Jo still hadn’t heard from Wes and it was now Thursday. She was honestly disappointed that he thought so little of her that he had just dropped her. Maybe he didn’t feel what she had felt on Saturday morning. Maybe all he had wanted was a little sugar, as her mom would say, and now that he’d been intimate with her he was moving on. It made Jo depressed that she had misinterpreted him so completely. She was suddenly very glad she hadn’t had sex with him.
Jo had been making some headway on her article. She’d had a few people that she’d contacted actually admitted that the plans for the housing units had gotten their zoning ordinances faster than usual. No one was willing to go on record though. She still hadn’t gotten the investor list in the mail yet.
One afternoon Jo drove past the work site surveying the area and personnel when she spotted the man that had slipped her the original note. She quickly pulled her car over and waited for an hour until work had ended for the day.
Jo followed the small truck the man was driving and when it pulled up outside of a bar in the next town Jo parked and hurried in after him. She entered the dimly lit bar and stood off to the side for a few seconds, watching as he ordered a beer at the bar. Jo walked up to him and laid a ten on the wooden bar telling the bartender his drink was on her. The tee shirt clad man turned to look at her and Jo could see he was shocked.
The man looked around nervously before looking back at her.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He spat out in a hard but hushed voice.
“I need to talk to you.” Jo said calmly.
“Not here. You’re going to get me fired, or worse.”
“When then?” Jo was like a dog with a bone when it came to a lead.
A group of similarly dressed men walked though the door sending the brilliant late afternoon sun slicing through the grungy bar.
The man moved quickly away from her and she knew she shouldn’t follow him. The men that walked in eyed her suspiciously. One of the larger men began to approach her so she quickly turned and walked out the front door. She was pissed, she needed to talk to the guy, he was her best chance at getting answers, but she didn’t want to get him fired, she needed to talk to him.
Jo heard the door open behind her and a male voice yelled out to her. “You need to mind your own business BJ Ross.”
Jo didn’t turn around, but continued walking to her car. When she was safely inside she saw that who ever had followed her out had gone back inside. Jo dug out a paper and pen from her purse and jotted her cell number on it. She quickly left her car and stuck the note into the crack of the drivers side window. She had folded it so that it would not be seen easily, except by the driver.
Satisfied that she may have made contact with the source, Jo headed home. She was so amped up and she knew she needed to run off her excessive energy. After changing into her shorts, tee shirt and grabbing her iPhone Jo knocked on Nick's door. He wasn’t home yet; she didn’t think he would be. It was only 5:30pm and Nick didn’t often get home until after 7:00pm. She decided to text him in case he tried to catch up to her.
Nick doing the Park route hope you had a good day!
Jo plugged into her iPhone tapped the start button on her Strava App as she jogged down her street. By the time Jo had reached the park she was dripping with sweat. There were more people out than the last time she was there, but as she headed onto the Park’s rougher uphill trails the people thinned out considerably. There were posted signs that the Park closed at dusk, but Jo figured since it was mid summer that she had a good two hours of daylight left.
As usual when Jo ran she cleared her head. She had made a mental list of things she needed to research for her investigation, her weekly household chores were already done, she wanted to check out a new website for musicians that she’d heard about hoping to get a lead on a new gig. Then Jo’s mind returned to Wes. She really missed him. In their short time together he had become a friend. It was still difficult to think about him without aching, His handsome face, his kisses, and the way he could make her body come alive, was all secondary compared to how much she truly missed his calls, his texts, and his company.
Jo pounded her frustration out on the dirt trail. When she came to the footbridge she was completely lost in thought, so when a heavy body knocked into her from behind she was stunned and totally unprepared. The attack was so swift that she had no time to react and she barreled head first over the small railroad tie perimeter. As she tumbled over the wooden bridge with no sides she screamed and tried unsuccessfully to right herself, her arms were flailing as she dropped the six feet into the running water below. Her head grazed a large rock jutting from the creek and Jo’s world went black.
Chapter 15
Jo
Someone was hovering over her and she was really, really cold and wet. An elderly man was shaking her shoulders frantically.
“Miss, Miss wake up. You gotta wake up I can’t move you from the water.”
She tried to focus, something was obscuring her vision and she hurt, badly. Slowly what had happened returned to her and she tried to move towards the bank, but she couldn't.
“Oh thank God. Missy you gotta get out of the water, your lips are blue.”
Jo tried to push away from the cold water, but realized her hands were numb from being in the chilly water, because she couldn’t feel her fingers. When she tried to move her frigid body she groaned in pain and the elderly man became even more anxious.
“I called the police. They’re on their way, but you’re freezing.” Jo could see that it was almost dark out, but she just couldn’t get her body to move. A four-wheeled ATV rattled over the wooden bridge and pulled to a stop on the trail just above where she lay. A Park Ranger hopped out carrying a med bag, which he dropped on the trail.
“I just found her down here.” The old man was saying. “She’s bleeding too.”
The Park Ranger knelt down in the cold water beside her.
“You’re getting wet.” Jo mumbled to him.
The Park Ranger chuckled. “Let's worry about you okay?”
Jo sent him a feeble smile.
After he thoroughly inspected her for broken bones and after she showed him that she could move her neck, arms and legs the Park Ranger lifted her from the cold stream, walked her up the steep embankment, and gently placed her on the side of the trail. He ran back to his ATV and returned with a silver thermal blanket, placing it around her.
“Thanks.” Jo said as her teeth chattered.
“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked as he cleaned her head wound.
“I was running and someone pushed me over the side of the bridge.”
“Well that wasn’t very nice.” The Ranger tried to keep her talking, but Jo’s eyes began to close.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
“Jo.” Jo’s head lolled back and she was out again.
The next time she awoke she was in the back of an ambulance. When she opened her eyes she moaned.
“Hey there.” A cheery EMT greeted her. “We’re almost at the hospital. You banged your head pretty good and if that man hadn’t found you when he did you could have gotten hypothermia. You’re lucky.”
Jo gave her a weak smile. “I don’t feel so lucky.” She groaned.
The EMT chuckled. “That’s good honey, keep talking. We understand you passed out after Ranger Ron fished you out of the creek.”
“Ranger Ron?”
“He’s a looker isn’t he? Been working that park for a year now. Came to us from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We had to take a survival course in June and he taught it. Easy on the eyes that one.”
Jo was barely following the chatty EMT’s conversation all she knew was her body ached and her head throbbed. The ambulance came to a stop and Jo saw the tell tale red light cutting through the dark sky and bouncing off the hospitals brick exterior
The chirpy EMT and another man, who Jo thought had probably been the driver, lifted her gurney from the back of the a
mbulance and rolled her into the Emergency Room Entrance. A nurse met them and directed them through a double door and to a curtained enclosed cubicle. The nurse passed the EMT an iPad that she was holding, and then she began to administer a battery of tests checking Jo for further injuries.
The nurse looked up from the iPad. “Name?”
“Betty Jo Ross” The EMT typed in her answer on the iPad.
The nurse ran through the regular host of questions, birth date, and she finished by asking if she could call anyone for her.
Jo shook her head. She knew her parents were visiting her Aunt and Uncle in Ohio and she didn’t want to pull Lou away from Pete for some bumps and bruises. The nurse finished her questions just as a doctor came into the curtained room. He checked the iPad that the nurse had been using.
“Hi Betty Jo.” The doctor said as he used a pen on her eyes. “I’m Dr. Chase. Can you tell me what happened?”
Jo repeated what she had told Ranger Ron as the doctor poked and prodded her. Satisfied that nothing was broken Dr. Chase wrote something on the iPad with a small pen, handed it back to the nurse and looked back to Jo.
“Well I’m going to close that head wound with skin glue and add a few steri-strips, but I won’t have to shave you.”
Jo felt a lump clog her throat as she mumbled, “Shave?”
“No we won’t have to shave you. The wounds close to the hair line, but I think we can save that pretty hair.” He said kindly. The doctor continued talking.
“Nothing's broken but you are pretty badly bruised and you’re going to be really sore for a good week.”
Jo nodded already feeling achy.
“I’m going to prescribe you something for the pain and you’re going to have to spend the night here unless there is someone we can send you home with.”
Jo realized she hadn’t seen her iPhone since the accident. She was sure it had gotten wet in the creek and was probably dead now. She‘d have to buy another one. That was an expense she didn’t need right now.
“Can I call my neighbor?”
“Sure will they be willing to check in on you?”
“Yes.” Jo said hoping Nick was available.
The doctor wrote out a prescription for her and told the nurse to call him if someone came to take her home. He then told Jo that if she was still here in an hour he was finding her a room.
Jo called Nick using a hospital phone and it went right to voice mail. She left him a message saying that she was at General and if he could, she would appreciate it if he would come to get her.
Nick never came and at 11:00pm Dr. Chase had Jo transferred to a room. Jo had been given hospital scrubs to change into and when she was moved into the standard room she fell asleep immediately. Unfortunately because she had a head injury a nurse woke her every two hours, so any rest she got came in small intervals.
Jo woke once again to the nurse checking her eyes once more. She asked Jo how she was feeling and Jo replied honestly that she was pretty sore.
“Can I go home today?” She asked.
“Yup Dr. Chase said as soon as you want, as long as you aren’t dizzy.”
“Nope not dizzy.” Jo said giving the nurse a little smile.
“I have a note out at the desk that an Officer Cook would like you to call him when you are feeling better.”
Jo nodded. “Okay thanks.” Poor Officer Cook had been saddled with her case. She felt sorry for him and she knew she would not call him, hoping to save him from any scrutiny from his police brothers.
“Also Ranger Ron called. He said he found your phone, but it's water logged and the screen is smashed. He said to tell you he was giving it to the police.”
"Crumb." Jo said out loud. She couldn't afford another phone right now. The kindly nurse patted her arm and left the room. Jo turned the morning news on waiting for breakfast. She was going to have to call a cab company to get home. Jo felt sorry for herself that she really had no one to call and in that lucid moment she had a mind-blowing epiphany. She had spent seven years, pouring everything she had into her job at the paper, forgoing any semblance of a normal social life, and what did she have to show for all her sacrifice and hard work? Nothing. She had nothing, no best friends she could call on, and now no job. She had her family and she had a good neighbor, but that was it. The thought sobered her.
Jo used the bathroom and got back into her bed. She turned on the television that was mounted up on the wall. A news anchor was revealing that the mega movie star, Ginger Lola, who was in the area shooting a scene for a movie, has a new love interest. The first clip played and Jo couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Ginger was posing for the paparazzi as bright camera lights flashed around her, but it was the man standing in the background that caught Jo’s attention. Wes stood off to the side smiling at Ginger as she worked the crowd. He looked sinfully hot, dressed in his business suit; his handsome face showed a sexy growth of stubble on it and his light green tie accented his eyes making them noticeably stand out.
Another clip played, this one showed Wes carrying Ginger through a hotels posh lobby. Ginger may have been drunk, but her hand was wound possessively through Wes' dark hair, the same hair that Jo had loved to run her own fingers through.
The anchorwoman then revealed the couple was currently relaxing at a spa in Arizona and that an anonymous source had given Channel 2 another, more intimate video of the star and her new love interest. More footage played on the screen and it was apparent that this video was not professionally taken, judging by the jerky video, it was probably shot on a cell phone. Ginger waved at the person videoing her and then walked saucily forward so her face was close to the camera. She said in a sexy, whispery voice, “Want to meet my new man?” Ginger then turned away from the camera and walked up to a large man whose back was turned to her, but who Jo recognized immediately as Wes. Ginger looked back at the camera following her every move, pointed at Wes’ back and said quietly, ‘He’s hot and he’s all mine.”
Jo saw Wes turn towards the star and then as if her heart had not been trampled enough she watched as Ginger wrapped Wes up in her thin arms planting a kiss on his lips. The video cut and froze at the precise moment leaving Jo and everyone else viewing the broadcast to see Wes lip locked with the beautiful Ginger Lola.
The news cut back to the anchorwoman telling the viewers that Ginger would be in town for at least another week and that her ‘mystery man love interest’ was her personal bodyguard, Wes Tobin. She then made a reference to the movie The Body Guard, and her co-anchor interjected what a handsome couple they made and they wished them all the best.
Holy Shit! Wes was with Ginger Lola. Tears streamed down Jo’s cheeks. She was done with men. She couldn’t handle this crap. How could he have led her on like that? Why would he do this? Why would he be with her when Ginger was at his beck and call? That niggle of doubt that had been plaguing Jo turned out to be her women’s intuition kicking in. Yeah, he had been working all right. What a fool she had been.
Jo clicked off the television and wiped her eyes just as breakfast was being served. She did not even open the lid covering the plate on her tray. She had completely lost her appetite. Jo climbed out of the bed grimacing in pain and used the hospital given comb and toothbrush to make herself presentable. She was just getting ready to call the cab company when Nick flew through her door.
“Holy smokes Jo what the hell?” He was looking her over, head to toe and Jo knew she looked pretty bad from the look on Nick’s face.
“I’m okay.” She said wearily.
“You don’t look okay.”
“Thanks.” Jo said sarcastically.
“What happened?”
Nick thank you for coming.” Jo said as she placed her hand on his arm. “But can I tell you on the way home? You can drive me home right?”
“Yeah, come on.” Nick put his arm around her and Jo moaned as he touched her hip. “Oh man you are really hurt.” He said sadly. He gently tucked her under his arm and kissed her he
ad.
The orderly arrived with a wheelchair and a pair of paper shoes. Her own sneakers were still wet. There was a policy that all patients left in wheelchairs so Jo sat and Nick wheeled her.
As they entered the main lobby the television over the reception desk was showing the story about Ginger and Wes again. Nick stopped short as he watched the news piece. When the segment finished he knelt down next to Jo who was looking at the floor. She couldn’t bring herself to watch it again.
“I’ve seen it.” Jo said through tears that had started up again.
“Oh baby I’m sorry.” Nick kissed her head again and started to once again wheel her out. “That rat bastard, I knew he was trouble.” Nick was steaming mad.
“No it’s fine Nick. We went on two dates. It’s no big deal, really.”
“I thought you liked him Jo? Like really liked him.”
Jo groaned as the morning sun hit her eyes. “I did like him, a lot but you know me I always fall faster than I should. Can we change the subject please?” Jo hated being this way with Nick but she couldn’t talk about Wes any more. He had totally stomped on her self-esteem and she needed to get over him, fast.
On the drive back to Jo’s house she filled Nick in on her accident. He was worried for her and told her so. Jo confided to him that she was pretty concerned now too. She told Nick that maybe she was rattling the right cages regarding her new investigative piece. Nick asked what the story was about, but Jo told him she couldn’t share just yet. He implored her to be careful and Jo could see he was genuinely concerned.
Nick had to go to work but he told her he’d call her later. Jo explained that her phone had gone into the creek with her so she wouldn’t be taking any calls. Nick didn’t look too happy with that info and he told Jo he would take her to get a new phone when he got off of work. She didn't have the energy to explain that she couldn't afford one.
One Tough Love Page 10
