Chapter Fifty
Julian
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t anticipated that my trip to Texas would be marked by so much throw-up. I mean, sure, some throw-up is a part of life. However, the amount of vomit Jo could apparently produce seemed disproportional to her size.
I also anticipated meeting Jo’s parents over a quiet dinner, not while delivering their daughter home drunk after a crazy night out.
Yup. That’s right. I had the pleasure of delivering Jo back home, completely drunk and only half lucid.
I stood on her parent’s front porch and knocked, thankful to have Lily standing beside me for backup. My gut clenched when the porch light flipped on and a very tired woman answered the door with a confused scowl.
“Lily? Is everything all right?” the woman asked, shooting a glare in my direction. “Who are you?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to comprehend how the situation could possibly look any worse.
Oh right. I was covered in throw-up and smelled like last week’s trash.
Her mom was still glaring at me, waiting for a reply.
“Oh, hi. I’m Julian. I work with your daughter.”
Her brow quirked in curiosity, but she didn’t ask for me to elaborate.
“Is she drunk?” Mrs. Keller asked, glaring at me as if I was the one who’d put her in that state.
In turn, I glared at Lily. Now would be a great fucking time to speak up.
“She and I were just hanging out and she had one too many beers. Julian found us and helped me get her home.”
Mrs. Keller stared down at Jo with clear disdain and then pulled the door open so I could carry her inside.
“C’mon,” her mom said, waving me down the hallway.
I dipped past the doorframe and did a quick onceover of Jo’s childhood home. My mother would have hated it. Unless a home had curated antiques from floor to ceiling, she thought it was tacky. I didn’t agree. Sure, the furniture was old, but there were photos of Jo covering every spare surface. She was framed around the room in various stages of life. As I trailed down the hallway after Mrs. Keller, I caught one gem of a photo where Jo was sporting braces AND lopsided pigtails. I held in my smile and locked the image away for blackmail purposes.
“Lily, you can go,” Mrs. Keller said with a tone that definitely warned against argument.
I glanced back and met her eye. Don’t leave me with her, I begged with my gaze.
“Uhh.” She froze and shot me an apologetic look. “Okay.”
I shook my head. No. She’d made this mess and she was not about to leave me to clean it up without her.
“Well, I’ll come back and check on her in the morning then…”
I mouthed, “Do not leave.”
“Julian? Are you coming?” Mrs. Keller asked, clearly annoyed.
I squeezed my eyes shut, worked up the nerve, and then turned back to continue carrying a now sleeping Jo to her childhood bedroom.
I turned the corner into Jo’s room to find Mrs. Keller pulling out pajamas for Jo. I walked toward her bed so I could set her down. She stirred as I placed her against her pillows but stayed asleep.
“How fortunate that my daughter had you to help carry her home,” Mrs. Keller said with a tone that said the exact opposite.
“I found her when she was already drunk with Lily, but yes, I’m glad I was there too.”
She tsked and shook her head. “Is this normal behavior for her in New York? She never acted like this when she lived here.”
I crossed my arms. “She’s never once been this drunk with me.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, and is she with you a lot?”
“Nearly every day.”
She glared at me and I knew she wanted me to elaborate.
“We work together. I hired Josephine when she first moved to New York.”
She grunted and dropped Jo’s pajamas onto the corner of her bed. “So then why are you in Texas? Do you regularly follow your employees when they travel cross country?”
“Carrie, everything okay in there?” a gruff voice called from the back of the house.
Shit. Was I about to have to explain myself to Jo’s dad too? Lily is going to owe me so much.
“Yes. Go back to bed, Rick.”
She glared back at me and crossed her arms. “Why don’t you let me know what’s really going on between the two of you? You have my daughter’s throw-up all over you, so either she’s fired or you’re in love. Which is it?”
I had to hand it to her. I’d been in meetings with some of the toughest guys in business and I hadn’t sweat as much as I was in that moment. I snuck a peek at Jo and watched her chest rise and fall gently. She looked so angelic in her sleep, completely unaware of the havoc she’d caused.
“I’m in love with her,” I said.
There was a long pause as her mom and I stood and processed my declaration. I’d yet to admit my feelings aloud to anyone, not even Dean. Suddenly, my love had roots. There was no turning back.
When I glanced up at her mom, she was watching me with a wistful smile.
“All right then, I’ll grab a new shirt for you and then you can help me get her cleaned up. I think it’s time for you to experience all the joys of loving my daughter: the good, the bad, and the ugly.”