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“So, that’s what has you grinning from ear to ear?” May teased.
Jo smirked and shrugged. She looked to the door, and her face fell. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“Who?” May turned to the door and caught a glimpse of the man that Jo saw moments earlier.
“I used to work with that guy, but why is he here?” Her stomach churned as she stared at him. She didn’t have any fond memories of him. He would always tease her and mock her and just was an all-around nasty man. He was talking to Ali, which caused Jo to feel some panic setting in.
Ali turned to the group that had formed in the circle. “Good morning, everyone,” she said. “I want to introduce you all to Miles. He’s going to be starting here at CAPMed and working with our team. I want you all to make him feel at home.”
Jo looked down at her hands when he looked in her direction. She could only picture what he would be thinking. This wouldn’t go well for her, as she could already feel the anxiety creeping up inside her.
Ali said a few more things about motivation and what the day would hold and then dismissed the group. She escorted him out of the room and Jo turned to May.
“He wasn’t a good guy back then. I can’t imagine he’s changed any.”
“People do change, Johanna. Maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Or at least not worry until there’s something to worry about.”
May had a great point. Maybe there wasn’t anything that would trigger the fear. Maybe he had changed. Except all day she spent avoiding him. At every corner when she would see him, she would turn and go the other way. Once she was at the nurse’s station and she spotted him, but she quickly started to head off away from him.
“Johanna, can we talk?” he asked. She had already gotten away from him and had no desire to speak to him then or anytime soon.
Halfway through the morning, she was working on a patient, when Miles came into the room. “They asked me to help you for a bit,” he said.
Jo turned to him and glared. “Tell them that I have it under control,” she snapped. He didn’t reply, just backed away and left the room. She knew it wasn’t professional, but the audacity of him thinking she would accept his help was too egotistical for her to handle.
When she left the room, she spotted him talking to Ali and Ali turned and stared at her. Jo turned away and hurried away to the restroom, panic engulfing her. She escaped into the bathroom and fell back against the door, her chest caving in as she feared that she would break loose the tears. Jo closed her eyes and listened to what her therapist would say.
If you’re feeling like you’re going to lose it, put on a meditation app.
She reached for her phone and pulled up an app that she had come to know all too well. She set it for five minutes and just listened to the soothing sounds and slowly her heart came back to its normal rhythm. She would get through this, somehow.
There was a brief moment when Jo thought she’d go hide in a closet somewhere, so she didn’t have to run into anyone at lunch. However, her stomach growled, telling her that was a lousy idea and she needed to suck it up and get some nourishment.
The cafeteria was busy, but Jo was glad to see that she could dodge everyone as she went through the lines to get something to eat. But then she spotted Ali, and that was all about to change.
“Hey, Jo. Come sit with us?” Nolan, May, and Ali all sat at a table. It wouldn’t be anything for her to sit down and act like nothing was wrong.
“Not in the mood to chat,” she snapped. Ali frowned as May laughed. She turned and stared at May. “Do I look like I’m kidding?” May’s eyes widened and Jo turned and stomped away from their table. It hurt that she had to be so forceful, but perhaps they would finally start to get the message.
“Jo? Hey, Jo, wait up.”
She stopped and groaned. Perhaps not. She slowly turned and saw Ali hurrying her way with concern etched on her face. “If I stay much longer, I’m going to not even get my food eaten. Do you mind?”
Ali tilted her head. “What’s up, Jo? You’re clearly agitated about something. Did I do something to piss you off?” Jo opened her mouth and then looked down at her food. She shook her head. “Then what is it?”
“I don’t want to talk, that’s the issue.” She looked up and glared, and Ali slowly nodded her head.
“Noted, but if you change your mind…you know where to find me.” The pain in her eyes was clear, and as she walked away, Jo opened her mouth and considered telling her everything, but the damage had been done. She slumped into the nearest table and stared at her food. Truth was, Miles had her rattled. Or, rather, she was rattled by what he would say to her. Why was he really there? Merely to badger her?
She grabbed a celery stick and stared at it for a moment before taking a bite. Lunch wasn’t nearly the hour of eager conversations, wondering what they could say to each other to entice romantic feelings. Not that they ever needed to speak to get that flowing through them. She sighed and popped the rest of her stick into her mouth.
The scraping sound of a tray hitting her table jarred her out of her thoughts. She looked up, and her jaw dropped. She jumped to her feet and grabbed her food, but Miles quickly reached out his hand to stop her.
“Don’t go. I’m begging you to hear me out.”
“Why should I listen to anything you have to say?” she asked. “You belittled me in front of our co-workers and upper management. You acted like I was the spawn of something evil. You hurt me, and the fact that you couldn’t stop hounding me at every turn.” Her breath hitched, and she shook her head, her emotions starting to rush back to her. “I just don’t see how talking is going to make any difference.”
“I was wrong,” he started. His gaze dropped and his hand slowly fell from her hold. With those few words, Jo saw his heart and she hadn’t seen that before in all the time she had known him. “When you left, things only got worse.”
