Waiting for Jo (9 page)

James gives me a puzzled look. “You have a
stalker?” he asks.

“Yes. Here’s his latest correspondence.” I
hand the card from the flowers to James.

“Who is Will? Is that someone you’re
dating?”

“Jesus Christ, James! I just handed you a
note showing that my crazy stalker has crossed your name out and
you’re worried about whether or not I’m dating Will. And, no. I’m
not dating Will. Will and I are friends.”

“Jo, I’m not worried about some freak that is
sending you notes. I think I’ll be just fine.”

“Well, that’s good. Look, I have a lot of
work to do,” I say, trying to get James to leave my office before
this conversation escalates any further.

“Fine. I’m outta here,” he says as he walks
away.

My blood is boiling. What the fuck is wrong
with James? He doesn’t seem at all worried that some dude is
stalking me. His only concern is who I’m dating. Why does he care
about that? Did he forget that he dumped me? All he would have had
to say is “Jo, I want to get back together,” and I would have
jumped at the opportunity. Instead he plays these games with me.
Sometimes I wonder if he’s bipolar or something. The James from
lunch yesterday and the James I’m dealing with today seem like
completely different people.

My mind goes back to the day that James broke
up with me and the weeks that followed. I’ve never been so badly
hurt by someone in my life. I felt like I was being punched in the
stomach and every time I think about it, I feel that pain again. I
stopped eating, stopped laughing, stopped hanging out with my
friends. My life completely changed. I’m far from over the breakup,
but I’ve managed to get my life back over the last couple of
months. And now, he plays with my emotions by pulling this jealousy
act.

I try and get my emotions under control.
Okay, Jo. You have work to do. Forget about the stalker and forget
about James. Just get your work done and focus on how much fun
you’re going to have with Will at the concert tonight.

I close my office door, grab a stack of
previously untouched papers, and try to push myself to work. Just
eight more hours to go, I tell myself.

Sigh.

Chapter 1
3

I get home from work and throw on a Maxi
dress and some strappy sandals. I can’t wait to get to the
botanical gardens and take my mind off what happened today. Will
knocks on my door at 7:00 on the dot.

As I open the door Malcolm darts from behind
me and jumps up on Will.

“Down, Malcolm,” I say. Malcolm listens, but
he can’t hide his excitement. He’s wagging his tail so frantically
that his whole body is moving from side to side.

“Hi, Malcolm,” Will says as he reaches down
and pets him between the ears.

Will straightens his body. “Hello to you
too,” he says, giving me hug. “You look really nice.”

“Thanks! You look nice too.” Will is just
wearing jeans and a plaid button-down shirt, but because the
sleeves are rolled up a bit I can see his muscular forearms.

“Are you ready to go?” He asks.

“Yeah, just let me grab my purse.” I also
pick up my camera bag. I haven’t touched my Canon in months, and I
think that it would be nice to take some shots of the band
tonight.

I say goodbye to Malcolm and double check
that my front door is locked before climbing into Will’s jeep.

Will starts the engine and the radio blasts
Uh by Fujiya & Miyagi. This guy has great taste in music, I
think to myself.

Will turns the volume down.

“So how was your day today?” I ask.

“Pretty good. I worked at the Alcove from
lunchtime to about 3:30 p.m. Then I tried contacting some galleries
to see if they’d be interested in my work.”

“Any luck?”

“No,” says Will with a disappointed look on
his face. “One gallery even said that my work was pedestrian. They
could have just told me that they weren’t interested. It really
upset me for a while, but I’m over it now. I’ll keep trying with
other galleries.”

“Well, you’re an amazing artist. These
gallery people are either crazy or stupid.”

“Thanks, Jo. You’re sweet.”

I can tell that this conversation is making
Will sad when he abruptly changes the subject. “So, how was your
day? Did you help keep anyone out of jail?”

“Today was a very trying day. When I got into
the office there was bouquet of flowers on my desk from you know
who.”

“Why didn’t you call me to tell me? Was there
a card?” Will asks.

“Yes.” I unzip my purse, pull the card out
and hand it to him. He glances down at it quickly.

“Well, it seems like this guy has it out for
me,” he says with some concern in his voice.

“I’m sorry, Will. I shouldn’t have gotten you
involved in all of this. Maybe you should distance yourself from me
for a while.”

“Don’t apologize, Jo. I got myself involved
in this. And I have no intention of distancing myself from you.” He
takes one hand off the wheel and grabs my hand to reassure me, and
I squeeze it in response.

“You’re a good friend. I really appreciate
everything you do for me, but if it ever starts to be too much
you’ll tell me, right?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Will says. “I
told you that I’d help you through this and that’s what I’m going
to do.”

“Thanks. I feel a lot better knowing
that.”

***

We arrive at the botanical gardens and find a
nice grassy area to spread out and listen to the music. It’s a
perfect night for an outdoor concert. It’s clear and warm and a
soft breeze carries the sweet fragrance from the rose garden that’s
adjacent to where we’ve camped out.

“How’s this spot?” Will asks.

“This is perfect,” I say. “Thanks for
inviting me. It’s so nice out, and I forgot how beautiful the
botanical gardens are. This is exactly what I need tonight.”

“Sure thing!” he says.

I take my camera out of the bag and wind
it.

“Whoa. That’s a pretty old camera. You not
into digital?” Will asks.

“Yeah, it’s a Canon AE-1, and it’s seven
years older than I am. I do digital sometimes, but there’s nothing
like a good ol’ SLR when you’re shooting black and white.”

I point the camera at Will and snap a photo
of his handsome face. He shyly turns away and then reaches for the
camera. “Now let me,” he says. Will points the camera at me. I
stick out my tongue and Will laughs. “The camera loves you,” he
says.

He sets the camera down, and we wait for the
band to start playing.

“Hey, Will. I’ve been meaning to tell you how
cool it is that you hang out with Blake. I can tell that he looks
up to you. You’re a really good big brother.”

Will smiles. “Thanks, Jo.”

What’s his story?” I ask.

“Blake has had kind of a tough life. His dad
ran out when he was just a baby.”

“That’s a bummer. I know how it is to grow up
without a dad, but at least I knew my dad,” I say.

“Yeah. He doesn’t have any siblings or
relatives that live close by, and his mom works a lot. She’s a good
mom and she does everything she can to give him what he needs, but
she just isn’t around as much as she’d like. We’re supposed to hang
out once a week, but I have some free time these days and my
schedule is flexible, so I’ve been taking him to do stuff more
often. We’ve grown pretty close in the last few weeks.”

Will’s story makes my heart melt. “I’m really
glad you can be there for him,” I say.

“Me too. You seemed to be really good with
him. Have you ever worked with kids?” Will asks.

“Yes. After my first year of college I worked
as the art director of a Girl Scout camp in Montana.”

“I bet that was a cool experience.”

“It was. I learned a lot. Camping for eleven
weeks in Montana is something that I’d never do again, but I’m glad
I did it.”

Will laughs.

“I also used to mentor a little girl. I
volunteered at the New Hope Rescue Mission downtown where I tutored
Lucy every Tuesday night. And then I applied to be a mentor and
Lucy and I were matched.”

“Do you still see her?”

I look down into my lap and frown.
“Unfortunately, no. I mentored her for over a year, but she and her
mom moved out of New Hope, and her mom ended up getting involved in
drugs. Lucy was eventually taken by child services. I tried for
months to get access to her, but I didn’t have any luck. I miss
her, and I worry about her all of the time.”

“I’m sorry,” Will says. “I don’t know what
I’d do if I lost touch with Blake.”

I’m quiet for a few moments while I think
about Lucy. I wonder where she is and what she’s up too. Is she
still in foster care? Is she being treated well? Is she happy? Even
if I didn’t get to see her, it would be nice to have answers to my
questions.

The band starts playing and it almost
instantly cheers me up. The mix of funk and soul is fun and
exciting and it takes my mind off of Lucy, the flowers, and the
exchange that I had with James earlier. By the time the band
finishes their set, I’m completely relaxed.

“Maybe we should just stay at the botanical
gardens,” I say. “I could fall asleep right here on this
blanket.”

“So could I,” Will stretches him arms over
his head. “But I guess we should get going before they kick us out
of here.” Will finishes stretching and we get up, pack up the
picnic basket, and fold up the blanket.

***

“I loved that band,” I say as we climb the
stairs to my door.

“Me too, they were so...” Will trails off and
puts his hand out in front of me, stopping from me going any
further.

I notice the bits of black plastic and glass
scattered on my front porch. “WHAT. THE. FUCK?” I say.

“How in the hell did he even know the camera
was there? You can hardly even see it.”

“He must have watched us install it,” I
say.

“Did you tell anyone about the camera?” Will
asks.

“Just Harley. Did you mention it to
anyone?”

“No. Not a soul. Let’s check out the recorded
footage. We should be able to see who smashed it.”

We step over the shards of broken camera and
go inside. I get out my laptop and connect to the camera program.
Sure enough, the recording function was triggered at 9:39 p.m. Just
about ten minutes before we got home.

“Look at that,” Will says. He points to a
dark figure coming up the stairs of my porch. It appears to be a
man, about 6’ tall, but that’s about all I can tell. His face is
covered with a ski mask, and he’s wearing black leather gloves. He
has a baseball bat in his left hand. He then pulls the baseball bat
back and swings.

The image goes black.

“Well, that didn’t help too much. Between my
tire and this camera, this asshole is costing me a lot of money,” I
say.

“We did learn a few things,” Will says in an
attempt to be positive. “We know about how tall he is. We know that
he’s probably left handed because of the way that he held the bat.
And we know for sure now that he’s a man. Sure we suspected that,
but we didn’t really know for sure until now.”

“That’s true. I was just really hoping that
he wouldn’t know that we installed the camera and that we’d get a
clear picture of his face at some point,” I say.

Will pats my back. “I know. Me too” he
says.

I take a deep breath and then sigh.

“Are you okay?” Will asks.

I just shake my head. I’m definitely not
okay. I’m so stressed out and on edge because of this creeper and
because things aren’t going the way I’d hoped with James. I feel
like just throwing my hands up in the air and giving up. I’ve
seriously just thought about moving far, far away. I think it would
be cool to live in Australia. I doubt that my stalker would follow
me there, and after today, I’m starting to wonder if I should just
get away from James and everything that reminds me of him.

But I know what Harley would say to me:
Geographical solutions to problems never work. I just wish I knew
of some other solution that would.

“Will, do you mind staying here while I
shower really quickly. Ever since this guy has been harassing me
I’ve had nightmares that resemble that scene from Psycho,” I say,
trying to be funny.

“Of course I will. I’ll just hang out with
Malcolm. Take your time.”

“Thanks. You’re the best.”

I turn the shower on and let the water warm
up. I drop my dress to the floor and climb in. The hot water feels
good running over my head and down my face. I lather up and then
pick up my razor and begin shaving my legs. Suddenly, I notice a
figure move outside of the little window above my shower. I scream
and try and get out of the shower as quickly as possible, but I end
up tripping on the shower curtain and falling. I quickly pull
myself up and out of the shower just as Will bursts into the
bathroom door.

Except for my horseshoe necklace, I’m
completely naked. Will looks at me with wide eyes for a second
before talking. “Ummmm....what’s going on? Are you okay?”

I cover myself up with my hands. “Can you get
me a towel?” I point to the towel rack that’s behind him. He turns
around, retrieves a towel, and hands it to me.

Will’s face turns red. “Sorry,” he says. “So,
what happened?”

“I saw something moving outside.” I point to
the window. “It startled me and I fell, but I’m okay. I’ll probably
just have a few bruises.”

“Was it a person?” Will asks.

“I think so. I just thought I saw something
out of the corner of my eye, and when I looked over it moved.”

“You get dried off. I’m going to go out in
your yard and check things out.”

“No! Don’t go!” I beg. I don’t want to be
alone in the house right now, but I’m more scared about Will
possibly facing off with this freak.