Chapter 43 Careful
Chapter forty-three
Careful
Beau
“What the hell happened?” I ask as I walk into urgent care to find Jo lying in the bed with a small sling on her arm.
She holds it up. “I sprained my wrist.”
“How did you sprain your wrist at girls’ night?”
Looking embarrassed, she replies, “I may have tried to do a backflip off the back of the couch.”
“Why?” That’s the only question I can think to ask.
“We were pretending to be the Spice Girls.”
“Okay, now I have even more questions.”
Before I can ask any of them, Jack and Liz walk in with their mom, Suzanne.
The matriarch of the family looks at me. “Beau, good to see you. I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Hi, Suzanne,” I reply with a small nod.
Jo’s other sisters walk in, but upon seeing their mom, they attempt to turn right back around.
“Freeze!” Suzanne calls. She looks at all of them with their short dresses and heels. “Why do all of you look like you’re twenty-one, heading out to the club? You know what, I don’t even want to know. What I do want to know is why you let your baby sister do something so bone headed.”
They all look back and forth at each other.
Ronnie finally speaks. “She said she could do it. We thought it would be good for the music video."
Suzanne raises an eyebrow. “Music video?”
They all fall silent again.
Suzanne says, “Here’s what’s going to happen.
Jo, you’re going to go home with Beau. He’s going to make sure you don’t do anything else stupid.
And I’m assuming that you’re not going to be much use to Jack at the shop with a sprained wrist, so you’ll come help out at the bar.
Your dad and I have to go out of town this weekend, so you can hold down the fort. ”
I can tell Jo wants to argue, but she thinks better of it.
Exactly, how drunk is she?
***
When I have Jo safely back at my place and laying in bed, I bring her a large glass of water and some aspirin.
“Thank you, baby,” she says. I’m wondering if she’s still drunk because she’s never called me by a pet name before.
“How’s the wrist?” I ask.
“It’s okay. I didn’t even really feel it when it happened. I guess it was adrenaline.”
“Or tequila.” I wink.
“Thank you for coming to get me. You’re pretty great.”
“Jo, sweetheart, I’ll always take care of you. No matter what. But I need you to be a little more careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean maybe don’t do backflips off couches when you’re drunk.”
She looks utterly confused by my words.
“Jo, I want to spend my life with you. To do that, I need you not to take yourself out. You’re precious cargo to me.”
She mulls over my words, and her expression is impossible to read.
I add, “I’m not trying to control you. I just worry about you.”
“I’ve never had a guy worry about me like that,” she says.
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Beau, I went skydiving once, and my boyfriend at the time didn’t even care that I didn’t tell him. He told me he was happy to get a night off with his boys.”
Hearing how other guys treated her makes my blood boil.
“Jo, you’re amazing. I love that you’re spontaneous and a little crazy. But maybe think a little before making decisions. Think would this make Beau have heart palpitations?”
“Okay, I promise.”
I don’t know how serious she is, but I can tell she’s ready to change the subject when she says, “Now, how about I show you my appreciation for you being so great? Or rather, how about I show your cock?’
As much as I know we need to continue this conversation, I know now isn’t the time. She’s still drunk.
But soon enough, it’s going to have to happen.