Part 10 (2/2)
”You can't shut me out.”
”I have to,” Madeline said, the defeat evident in her tone. ”Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.”
”If that's how you want it,” Jo replied and left the office.
Stopping in the hallway, she tried to steady her breath. There was no logical explanation for how her heart raced when she saw Madeline or how her entire body tingled when she smelled her perfume.
One day she would be strong, not give all this another thought. Jo Carson was not the type of woman to throw herself at the feet of someone who did not want her nor the kind to get involved in an inappropriate work affair. Now, however, she could not be here.
She approached Ian's door, knocked and stood in his doorway until he glanced up from his computer.
”Good morning, Jo.” Even though he smiled, the stress and worry remained evident in his eyes.
”Good morning, Ian.” Jo attempted to return his smile.
”What can I do for you?” he asked.
”I think I need to work from home today,” she said, knowing she shouldn't press her luck, but also knowing if she spent one more second here, she would go crazy.
”Is everything okay?” The genuine concern in his voice reminded Jo that she wasn't entirely alone in this world, even if it felt like it.
”I'm fine,” she managed. ”I'm just exhausted and need to catch up on a few things. Now that the mayor is staying at a hotel, I can put my life back in order. I'll be back in tomorrow.”
”Take the time you need,” he rea.s.sured her. ”I appreciate all you've done. Go take care of whatever you need to do.”
Jo nodded her head and, with a last fleeting glance toward Madeline's closed door, she forced herself to walk away.
Gabe was waiting for her at the end of the hallway. He obviously wanted to know what was wrong, but she wasn't ready to talk about it yet-or ever. Even so, she valued his friends.h.i.+p.
”What's up, Gabe?” she asked, walking toward him.
”Want to get out of here for a little while? I thought maybe we could grab something at the coffee shop and talk about everything.”
Without thinking, Jo glanced back toward Madeline's office. ”Actually, I was just...um...going to go home for a bit,” she stammered.
”Come on, it'll be good for you to clear your head with conversation over a bagel. Then you can go home.”
”You might just be right,” Jo agreed.
As they walked to the coffee shop across from the office, Gabe began asking his questions.
”Are you and the mayor still getting along?”
”Of course,” Jo answered, a little too quickly perhaps. ”I mean, she's a great person, a great mayor. I was just trying to be there for my boss when she needed someone.”
”Was?” Gabe asked, noting her use of past tense.
”Yes. She's staying at a hotel now.”
”Well, that's good,” Gabe commented, nodding his head as if in thought. ”How'd you make it work while she was there, though? Isn't your place pretty small?”
His tone was neutral, but that didn't stop Jo from feeling like she was on trial for some crime.
”It's small, but we made it work.” Jo added, a slight edge to her voice, ”I had my own s.p.a.ce, and so did she.”
Gabe took a step back and stared at her. ”Why are you acting so defensive?”
”I'm not,” Jo retorted before realizing that he had pegged her att.i.tude correctly. She turned to face him. ”I'm sorry. It's just that it's all been so stressful lately. I need a break-from the millions of questions and the scrutiny.”
”You took the mayor home with you, Jo.” Gabe's voice was gentle but matter-of-fact. ”Of course there's scrutiny. What did you expect?”
”Friends.h.i.+p and a little privacy would have been nice,” Jo shot back.
Gabe sighed and shook his head. ”We work for the mayor. Privacy is out the window when you work in politics. You should know that.”
Jo shook her head. She was sick of the questions and the curious glances she was getting over and over. n.o.body could accept the fact that she had been the one there when Madeline fell apart and that, up until last night, she had been the glue holding Madeline together.
”You know, I don't think I want anything from the coffee shop. I think our little talk is done.” Jo spun around to walk back to her car.
”Jo, come on. Let me explain.” Gabe grabbed her arm, pleading.
”Don't touch me,” she responded, quietly but with enough intensity to stop him in his tracks. She was halfway down the block when she heard him start to follow her.
”Jo, stop,” he called out, chasing her down the street.
Fine, Jo thought. She would stop. She would hear him try to defend his asinine remarks, and then he would hear her out, loud and clear.
She stopped and turned around, throwing her hands in the air. ”What, Gabe? What is it you have to say?”
”I was just asking why you two have become inseparable. Why she no longer engages with the rest of her staff. I wanted to know why it has been that way since we got the news. Or was, until today. Today you and Madeline have been acting strange, and your 'save the day' mission is complete. I want to know what the h.e.l.l is going on, and why everything is suddenly better. That's all.”
”Really? Because it seemed like you were jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else.” She changed her voice to imitate her colleagues. ”Why Jo? Jo isn't even one of us yet. She's new and young and doesn't know what's going on here. Why doesn't Madeline turn to someone who has been around for a while? I think Jo's just sucking up. Don't you think it's suspicious how the mayor needs someone like Jo to help her out?”
Gabe had stepped back, but Jo continued to unleash her pent-up fury on him. ”What the h.e.l.l was I supposed to do, Gabe? Huh? The woman was in pain. Did you have any suggestions then? Do you have any now? No, you didn't and you don't. And neither do any of the other nosy staffers. You don't care about Madeline. All you care about is who gets the most of her attention, who is on the inside track to follow in her footsteps. Well, f.u.c.k you all!”
She wanted to rein in the anger in her voice, but she was past the point of no return. ”By the way, I think the spot for her go-to person is now vacant. So good luck. Go in there and fight for her attention like the rest of the vultures. I'm done with this bulls.h.i.+t. All I want to do is get back to my own life and my career.”
Jo stopped to take a breath.
”Besides which, maybe you should take a minute to realize that this is a woman's life-a woman who doesn't have real friends as a necessity. She keeps everyone at an arm's length. I haven't figured out if it's because of the job or because she just doesn't want to get stabbed in the back, but she doesn't have a support group. Her father is too old, too distant, too wrapped up in his own world to get it. He hasn't even called her. Neither has her sister, who's off on some world cruise or something. She's alone, Gabe. Realize, when you're in there battling over who gets her attention, that it's not about you or your career.”
Jo waited for a response. If Gabe had anything more to say, she was willing to hear it. He didn't even budge, though. He just stared at his wingtips, a chagrined look on his face.
There's nothing quite as uns.e.xy as a weak man, Jo thought. Not that she regularly thought of men as s.e.xy in the first place-but weak ones were the worst.
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