From Now On (5 page)

             
Jo would be surprised if she ever saw him again.

             
Men like him did not seek out women like her. And after what happened Friday night, she knew she had gone too far. He would not want to hang out with her again.

             
It was okay. Jo was used to rejection.

             
Jo focused on the computer and was in the middle of drafting a report on the health insurance the company provided for most of its employees when there was a knock on her door.

             
“Come in,” she called absently, expecting the mail clerk or one of the interns with a message from Kathleen. Instead, Mark poked his head into the room.

             
“You busy?”

             
Her chin jerked up at the sound of his voice and her hands automatically went to smooth the lines of her suit jacket. “No, not really.”

             
Mark walked into the room and held up a bag that released a delicious aroma as it moved through the air. “I thought maybe we could have lunch.”

             
“You want to have lunch with me?”

             
“Yeah,” Mark said, running his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. “After the way I took off Friday, I kind of wanted to make it up to you.”

             
“You don’t have to do that.”

             
“Yes, I do,” he insisted. “I was rude and I am really sorry.”

             
Jo stood and crossed in front of her desk. “I pushed you to talk about something you made it clear you did not want to talk about. So I figure I kind of deserved what I got.”

             
He shook his head. “No, no one deserves rudeness.” He held up the bag then, waving it gently between them. “So, I brought burritos from that place up the street. I hear they’re really good.”

             
“The best,” Jo said with a groan of pleasure. “And if you have the chicken and rice one in there, I will be your best friend for life.”

             
“Then I guess it’s both our lucky day.”

             
They had lunch again on Thursday. The memory of the easy conversation between them helped make the rest of the afternoon pass with ease despite the long, uncomfortable meal with her mother and Emily she had to look forward to that night.

             
Jo finished up her work for the day and turned off the computer with an exhausted groan. She slipped into her shoes and stood, gathering her bag, her cell phone, and a few folders containing statistics and figures she wanted to go over that night before a meeting in the morning. She glanced out the window and watched the sun slide down in the sky behind the high rises scattered across downtown. Another long day finished.

             
At the elevator, Jo jabbed the down button and leaned against the wall as she waited. A voice behind her snickered.

             
“Hey, Jo.”

             
Jo turned and found herself face to face with Becca, another coworker. Jo forced a smile and wished the elevator would hurry.

             
“So, did you hear that Kathleen is thinking of promoting one of us?”

             
“Is that right?”

             
“Yeah. She needs someone to take over Kurt’s job.”

             
Suddenly interested, Jo straightened. “What happened to Kurt?”

             
“Didn’t you hear?” Becca asked with a false bit of contrition. “His wife left him, so he’s decided to move back home to Tennessee.”

             
“That’s too bad.”

             
Becca shrugged. “Things happen.” She reached over to the elevator buttons and pressed the down button even though it was already lit. “But that means his job is open and only you and I are qualified to fill it. And it comes with a healthy jump in pay and a bonus.”

             
“When will Kathleen make her choice?”

             
Becca gestured toward Kathleen’s office in the distant corner. “I hear she’s planning on making the announcement sometime next week. But you shouldn’t get your hopes up.”

             
Jo pulled her files closer against her chest, aware that Becca wanted her to ask and that she shouldn’t give her the satisfaction, but she was unable to resist. “Why not?”

             
“Well, it’s hard for everyone to miss that great looking guy who’s been hanging out in your office lately. But obviously you haven’t noticed that Kathleen has a thing for him.”

             
“For who?”

             
Becca laughed. “How many men have you had in your office lately? Or ever?”

             
Jo bit her lip, the sight of Mark sitting casually on the couch in her office flitting through her mind. “That shouldn’t have any bearing on anything.”

             
“Yeah, well, it does.” The elevator doors opened then and Becca walked through them, pausing for a second to look at Jo over her shoulder. “No hard feelings, Jo? You probably wouldn’t have done well in that job anyway. It requires that you get along with all the people who would be under you and, let’s face it, no one around here really likes you all that much.”

             
Then the doors closed and Becca was gone.

             
Jo walked into the restaurant, ten minutes late. Emily glanced up when Jo slid into an empty chair, but her mother did not acknowledge her at all. Jo caught the attention of a nearby waiter and asked for a glass of red wine, a merlot that she knew was the restaurant’s house wine. He told her he wasn’t her waiter. Jo had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something unpleasant in a harsh undertone, not that it would have made much difference.

             
When the right waiter finally made his appearance, Jo had decided to ask for the whole bottle. She deserved some oblivion tonight.

             
“Bad day?” Emily asked as Jo poured her second glass.

             
“You can say that.”

             
“It’s that job. You should have gone into sales, like I told you,” her mother said.

             
“My degree is in sociology and business administration, mother. Human resources is a better fit.”

             
“But in sales, you would have met more people and would be married by now.”

             
“Not to mention the discounts I could have gotten for you if I had gotten that job at Versace like you wanted.”

             
Jo’s mother just waved her hand, not even denying what she had just said. Jo took a long swallow from her wine glass. Emily shot her a sympathetic look that took a little of the sting out. For the moment.

             
“So Emily and Ryan have set a date,” mother announced.

             
Jo looked at Emily. “Really? That’s great.”

             
Emily stared down at her wine glass, a dark blush coloring her lightly tanned cheeks. A bad feeling began to worm its way up Jo’s spine as she looked at her sister. She knew there was something going on she wouldn’t like. She didn’t have long to wait to find out what it was.

             
“It’s May 10
th
,” mother announced.

             
Jo looked sharply at her mother, then at Emily. Emily continued to stare at her wine, fidgeting in her seat like a two year old in time out.

             
“But that’s my birthday.”

             
“We know that,” mother announced. “But it was the only date in May the Imperial could handle the reception. You know everyone who is anyone has their reception at the Imperial.”

             
“I told mother it didn’t have to be in May,” Emily said quietly. “Or at the Imperial.”

             
“But May is a prime social month. The only thing better would have been June, but everyone is booked solid that month, including the Imperial.”

             
“But August—”

             
“No one gets married in August, Emily,” mother said.

             
Jo took another long swallow of her wine, her head spinning with this news. It shouldn’t have surprised her. Her mother had never really cared how Jo felt about much of anything, as long as she signed those monthly support checks. But Emily—

             
“I’m sorry, Jo.” Emily looked up, tears clinging to the ends of her long, thick eyelashes.

             
Suddenly, the anger melted. Emily was her little sister, her best friend. How could she be mad at Emily for not standing up to their mother when Jo had never really shown her how?

             
Jo reached across the table and took Emily’s hand in hers. “It’ll be a beautiful wedding,” she assured her.

             
Emily smiled a grateful smile.

             
A headache pounding at her temples, Jo stumbled out to her car early the following morning. She wasn’t sure if the headache was caused more by the wine she had drunk or the conversation with her mother. Not that it mattered all that much. Her whole life was one headache after another.

             
And, as if to illustrate what she was thinking, Jo’s car refused to start.

             
“Oh, come on,” she sighed. She turned the key again and again, getting the same result. What is it they say? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Then Jo must have lost her mind a long time ago.

             
Finally accepting that the car was not going to start, no matter how many times she tried to crank the engine, Jo pulled out her cell phone and called the garage. They could come get it, but not for an hour. By the time Jo got to work, she had missed two meetings and the beginning of a third. Therefore her headache, rather than getting better as the day passed, only grew worse.

             
When Mark walked into her office at lunchtime, Jo had her head on the desk.

             
“Bad day?”

             
“Bad life,” she mumbled.

             
“It can’t be that bad.”

             
“Worse.”

             
Jo sat up and squinted against the light coming in through the window. “Headache,” she said, gesturing vaguely toward her temple.

             
“Close your eyes.” Mark dropped a bag of food on her desk and came around behind her. “Let me help.”

             
“Are you a holistic healer in your spare time?”

             
“No. But you learn a few tricks when you travel the world in the military.”

             
Mark cupped her chin and gently pulled her head back against the headrest of her chair. He slid his fingers lightly up her jaw, up her cheeks, until they were pressed firmly, but not too tightly, against her temple. He began to rub in gentle circles, applying just enough pressure to create a delicious friction against her skin. Jo felt her shoulders begin to relax, her facial muscles, her jaw. It was heavenly.

             
“Try to clear your mind,” Mark’s voice said just above her head. “Think about something pleasant, something that brings you pleasure.”

             
“I’m not sure I could think at all at the moment.”

             
She heard amusement in Mark’s voice when he said, “That’s good.”

             
Jo groaned, wishing he would never stop. But of course, nothing lasts forever. After a few minutes, Mark pulled away.

             
“How’s that feel?”

             
“Good,” Jo said, squinting at him as he crossed in front of her desk.

             
“You know, it might help if you loosened your hair a little,” he said, indicating her braid. “It seems awful tight.”

             
“You think?” Jo asked, reaching up to touch it.

             
“It couldn’t hurt.”