“Jack, what are you talking about?” I question because I think we must be having two separate conversations.
“Beau, she was defending you the other night too.”
“No, she told me it was just her siblings.”
He cracks a small smile. “She may have told you that, but that wasn’t the catalyst. She was just arguing with Russ until he started talking shit about you. That’s when she took the bottle and just about gutted him.”
“Are you sure?”
He nods. “I wasn’t there, but one of my buddies was and told me about it.”
Well, fuck. Now, it’s going to be even harder to hate her.
Chapter twenty-five
Sleeping with the Enemy
Jo
“Jo, I don’t know how you’ve done it, but you’ve completely transformed this office,” Jack says while looking around at everything I’ve done. “Everything in here is incredible.”
“Thanks,” I reply. “I’m thinking maybe I should have slowed down a little bit because I have nothing to do.”
“Well, I was thinking about that.” He sits on the edge of his desk with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Now that the office is in order, I was thinking that we can start having you out in the bay.The guys and I can take turns teaching you how to actually work on cars.”
“Really?”
He nods. “If that’s something that you want to do.”
“Yeah!” I say, probably a little too eagerly. “I would love that!”
“I know you already know how to do some basic stuff, but I figure we can show you some more to get you ready to be a technician. I’m not sure how much longer we are going to have Adam since he just got his degree. Even if he decides to stay, having an extra set of hands would be helpful.”
“Sounds great. I’ll learn whatever you want to teach me.”
“If we are really busy, I’m sure it’ll be more grunt work for you, but we will do our best to teach along the way.” He pauses a moment. “I can’t promise you will be able to avoid Beau.”
“I don’t care,” I tell him. “I’m totally fine working with Beau. It’s him that you may have to break the news to.”
“I already did. He seemed fine with the idea.”
“Really?” Just hearing him say that gives me a huge sense of relief.
“I mean, he may just be acting that way because I’m his boss, but I think he will be fine. If he gives you any problems, let me know.”
I agree, but I know that even if Beau was an absolute ass to me, I wouldn’t tell Jack. Beau’s behavior is a direct result of my own behavior, so I’d just deal with it.
Jack and I talk a bit more about specifics before he takes me out in the bay. We spend the rest of the morning going over a few things about a Ford that he’s working on. Some of it I know–merely from listening to my brothers–and some of it is new to me. But I do my best to take it all in like a sponge.
After lunch, Jack has to go home to take care of Liz and Beth, who apparently are battling a couple of awful colds. So, he asksBeau to take over on the Ford that needs to be done by tomorrow morning.
When Beau and I are alone, we stand in an awkward silence for a few moments, and I think he’s getting ready to flip that switch. You know, the one that turns him against me.
But I’m beyond surprised when he says, “I know what you did at the bar the other night.”
“What?”
