Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (48 page)

“Oh yeah, she thinks that making my life hell will make her feel better.”

“I don’t know what that girl is thinking,” Luke shakes his head.  “I don’t know how many times Jarrod told her to back off and she just never listened.”

“I know, he used to tell me all the time the only reason that he kept her as a “friend” was to make sure that she didn’t do anything stupid.”

“Yeah, he used to tell me about some of the crap she would pull.”

I shake my head, “let’s find something better to talk about.” I laugh.

“Congrats on the Detective of the Year,” Luke raises his glass to me.

“Thank you,” I smile.

“Well earned,” Barb smiles and puts her glass up as well.

“You could say that,” I smile.  We all take a drink as I watch the door.  Jake still has not shown up.  I am talking to Barb when my phone rings.  I look at it and see it is Jake.  “Hey, where are you?”  I ask as I get outside where it is quieter.

“Hey baby, sorry I am on my way.  I had an issue to take care of with Joan.”  He tells me.

“I heard that you were talking to her when Ryan and Molly left, that was over an hour ago.  What’s going on?”

“I will talk to you about it when I get there.”

“Ok, see you soon,” I can tell something is wrong.

“Bye,” he says then hangs up.  I walk back into the bar and order another drink for myself.  As I stand there waiting I am beginning to think there is something really wrong.

“Was that Jake?”  Annie walks up next to me.

“Yes, he is on his way.  He said he had something to take care of.”

“What’s going on?”

“I'm not really sure.  I wish we could just have a normal relationship,” I try to muster a smile.

“Jo, this is normal for him.  Normal to you is not possible with him.”

“I know,” I sigh.  “This night is not going at all how I was hoping it would.”

“It will get better, he will be here soon and the shit with Amber is done.  At least that happened before Jake got here.  He would have flipped out on her.”

“Yeah, I'm sure he would have.  He heard about the fight I had when I met Bobby for a drink and he wasn’t too happy about that.”

“Well I can imagine not,” she laughs.  “But I know you would kick her ass.  In fact I was hoping just a little bit that you would knock her ass out tonight.”

“I thought about it, however I'm sure it would have ruined the fun with having all that paperwork and stuff,” I laugh.

“What’s so funny?”  Jake walks up behind us.

“Hey,” I smile and look up at him.  I can tell that is pissed off about something.  “What’s wrong,” I stop smiling.

“A lot,” he motions for me to follow him outside.  I set my drink on the bar and look at Annie who has also stopped smiling.  Once we get outside he sits down on a bench and pats the spot next to him.  I sit down and he puts his arm around me and pulls me close.  “Well, she managed to drag my name through the mud,” he kisses my temple.

“What do you mean?”  I rub my hand on his leg.

“Oh she found out about the drugs that Lewis tried to plant on me back in San Diego and told the press, they are having a field day with it.”  He runs his hand through his hair.

“How did she find out about that?  That isn’t public knowledge is it?”

“Oh no, there are only a handful of people that know about it.”

“So who told her?”

“My guess, my old roommate from San Diego.  He was a real asshole.  I just spent the last hour and a half trying to figure out how to make this mess go away.”

“And?”

“Joan called Lewis and he issued a statement to her saying that he did it and I never touched them.  Plus Joan wrote up a good report to bring down Trisha’s credibility.”

“So what does that mean?”

“At this point, it is just gossip on her end and I'm pretty sure that no one will believe her.”

“Well that’s good right?”

“Oh yeah, until she tries to come up with another shitty story about me.”

“So how do you stop her?”

“I don’t.  I keep coming back with how bad our relationship was and how I am trying to move forward from her and be happy in my life.” He rubs my arm.  “I'm sorry if I put a damper on your night.”

“No, its fine.  I'm glad you could get it taken care of.”

“For now.  I'm sorry you have to deal with this drama of an ex,” he grabs my hand with his free one.  “I have something for you,” he pulls something out of his pants pocket.  I see a small red box.

“Now what did you buy me?” I roll my eyes at him.

“Something that I know you are going to want to kill me for buying you, but I did it anyway,” he smiles.  I look at him questioningly and open the box.  Inside is a key fob.  I look at him in disbelief.  “John helped me pick something out for you,” he looks at me hopeful that I'm not going to be too pissed at him.

“Is it here?”

“Yes,” he nods.  “Push the button.”  I smile and push the lock button to make the horn sound.  I see it about five cars down from where we are sitting.  I get up and start walking.  When I get to where the headlights are on I see a brand new Dodge Journey and of course it is blue.  “I knew the Charger would not be family friendly and I trust you to let you drive it whenever you want.  This has lots of room for us, plus more if we decide to grow our family.  It isn’t over the top like most guys drive from the team.  I thought it would fit you good.  I had John’s opinion and he thinks you will love it.” 

“Jake, you did not have to buy me a car,” I look at him.

“I know, but my sister needs a car and I thought she could wheel and deal with you for yours,” he smiles.

“You are so full of it.  She could easily go out and find a better car than mine.”

“Yeah, probably, but I wanted to get you something nice.”

“Jake, you are completely over the top sometimes you know that?”  He laughs and grabs the key fob from me and unlocks the doors.

“I have to take it in and get you some tint on the windows but it comes with DVD players in the back for the girls, heated seats for you and me, and a third row of seats.”

“Oh is that all?” I ask sarcastically.

“No, it has automatic start,” he smirks at me.  I just shake my head.  He shuts the driver’s door that he had opened and walks up to me.

“Over the top Jake,” I shake my head.

“No, it was this or an engagement ring.  I thought this was the less obvious route to take.”

“What does that mean?”

“I buy you a car, that means you can’t leave me, ever,” he smiles and pulls me close to him.

“So basically an engagement ring that doesn’t fit on my finger?”

“Something like that,” he smiles then bends to kiss me.  “I'm sorry this night got off to a crappy start,” he says as he backs away from me a little.             

“You have no idea,” I laugh and shake my head.

“What does that mean?” He looks down at me.

“You missed Amber; she came in and tried to fight with me again.”

“Why do I always miss out on the fun stuff,” he laughs.

“It wasn’t that good, she got one shot at me and I laid her out on the floor then she got arrested for trying to assault an officer.”

“What?”

“Chief was here, she wasn’t going to get away with taking a swing at me.”

“Oh Jo, when are you going to stop fighting in the bars,” he laughs and grabs my hand.  “Can we go celebrate now?”

“Yes please,” I smile and we walk back to the bar.

“Hey, there you are,” Annie spots me as soon as we walk back in.  “Everything ok?”

“Yes,” I smile.  “Jake was just giving me my birthday present.”

“Gross,” she screeches.

“Grow up Annie,” I hold up the key fob.

“He bought you a freaking car?” Her mouth drops open.  I just smile and nod.  “I hate you,” she rolls her eyes.

“I love you too,” I smile.  Jake walks back over to me after getting a drink for both of us.

“You are due for a speech,” Annie smiles and grabs my hand.

“Wait, what?  I never agreed to give a speech,” I object trying to pull away from her.

“Too late for that,” she smiles and pulls me over to the stage that they have set up for the DJ that is playing tonight and hands me a microphone.  I just stand there looking at everyone who are gradually getting quieter and looking at me.  I hate giving speeches, especially in front of a bunch of my friends.  I take a drink out of my glass and take a deep breath.

“Hey everyone,” I smile and they all stop talking and turn their attention to me.  “I have been told that I need to give a speech tonight.  I'm not sure why it is me because this is a celebration for all three of us,” I glare at Annie.

“Might have something to do with an award,” I hear Ryan yell.

“Thanks Ryan,” I shake my head.  “I can still reconsider that probation you know,” I joke and everyone laughs, I see him raise his glass to me and laugh.  “So as most of you heard I have been given the award for Detective of the Year in this great city of Baltimore, not only that but my department has gotten Department of the Year.  It is a great honor to get such a great award for all of us.  Not only does it reflect on my work but everyone around me.  My great team that has worked by my side for the last four years, my Chief that has supported my team through everything that we have done, and that great partner that I have had to help me up from times when I thought I was not going to be able to get through things.  I feel blessed to have such a great team around me, not only a team that I know can do a great job, but they look out for everyone around them.  They have followed me into some things that we knew one of us could get hurt on, if I would have known it was going to be me I would have second guessed myself though,” I laugh.  Everyone laughs, I see Jake shake his head at me.  “I was a wreck for two years but I still led my team with them by my side, they helped me through thick and thin and they stood by me no matter what.  For that I want to thank you guys,” I raise my glass.  “I would not be the great leader to my team that I am today if they did not trust me enough to lead them.”  Everyone raises their glasses with me.  I take a drink, now comes the hard part of my speech, even though I didn’t have this planned I know what I need to say.

“Oh boy,” I take a deep breath.  “Now, I have not celebrated my birthday in two years, until recently I didn’t have much reason to.  Almost two years ago I lost the love of my life and fought like hell to keep my life from falling apart.  I have been concentrating on raising my two wonderful girls the best that I can by myself.  If I did not have all my friends and family that are standing in this room right now to back me up I don’t know what I would have done.  Next week Friday is the two year anniversary of losing Jarrod,” I can feel tears start to form in my eyes.  I look around and see tears in a lot of eyes of the people that I love.  “It has been the absolute hardest thing that I have ever gone through, and I hope that I never ever have to experience something like that again.  Many of you have seen me hit rock bottom and want to give up, but you won’t allow that.  I moved out of my house, which my in-laws gladly bought to take care of the way that Jarrod wanted,” I smile at Barb and Luke.  “I bought a new place for the girls and me and moved almost a month ago now.  I went out one night with my two greatest friends, who just happen to be the other birthday people,” I smile at Annie and Michael, “and you know what her little ass did to me?” I smile at the thought of what happened, “she pushed me into the most eligible bachelor on the planet.” I glance at Jake.  “Now little did I know that he would turn out to be one of the greatest guys I have ever met.  This year I decided that I have reason to celebrate not only because I have taken that step to move forward with my life, but because everyone around me has told me that if I don’t allow myself to move forward with him, then I am crazy.  Although little does everyone here know, he is sometimes a little overwhelming,” I wink at him.  “Now, please let’s have a good night, no more fighting and no more crazy people.”

“Here here,” I hear Lucas yell from next to Jake and everyone raises their glasses again.  I walk down from the stage and hug Annie and Michael.

“I hate you sometimes,” I whisper to her.

“I know,” she smiles.  “You did great.”

“Your turn now?”

“Oh no,” she laughs.  “Time for the DJ to start now,” she looks up at him and nods.  Just like that the lights go down and he starts some music. She grabs my arm and walks back toward the bathroom with me.  “So what’s up between you and Jake?”

“What do you mean?”

“You seem overly happy.”

“Annie I am happy.  We are in a good place right now.”

“How are the house plans?”

“Good.”

“Are you still waiting to move in with him?”

“Yes, I can’t move into a house that isn’t built yet Annie.”

“I know,” she smiles.  “I'm so happy for you Jo.  You are truly happy and I love that.”

“Thanks,” I pull her into a hug.  “Let’s celebrate,” I smile.

“Yes please,” she grabs my hand and pulls me to the bar and orders us each a shot.