Chapter 45 Typical Jo, Typical Beau
Chapter forty-five
Typical Jo, Typical Beau
Beau
After getting almost no sleep last night, I am in the middle of a shitty day at work. Jo and I have fought before plenty of times, but there was something about this one that felt very different.
I considered going after her, but I think both of us were too mad for it to do any good.
Chances were, we would have just kept fighting and making things worse. I know Jo, and I know she would've dug in her heels.
I figure when I get off work today, I will go talk to her. I don't know. I have no idea what I'm going to say, so maybe it's not a good idea.
Typical Jo. Just walking away in the middle of a fight.
And typical Beau. Not going after her.
Fuck!
And to top it all off, the car I'm working on is being a stubborn pain in my ass. Just another thing to add to my awful mood.
In order not to be a complete dick to everyone, I try to keep to myself as much as possible. I manage to not say a word to anyone until Jack comes out to the bay and taps me on the shoulder to get my attention.
"You have a visitor," he says. "She's waiting for you in my office."
I figure it has to be Jo. Who else would it be? It's not like my mother is going to come visit me at work. Maybe Jo has come to talk to me first. Maybe she has a better idea of what to say than I do.
But when I open the door to Jack's office, it isn't Jo standing before me, It's Ronnie.
"I think you've got the wrong mechanic" I say. "I'll go get Drew."
“Hold it! I’m here to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because my sister knocked on my door in the middle of the night and then proceeded to crawl into bed with me. I swear I haven’t had a girl in my bed this much since my time living in Italy.”
“What?”
“Nothing” She quickly changes the subject. “Let’s talk about Jo.”
"Did you come here to tell me to be nicer to your sister? Maybe lecture me about how wrong I am?"
"Uh, no. That's not my style.”
I take a seat in one of the chairs while Ronnie leans against the edge of the desk.
I ask, “Alright, why are you here?"
"Okay,” she takes a deep breath before continuing. “Look, I know Jo is a handful. I get it. She is basically a tiny ADHD version of myself, and while I love her to death, I know she can be a basket full of crazy sometimes.”
I have no idea how to respond to that, so I decide it’s better to just keep my mouth shut.
She goes on. "Jo has been in survival mode ever since she left Lilly Leaf Falls. While I don't know the full extent of what happened during her time away, she has told me bits and pieces. Most of the time, she was in fight or flight mode. She never had anyone care for her beyond either a good fuck or what she could do for them. Then, she came home, and you two got together. It’s clear you care about her so much. She has absolutely no idea how to handle that.”
"Yeah, I'm picking up on that.”
"All of us Lawsons have figured out how to keep Jo safe while not letting her know that we are doing it. With Jo, you almost have to make her think things are her idea. Otherwise, she will fight as hard as she can against it.”
When she sees the confused look on my face, she says, "let me give you an example.
A couple of years ago, she wanted to buy a motorcycle.
While I don't mind motorcycles, Jo would've been an absolute menace on one.
And she wanted to buy a crotch rocket. If I would have told her it was a terrible idea, and that she would most definitely hurt herself, she would've doubled down.
Instead, I took her phone and googled all the safety concerns regarding them.
Then, her phone automatically started suggesting these articles in all of her feeds.
She realized on her own that it was a bad idea. "
"But it wasn’t on her own,” I say. "You did that.”
"Look, if she really wanted one, I wouldn't have been able to stop her with nothing more than a few articles.
My point is that I know Jo is a handful.
I understand she has all of these quirks that make her hard to handle.
But what I also know is that my baby sister has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met.
She would give her life to save a puppy.
She would go to war over someone making her nieces cry.
And even though she may not show it, she loves you, Beau.
I've never seen her care so deeply for a man like she does for you. "
“You don’t have to sell me on Jo, Ronnie. I’ve been in love with her since I was twelve. But I can’t just stop worrying about her. My brain doesn’t work like that.”
“I know. But how about instead of you getting mad at her and telling her what she can’t do, you explain to her why you’re upset? I’m guessing there’s more to the story than you’re telling her. And while I don’t need to know the reason, I think you should tell Jo.”
When I don’t respond, she keeps talking.
“Jo will settle down. She’s only been back a month.
It’s going to take her longer than that to decompress and feel like she’s safe.
It’s hard for her to put down roots when she feels like she doesn’t have a permanent place.
Right now, she’s technically staying with Dylan…
or with you sometimes…or in my bed.” She sighs.
“My point is that once she feels like she’s truly settled, she will be okay. ”
“And you’re sure about that?”
She shrugs. “I was. And I was traveling the world longer than Jo. I know my sister.” She pauses one more time. “And so do you.”
With that, she walks out of the office. It takes me a minute to get up and get back to work. Thoughts of everything Ronnie just said play through my head.
I’ve always known that Jo’s brain has worked in mysterious ways. I may never have understood it, but I loved how unique it was.
Why is it different now? Why am I so much quicker to dismiss her?
I don’t know.
But what I do know is that I waited years for Jo to come back and even longer than that for me to have a chance with her.
So, I better figure out all the other stuff before I lose her again.