Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (52 page)

“What is it?”

“The one you didn’t want me to get.”

“I thought we agreed it was too soon to think about that Jake.”

“It’s good for two years Jo.  It doesn’t have to be soon.”  I just look at him in shock.  What did he want me to do with this?  I don’t even know what it consists of.  I didn’t really pay that close of attention to what it was.  He turns and watches the rest of the guys get stuff.  Mark won a trip to Colorado Springs for four.  He seems extremely excited for that.

“Hope you two want to get away for a few days,” he smiles and says to me when he gets back.  I don’t say anything just smile.  Jake puts his arm around me and pulls me close as they announce the last one. 

“Are you ready to get out of here?”  He whispers to me.

“How are Mark and Lisa getting home if we leave now?”

“The limo will come back and get them, or a different one will take them home.”

“Ok,” I say.  I turn to Lisa, “I guess we are going to go,” I give her and Mark both a hug.  Jake says his goodbyes as I follow along.  We are standing waiting for the limo and he pulls me close to him.

“I'm sorry,” he looks down at me.

“For what?”

“Getting that,” he points to the envelope in my hand.  “I just got excited when I saw it.”  I shake my head and smile at him.

“Your limo is ready,” he guy standing in front of us says before he opens the door.  I look out and see that there are still a lot of people there to take pictures.  I follow close to Jake.  I can hear people yelling things this time but we don’t stop.  The limo door is being held open for us and he gets out of the way so I can get in first.  He turns and waves to everyone then crawls in behind me.  I move over a little bit so he can get in, but he grabs me as soon as the door is shut and pulls me up to him.

“I have wanted to kiss you all night,” he pulls my face to him and kisses me a deep passionate kiss.  He doesn’t stop and I feel his hand coming up my side and all of my senses are awake. 

“Jake,” I pull away from him.  “We are in the back of a limo,” I laugh.

“So what?  The driver can’t see us,” he smiles and kisses my neck.  “I told you this was going to be a long night.  I have wanted to kiss you and hold you close all night and I haven’t been able to.”

“I'm pretty sure you can control yourself until we get back to your house,” I smile.

“Fine,” he pulls me close to him and stops kissing me but doesn’t let go.  I just sit there with his arms around me and my head on his chest until we get back to his place.

I walk into the house and turn on the light in the living room.  I notice that there are no lights on so I assume that Molly isn’t here.  I look out at Jake and he is paying the limo driver a tip I assume.  I set my purse down on the table next to the door and look at the envelope.  I walk over to the chair that is by the fireplace and sit down.  I pull the paper out of the envelope and read it.  The stuff that he won is amazing.  There is a certificate for a bridal gown up to $8000, plus bridesmaid’s dresses up to a total of $10000 for however many we would need.  There a few different options for where to get married and what kind of package for a reception.  I just sit there staring at it.  I hear him shut the door.  “I assume you are little upset with me about that?”  He says as he locks the door

“Jake how much did you spend on this?”

“Not that much.  Not nearly as much as it is worth.”

“Why did you get it?”

“Because I told you, I plan on marrying you, and since this is good for two years, we have some time.”

I just watch him as he walks toward me.  I don’t know what to think.  I know he wants to get married eventually but I feel like this puts a little pressure on me to make a choice.  “What if that is still too soon for me?”

“Two years doesn’t give you enough time?”  He sits down on the couch.

“I don’t know Jake, I mean we haven’t even been together a month and you are already telling me that you want to marry me.”

“Because like I told you I have not felt like this about anyone.  I love this feeling that I have when I am with you so why would I want to let that go?”  He stands up and comes over and kneels in front of me and grabs my hands.  “Jo, I know you are hesitant about this but I'm not at all.  I love you and that will never change.  I want this to last forever; I want to be with you and the girls forever.”  I just sit there looking at him.  “Its fine if we don’t use it, the money went to charity anyways,” he stands back up and walks to the kitchen.  I just sit there looking at the things I took out of the envelope.  I set them on the table next to me and go upstairs to his room.  I am in the bathroom taking out the pins in my hair when I hear him walk into the bedroom.  I already took my dress of and put my pajamas on and washed my face.  I am finishing getting the last pins out when I hear his phone ring.

“Hello?”  He says.  “Hey mom.”  I see him sit on the bed facing the window.  “No, as far as I know Joan has the lid on anything that she says.”  He stands back up and walks to the window.  “Of course she is.  She likes trying to make my life miserable.” He just stands there looking out the window.  I walk out and get into bed.  “Yeah, well Joan will let me know if anything gets past her, but she is damn good and stopping shit like that.” He turns and looks at me.  “Yeah, I will let you know, but like I said I don’t think it will,” he walks out of the room.  Once again I have pissed him off.  I roll over and close my eyes and hope that he can understand where I am coming from in this situation.

~~~~~

I wake up and see that Jake is not in bed.  He has either gotten up early and gone for a run, or he never came to bed last night.  I grab my phone and see that my mom sent me a text asking when I was coming to get the girls.  I don’t have a car here.  I dial her number.

“Good morning sweetheart,” she answers.

“Hey mom,” I sit up in bed.  “Could you drop the girls off here?  I don’t have a car here.”

“Can’t Jake come get them?”

“I'm not sure where he is right now.  He had some stuff to take care of this morning.”

“Sure, I can bring them over.  Just let me get them ready and I will head that way.”

“Ok, thanks mom,” I hang up.  I get out of bed and look out the window.  I see that Ryan’s car is parked outside and assume that he and Molly got back this morning sometime.  I grab some clothes out of my bag and go into the bathroom.  I take a quick shower and get dressed then head downstairs.  I see Ryan and Molly headed for the door.  “Where are you sneaking off to?”  I say.

“No place special,” Ryan smiles.  “I have to help your brother for a little bit this morning then Molly and I are going to take a ride up to my parent’s place.”

“Meeting the parents?” I smile at her.

“Yes, I'm a little nervous,” she laughs.

“Oh you don’t need to be nervous, his parents are awesome,” I smile.  “Have you seen Jake?”

“Last I saw him he was running down the driveway for his daily jog.”  Molly smiles at me.  “How was the ball last night?”

“It was good, a lot of fun.”

“Did he like your dress?”

“Yeah, he did,” I smile.  I don’t dare tell her that I have no idea if he slept in the same bed as me last night.  “Well you guys have fun, I'm going to get some breakfast.”

“Ok, see you later,” Molly smiles as they head out the door.  I walk into the kitchen and turn on the TV and grab a bagel and drop it in the toaster. 

“Well it seems that the Jackson Adams has himself another new girlfriend.  He has been lighting up the airways with Detective Jodene Lewis, but this new picture that we have gotten does not appear to be her.  He was seen with this new girl in Denver last Sunday.  We are not sure who she is, but they seem to be deep in conversation in the pictures that we have gotten.”

I look at the TV and see Jake with his hand on this mystery girls arm and they are having a very intense conversation.  I can’t believe what I am seeing.  I hear the front door open and push the pause button. 

“Hey,” he says as he walks over to the bar and grabs a bottle of water.  I don’t say anything.  I just stand there looking at him.  “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know why don’t you take a look at this news report and tell me what you think?”  I put the remote on the counter and walk out of the kitchen.  I don’t stop I head for the door and walk outside and down the driveway.  My mom should be here soon and if I get out of the gate he won’t even know she was here to pick me up.  I assume that he knew about the report since he has not followed me.  I am just about to the gate when I hear him yell my name.  I don’t turn around I just push the button for the gate to open and walk out.  I can see my mom’s van coming down the road.  She slows down and I get in.

“What’s going on?”  She asks when I close the door.

“Please take me home,” is all I can say.  I see Jake make it to the gate as my mom drives past.  We ride to my house in silence.  She pulls into the driveway and I get out and open the garage and the girls go in the house.

“Jo, what’s wrong?”  My mom asks when we are alone.

“He lied to me,” is all that I can say.

“About what?”

“He apparently was with some girl out in Denver; it was on the news this morning.  There was even a picture on the news.” I lean up against my car in the garage.  My phone starts ringing and I look at it and it is Jake.

“Are you going to answer that?”

“No,” I set it down on the back of my car.  “Why would he lie to me?”

“Maybe it is a misunderstanding Jo.”

“No, I don’t think so, he seemed like he knew her.”

“Maybe she is just a friend.”

“One that meets him in Denver mom?  It’s a little fishy.”

“I think you should listen to his side of the story Jo,” my mom rubs my arm.

“I don’t think I can.  He lied to me about it and you know how I am when it comes to trusting people.”

“Jo, I think you might be overreacting,” she says to me.

“Or I just don’t want to go through being lied to mom.  I told him that is one thing I can’t handle, and he just did it to me,” my phone starts ringing again, and again it is Jake.  I again don’t answer it.

“Do you want me to take the girls again today?”

“No mom, I need to spend some time with them.  I think we are going to go up to the zoo and get out of the house for a while.”

“Running from it isn’t going to get you anywhere Jo.”

“I'm not running from it mom, I just found out that he is lying to me about another girl.  I think I am entitled to have some time alone.”

“Ok, but I think you should hear his side before you overreact too much,” she turns and walks back to her van.  “Call me if you need anything,” she gets into her van and backs out of the driveway.  I walk into the house and find the girls.

“Hey, let’s go up to the zoo for the day,” I say to them.

“Yay!!” They both squeal.  We all head out to the car and get in.  I back out and head to the zoo on the north side of town.  My phone is blowing up with text messages and phone calls. Now Annie is also calling me which means he has called her.  I answer when she calls for the third time in a row.

“What do you want Annie?”  I answer.

“Wow, you are not in a good mood.”

“No, I'm not, and I know why you are calling and I'm not talking about it.”

“Jo, he is freaking out.  He says he has called you and text you a bunch of times and you won’t answer.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Did you really just walk out of his house?”

“Yes, I did.  And again, I'm not talking about it.”

“Jodene Lewis, seriously?  This guy adores you and is completely in love with you, why are you being so damn stubborn.”

“Annie, I said I'm not talking about it,” I hang up the phone.  Why does it not surprise me that people would take his side on this?  What about the fact that he has lied to me? 

“Mom, what’s wrong?”  Lizzy asks me.

“Nothing sweetie,” I smile at her.  I grab my phone and dial Bobby’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey Bobby, its Jo.”

“Hey Jo, what’s up?”

“I have a favor to ask you.”

“Sure what’s that?”

“Can you do a little research on a news story that was on this morning?”

“The one of Jake and the new mystery girl as they are calling her?”

“Yep, that would be the one.”

“Sure, I have been kind of watching it.  Did he tell you who she is?”

“Didn’t give him the chance to.  The girls and I are on our way to the zoo.”

“Sure, no problem.  I will see what I can find out for you and get back to you.”

“Thanks Bobby.”

“No problem, be careful Jo.  I know this is tearing you up.”

“Yes, but I will not just sit back and take it, you know that.  He even has Annie on his side.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“That sucks.  I will do some digging.”

“Thank you.  Let me know when you find something out.”

“Will do,” he hangs up.  He is always my go to guy for finding things out because his dad is a private investigator and he knows how to look things up.  I am driving and my phone starts ringing again.  It is my mom.

“Hello?”

“Have you talked to Jake yet?”  She asks me.

“No, why?”

“He stopped at the house looking for you.”

“I'm sure he did.  I’m betting he is probably hitting everyone’s house that I know to see if I am there.”

“Why are you running from him Jo?”

“Because I may say things that I would regret if I talked to him right now.”

“You have a temper issue sometimes girly.”

“You have known that for a long time mom.”

“Yes, I have, I just hope that you don’t let this go overboard.  What if it is nothing?”

“He still lied to me about it.  He saw her and didn’t tell me.  I don’t care if it is his sister, he should have told me that he met with someone out there, especially being that we have been in the spot light so much.”

“You should call him Jo.”

“Once I have calmed down and think I can handle talking to him, I will consider it.”  I pull into the parking lot of the zoo.  “I have to go we just got here.”

“I hope this helps you calm down,” she hangs up the phone. I park the car and sit there looking at my phone.  I have fifteen text messages.  I'm betting most of them are from Jake.  I am not the type of person to usually run away from my problems.  I am just afraid that if I were to talk to him right now I would say something that I would regret.

“Can we get out mom?”  Lizzy unbuckles.

“Yes, let’s go,” I get out of the car and help the girls get out.  I decide that I will not look at my messages when I am with the girls.  I look at the clock when we get out of the car and it is a little after 10:00.  I figure we can walk around a couple hours then go back home and take a nap.  I know I could use one too. 

~~~~~

I wake up to my phone ringing.  I grab it and see it is Annie calling.  “Hello?”

“Where have you been all day?”

“I was spending time with my kids is that ok with you?”

“Why are you getting pissy with me?”

“Because you seem to think that Jake has done nothing wrong.  You are supposed to be my friend not his.”