“Come on,” she presses. “We’ve fucked in the shop before.”
“Right. We did it when no one else was here, but right now, we are in the breakroom, and there’s a whole bay full of guys out there who could walk in at any moment.”
“Fine. Let’s go to the bathroom. We can have more privacy in there.”
“Baby, what’s going on? I highly doubt you came here just to have a quickie in the bathroom.”
“No, I came here because I was having a shitty day, and I want to do something to help me forget about it. I figured I could come here, and my boyfriend could help me with that.”
Her tone is laced with attitude, and it’s clear that she’s frazzled. As much as I want to calm her down, I don’t think us running off to the bathroom to fuck is the answer.
I’m about to try to push to get something out of her. Maybe if she starts talking, she will feel better, but she doesn’t give me a chance.
With a wild look in her eye, she says, “Let’s get out of here.”
“What do you mean? You want to leave and go back home?”
She shakes her head. “No, I mean let’s get out of Lilly Leaf Falls. We can have a little getaway for a few days.”
“Jo, I can’t just leave. I have a job and responsibilities.”
“And I don’t,” she says in barely more than a whisper.
“Hey, that’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is if you want to plan a trip, we can, but if I just leave right now and not come in for a few days, I may not have a job when I get back. Plus, I won’t just leave Jack hanging like that.”
“Come on,” she wraps her arms around me. “It’ll be so much fun.”
“I’m sure it would be, baby, but I have news for you. All of the problems that you are trying to run away from will still be here waiting for you when you come back.”
“Then, let’s just not come back. We can start over somewhere new.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” I ask. “You’re being crazy.”
She lets go of me with an offended look on her face. “Oh, yeah. That’s me. Crazy Jo Lawson.”
“Come on, Jo. That’s not what I’m saying. But you know that you aren’t making any sense right now.”
She doesn’t respond, so I keep going.
“Jo, I have a house with a mortgage and a dog and a ton of other things I can’t just leave behind. And guess what? Eventually, any problems we have would follow us wherever we decided to go.”
As if something finally clicks in her head, she says, “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here.”
“You never have to apologize for coming here. If you need me to leave for a little while and walk you home, just let me go talk to Jack.”
“No, that’s okay. I’m fine. I was just having a moment. I’m going to go try to clear my head for a bit. I’m sure I’ll feel better by the time you get home.”
“Are you sure?”
“Totally.” She wears a small, tight smile that makes me not believe her, but before I can say another word, she’s out the door.
I decide that this time, I’m going to go after her, but when Jack peeks his head in and tells me something else that needs to be done, I decide that my talk with Jo is going to have to wait.
Tonight, we will hash all this out, and I’ll figure out what’s really going on with her.
***
As busy as I keep the rest of the day, time seems to drag. I know it’s because I am anxious to get to Jo. I have no idea what would have happened today to make her freak out the way she did, but I sure as shit want to find out. I’m pretty used to her freak outs, but this one seemed way worse than usual.
