Perfectly Ms. Matched(20)

She slung her garment bag over her shoulder and set out toward the gym. It was late Saturday afternoon, and Shelby and Lori had arranged for Jo’s first date at a restaurant she could walk to from Chad’s house. After she finished up with Chad, she figured she’d get ready at his place to save time and then meet Scott for dinner. Her stomach was in knots at the prospect of dating again, but she’d vowed to suck it up and give the guy a fair chance.

He was an accountant. Someone with a stable job, who loved to travel, and was taller than her—not always easy to find when one was five-foot-eleven. But she’d wear flats just in case he was only six feet tall.

Her cell rang, so she checked the screen. Her dad. She could ignore it, but then he’d just get angry with her, because everyone knew she always answered her cell. She’d never mastered the art of ignoring people. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hello, Joann. How are you?”

“I’m fine. And you?” Jo frowned as she waited for his response. He never just called to chat. Something was up.

“Fine.” Her father cleared his throat. “I was hoping to catch up with you. See how the rehab is going?”

Strange he’d care. “Great. Chad’s working really hard.”

“Good. That’s nice to hear. So you think he’ll be able to play again?”

Jo laid her garment bag on the couch. “You know I can’t discuss Chad’s case with you, Dad.”

“Right. No of course not. But I ran into an old friend today, Dr. Richards, you might remember him?”

Yes, she remembered him. He owned a few rehab centers. “Dad. Stop. I’m not going to change my mind about going back to being a PT.”

“He said the job is yours if you’d like. And he’d start you at a very nice salary. Maybe then you could afford a new car instead of that junker you drive now.”

Jo’s teeth clenched. “I don’t need a Benz like you, Dad. I have to run. Chad is waiting for me.”

“Promise you’ll think about it, Jo. Seriously.”

“Okay. I will. Say hi to Mom. Bye.” She quickly hung up. She’d think about it seriously, all right. She’d seriously never go back to PT work after she finished with Chad. What would she have to do to get him off her case?

Heather came out of the kitchen, her arm elbow-deep in a bag of BBQ chips. “Hey, Jo. Mr. Jenks is at the ranch. Something about a horse. He said I could go after you got here to watch the kid.”

“Okay.” Nice of Chad to assume babysitting services came with rehab. “Any idea when Chad’ll be back?”

Heather shrugged. “No clue.” She dropped the bag of chips onto the coffee table, grabbed her purse from the couch, and then headed for the elevator. “He said to tell you there’s stuff to make dinner with in the fridge, if you guys get hungry. Ryan’s in his room all bent outta shape because Mr. Jenks is late. See ya.” She lifted a hand right before the doors slid closed.

Jo shook her head at Heather’s lack of empathy for Ryan and picked up the bag of chips. She snuck a few before heading to the kitchen to put the bag back before Ryan saw them. The walk-in pantry, while mostly neatly organized, had one messy shelf that stood out. Clearly that shelf belonged to Heather. Near the top, at Jo’s eye level, were three kinds of chips, cookies, cereal, salsa, snack cakes, crackers, and canned spray cheese. Jo smiled as she placed the bag next to the other chips. She and Shelby had a similar diet in college.

Jo had brought a book for Ryan, so she went back to the living room and grabbed it from her bag, then she headed down a long hallway to his bedroom. She stuck her head inside the doorway and caught Ryan, arm cocked behind his head, ready to launch a globe. “Before you destroy the world, do you want to see the present I brought you?”

Ryan frowned as he lowered the globe back to his dresser. “Is Chad back?”

“No.” Jo’s heart hurt for the kid. “Heather said he was just running late. How come you didn’t go to the ranch too? Chad told me you love it there.”

“He left without me.” Ryan let his body slide down the dresser, and he landed in a heap on the carpet. “Chad’s not coming back. Just like my mom.”

Crap, crap, crap. She wasn’t equipped to deal with abandonment issues.

Jo sat on the floor next to Ryan. His cheeks were a little flushed, so she laid a hand on his forehead. He wasn’t hot from a fever. He’d just worked himself up into a sweat. “Well, I’m not going to leave you. If Chad doesn’t get back soon, you’re going to have to come along with me on my date.”

Ryan blinked up at her. “Why are you going on a date?”