Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (42 page)

“He knows that.  I think that is why he is freaking out about it right now, because he knows that it won’t change.  You know you are going to be buried in paper work for a few weeks so that should give him time to cool down about it.”

“Yeah, have you talked to Chief?”

“Yeah he called me this morning.  One week out,” he smiles at me.

“I figured,” I sigh.  “I am glad it isn’t longer.”

“Yeah, me too.  He put me in charge of your damn paper work,” he teases.  “No wonder he promoted you to get rid of it.  Do you know how many reports you have to fill out if someone gets hurt on the job?”

“He is making you fill that out?”

“Yes, because he is busy with some internal affairs reports on a snitch in the department.  We almost didn’t get them Saturday because someone ratted us out.”

“You have got to be kidding?”

“Nope, someone on Captain Williams’ team.”

“Poor Chief,” I laugh.  I have a shot of pain go down my arm.

“You need to rest,” Ryan looks at me.  “Did they give you something for the pain?”

“Yeah, but I need the nurse to be made aware I'm taking it,” I press my call button.  Not long after a nurse comes in the room.

“What can I do for you dear?”  She walks over to me.

“She needs to take something for the pain,” Ryan says before I have a chance.  I just smile and shake my head.  “Sorry,” he laughs.

“Ok,” she looks my chart up on the computer.  “Looks like the doctor gave you some pills,” she looks at the table.  “Here we go,” she grabs them.  “I think one should do just fine.  I will get you some fresh water.”

“Thank you,” I smile.  “And thanks Ryan.  You’re a great friend.”

“I try,” he laughs.  “I am going to get Molly and head out.  I have to help Lucas out for a couple hours this afternoon.  Will you move out of the duplex so I can move out of your brother’s place,” he jokes.

“Soon enough,” I smile at him.

“Ok,” he shakes his head.  “I will talk to you later,” he kisses my cheek and heads for the door.  He meets the nurse coming back in.

“So this is going to make you sleepy,” she hands me the water and pill that she took out of the jar.  “I assume you have people coming up to see you this afternoon.”

“I'm sure people will be in and out all day,” I smile.

“Ok,” she smiles.  “I won’t keep them out, but will tell them not to expect much.”

“Perfect,” I smile.  I take the pill and adjust a little.  She moves the pillow that Jake put by my back so I could sit up.  I relax back into the bed and decide to turn on the TV.  I wonder if Jake is still talking to Molly and now Ryan in the hall.  I am watching the news reports when I see my face flash on the screen.

In news from Baltimore, it looks like a local detective was shot while taking down one of the biggest drug cartels in the area.  Her name is Detective Jodene Lewis and she has made her way around the airways the last couple weeks.  She is the new girlfriend of Baltimore’s star quarterback Jackson Adams.  We heard that she was shot in the shoulder and is in stable condition at a local hospital.  Hats off to Jackson for being able to handle that.  I don’t know that I would be able to deal with my girlfriend getting shot at.  But she did take down a drug cartel so maybe he will let this one slide.

I shake my head, I hope they focus on something new pretty soon, I am so over seeing my face on TV.  I close my eyes and listen to some report about a fire on the west coast.

“Ryan said they just gave her some pain meds so she is probably going to be sleeping soon,” I hear Jake’s voice.

“She text me,” Annie tells him.  I lay there as still as possible.  I don’t know if they are in the room but I don’t chance looking because I want to hear what they say.

“I know, she bitched me out when I came back in.”

“Why do you do that to her Jake?  She loves you; she is fragile in this type of situation.  Jarrod may be gone but she is still stuck on him.  It is hard for her to move on.”

“I know, but I just can’t handle not knowing if she is going to stay with me or if she is going to decide my life is too much for her.”

“What more do you want from her?  She has turned her life upside down for you.  She would never do the stuff for any guy that she has done for you.  Do you know how freaked out she was about you meeting the girls?  She was with you for one day.  I think that takes a lot of trust.  And then she goes down to your friends place for four days with you.  I mean think about it Jake.”

“What worries me is that she will get the bad end of my life and not give us a fighting chance.”

“Isn’t that what you are doing with her right now?  Aren’t you pushing her away because you are pissed about her career choice?  You think that you walking in here telling her that she needs to give up something that she has fought so hard to get is going to make her happy?”

“I know, but I can provide for her and the girls with no problems, I don’t see any reason for her to risk her life like that.”

“What is this really about Jake?”

“This is my fault.”

“What is?

“Her lying here in this bed with a bullet hole in her shoulder.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because I gave her the ok to help my stupid ass brother.  I should have told her no.  I should have just let his dumb ass rot in jail.”

“I hate to tell you, but whether you would have given her permission or not she would have done it.  Don’t blame yourself.  What you need to do is tell her how you feel about things and stop hiding stuff from her.  She knows me too damn good and knows when I know things.”  It is getting harder for me to focus on what they say and finally I stop fighting and slip off into a sleep.

~~~~~

I hear the TV on and open my eyes.  I see Jake sitting on the chair next to me his hand on my leg and his head resting on his arm.  I try to process what I heard him and Annie talking about.  He is scared I won’t like his life but there will be nothing different except he will be gone more.  I have already experienced the media end of it.  I look up at the TV and see that he has some sports highlights on.  I smile.  Damn men and their sports.

“Maybe you should put that sports room back in the house,” I say.  He looks up at me and gives me a half smile.  “I'm not big into watching sports highlights all day.”

“You were sleeping.”

“Pain meds kick my ass,” I smile.

“I’ve noticed,” he rubs my leg a little bit.  “Feel better?”

“For now.”

“The doctor stopped while you were napping.  He will be back soon; he wants you to get up and walking around.”  I just nod.  I don’t know what to say to him.  “Annie was up here too, but you were passed out before she got in here.”

“Oh yeah, what did she have to say?”

“Oh not much.  Told me I'm a dumbass,” he stands up and sits down on the bed next to me.  He reaches across and grabs my hand.  “I'm sorry, ok?  I freaked out a little bit and I know it was not something you wanted to hear.  I just worry about you.  I love you, it is natural that I want to protect you in any way that I can.”

“I know, but you need to understand I will never give up my career.  I will never live off of your money Jake.  Even if we do get married,” I pause.  “Married? Really?”

He smiles, “someday I will make you Mrs. Jackson Adams,” he smiles and kisses my palm.  “I know we are not ready for that part yet.”             

“Yeah, let’s get through a few things first,” I smile.  “Jake, I love you.  I do want to be with you.  And that isn’t going to change.  I heard what you said to Annie.  First off, your life is not going to make me not want to be with you.  I decided that once I was in I was in.  I'm not going back.  As far as this being your fault, it’s not.  I would have helped Lewis without your permission.  This was just something that happens every once and a while.  I will be fine.  I promise I will be careful.  I will however not take a desk job.  This case was different.  I would have never taken this case in any other circumstance.  I don’t usually handle things like this.”

He looks at me, “I love you.”  He leans in and kisses me.  “Thank you for putting up with me.”

“You’re the easy one to deal with,” I smile at him.

“No, you know what you want; I'm the one having the problems.”

“Stop,” I look at him.  “We both know what we want.  We just need to make sure we know and let each other know.”

~~~~~

“Yes mom, he said I can go home tonight.  He thought I would have more problems getting around after lying in bed for two days.”  I am on the phone with her.

“Well is Jake taking you home then?”

“Yes, and he is going to stay at the house with me until Wednesday when he leaves for Denver.”

“Good.  Do you want me to bring the girls over to see you?”

“I probably won’t get home until closer to like 8:00 so no.  They need to get to bed early so they can go to school in the morning.  Did you get all of their stuff?”

“Yes, it is all taken care of.  Do you want me to pick you up in the morning before I drop them off?”

“Yes, I have to sign some papers I think for them anyways.  I did call the school last week and they said I had some stuff to take care of.”

“Ok, well I will see you in the morning then?”

“Sounds good, thanks mom.”

“No problem sweetie.  Go home and rest.”

“I will,” I smile and hang up.  I look at Jake who is standing in the door way waiting for the nurse to come in with my release papers.  He insisted on staying at the house with me until he leaves and was not going to take no for an answer. 

“She should be back in a couple minutes,” he walks over to me.  I am sitting on the edge of the bed.  “Ready to go home?”

“Well, I'm not going to miss this bed if that is what you are asking,” I laugh.

“I bet not,” he kisses my cheek.

“I'm glad I get to go home tonight so that I can take the girls to school in the morning,” I stand up and walk to the window. 

“I wish you would reconsider and stay with your mom for the week after I leave.”

“Jake, her house is not big enough.”

“Why don’t you let Molly stay with you then?”

“I will be fine by myself.  All I have to do is make myself some food and do the exercises the doctor told me to.  Besides, I will have a ton of people in and out of the house I am sure.”

“I bet you will.  What are you going to do next week?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to have the girls come home?”

“Well yes, I am going back to work next Monday you know that right?”

“How can you go back to work already?  Doesn’t your arm have to heal before you can go trying to shoot people up again?”

“Jake, I have a lot of paper work and this case will be caught up in court for at least a month.  I will get called to testify and all sorts of fun stuff.”

“I like the idea of paperwork, it keeps you off the streets,” he smiles.

I just roll my eyes.  I hear the nurse push a wheelchair in.  “All right Ms. Lewis, I just need you to sign some paperwork and you are all set to go home,” she smiles at me.

“Perfect,” I sit back down on the edge of the bed while she goes over all the paperwork.  She goes over what the doctor wants me to do.  Keeping my arm in the sling through Tuesday and then seeing my doctor Tuesday afternoon.  After that I should start exercising it and making sure that I will have full strength and movement back in it. 

“Any questions?”  She asks.

“No, I think that is everything.”

“When will she be able to drive?”  Jake walks across the room.

“As long as she doesn’t take any pain medication she is able to drive using the other arm, but obviously we don’t suggest taking the pill then driving.”

“Of course not!” I laugh.

“Well, I just need you to sign and you are free to go,” she smiles and shows me where to sign the paperwork.  After everything is signed I get in the wheel chair and we go down to Jake’s car.  I get in next to him and he smiles.

“I'm so happy you are out of there.  I am going to stop home and grab some stuff then we will go back to your place,” he smiles.

“Sounds good.”  I sit back in the seat and relax while he drives across town.  We get a couple blocks from his house and his phone rings.

“Hello?” he answers it.  “Oh hey Joan.”  He listens to her talk.  “Oh yeah, with Jo being in the hospital I had forgotten about that.  When is it again?”  He smiles at me.  “Yeah, I will be there.  I will see if Jo will be up to going.  Thanks for reminding me,” he laughs.  “Sounds good, bye.” He hangs up.

“What was that about?”

“Joan was calling to remind me about the Fundraiser Ball I have coming up in two weeks.  The entire team goes.”

“A ball?”

“Yes, a ball.  Fancy suits and dresses the whole thing,” he laughs.