would have sold the house right away and moved, but it seemed right to try and make it work there.  I mean we moved in the summer before I had Lizzy so that is the only place the girls know.”

“I can’t imagine going through something like that.  I tell you what, from what I have seen tonight and what you told me I think you are probably the strongest person I know.  I mean you take the bull by the horns and rattle him around just to make him mad,” he laughs.

I look up at him, “I don’t think I would ever come face to face with a bull,” I giggle.  There is that stupid teenager again, and I blush.

“I think it’s cute when you blush like that.” He teases me.

“Oh be quiet,” I sit up.  I look over at the clock and it is after 10:00 already.

“I think I should get going, I do have to get up in the morning for practice.”

“On a Saturday?”

“Yes, on a Saturday, that is why I make the big bucks, I don’t get weekends off,” he jokes.  He finishes his beer and stands up.  “Walk me out?”

“Of course,” I smile and stand up.  “You think I will ever trust to not lock my doors after tonight,” I laugh.

“I would hope not,” he opens the bedroom door for me. 

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” I say as I unlock the front door and pull it open.

“I did too, we should do it again.”

“Sure,” I can’t help that stupid smile.

“What are you doing for lunch tomorrow?”

“I thought you had practice?”

“I do, but I will be done by about 11:30.  Maybe we can do something after?”

“I think we can figure something out.”

“Sounds good,” he walks out the door then turns and faces me.  He put his finger under my chin and pulls up so that I am looking right into those beautiful blue eyes, “I had a great night, thank you,” he says and kisses my cheek.  I get instant butterflies.

“I did too,” I almost whisper, then almost like on a switch I blush.

“We will have to work on the confidence of yours,” he smiles and lets my chin go.  I can still feel his lips on my cheek as he turns and walks to his car.  He stops and turns back around, “I will text you when I get home.”

I can’t help but smile, “I'm looking forward to it.”  I watch him get into his car and drive off.  Wow, what an eventful night.  It’s crazy that with all the things going on today my mind is only on Jake right now.

“Well he was a very handsome young man,” I hear my neighbor Lilly say.  I jump a little because I did not know she was sitting on her porch.

“Ms. Morrison, I didn’t know you were out here.”