Page 22 of Fixing Hearts

Thirteen

T he bass thumped through Sapphire , vibrating in Jo’s chest as she leaned over the pool table, lining up her shot.

It was late, and the club was packed with bodies pressed together on the dance floor, and bursts of laughter and conversation barely cutting through the music.

The neon glow from the bar cast flickering colors across the crowd, and the air smelled like a mix of spilled drinks, perfume, and sweat.

Jo exhaled, tuning out the noise as she focused on the cue ball.

She pulled back, aimed, and with a crack, the solid yellow ball rolled smoothly into the side pocket.

“Damn,” Mica muttered, shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink.

“I don’t know why I even bother playing with you. ”

Straightening, Jo half smiled. “You keep thinking you’ll get better,” she said, and Mica snorted a laugh.

“No, I keep thinking you’ll get drunk enough to suck at this.”

Jo chuckled, but the truth was, she wasn’t drinking much tonight. Her beer sat mostly untouched on the edge of the table. She wasn’t in the mood to get wasted. Hell, she thought. I’m not really in the mood to be here at all, but Mica keeps egging me on .

As if reading Jo’s thoughts, Mica crossed her arms. “Okay, seriously,” she said. “You’re playing pool like you’re in a tournament, you’ve barely touched your drink, and you haven’t flirted with a single woman all night.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”

Sighing, Jo rubbed the back of her neck. “Mica—”

“You so are,” Mica said with a gasp.

Jo shook her head but didn’t deny it. She was thinking about Evelyn.

About how she had expected a text from her by now.

About how she wasn’t really interested in being here anymore.

She pulled her phone from her pocket to check the time, pressing the button on the side.

Nothing. The screen was blank. “Shit,” she muttered, and Mica shook her head.

“Wow. She really has you wrapped around her finger already.”

“No,” Jo said, tossing her cue stick onto the table.

“My phone’s dead. I’m gonna see if Jess has a charger.

” She made her way toward the bar, weaving through the crowd.

The music shifted, a pulsing beat vibrating through the floor as the DJ transitioned into a remix of a ‘90s pop hit. Jo barely noticed. She reached the bar, flagging Jess down. “Hey. My phone’s dead. You got a charger?”

Jess nodded. “Yeah, give me a sec.” She ducked behind the bar, rummaging through a drawer before pulling out a cord. “iPhone?”

Nodding, Jo handed over her phone. “You’re a lifesaver,” she said as Jess plugged it in.

“Give it a few minutes,” she said. “This is a rapid charger. You should have enough juice soon.”

Exhaling, Jo leaned against the bar. “Thanks,” she said as she ran a hand through her hair, debating whether she should simply call it a night.

She wasn’t drunk, she wasn’t interested in flirting, and honestly, she’d rather be somewhere quieter.

Like maybe curled up on a couch with Evelyn, listening to her talk about whatever research she is doing or something , she thought, shaking her head at herself.

Damn, Mica’s right. I’ve got it bad . Before she could dwell on that realization too much, a voice behind her cut through the noise.

“Oh hell no,” the voice said. “If it isn’t Jo Fuller.” Recognizing the voice, Jo turned, and a wide smile spread across her face.

Standing in front of her, looking effortlessly cool as ever, was Carly Hooper, an old friend from college. “Carly?” Jo’s grin widened. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Carly laughed, stepping forward and pulling Jo into a tight hug. “I moved back to Portland,” she said. “Got a job at an architecture firm downtown. Wow, it has been a long time since I saw you.”

Jo hugged her back, genuinely thrilled. Before she met Mica, back when she was in college, Carly had been one of the few people who had really understood her.

They had spent a lot of nights drinking cheap beer, playing pool, and talking about life.

They had never been lovers, but they were close buddies.

When they pulled apart, Carly laughed. “You look good.”

“So do you,” Jo said as Carly slung an arm around Jo’s shoulders, leaning in close to talk over the music. “So tell me. Still breaking hearts left and right?”

“Come on,” Jo said with a shake of her head. “You know me better than that.”

Carly shook her head. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I definitely know you better than that.”

They fell into easy conversation, catching up, laughing over an old story about ditching Economics class. Jo was mid-laugh, shaking her head at something ridiculous Carly said, when suddenly, she felt it. That unmistakable sensation of being watched. Jo turned her head, and her stomach dropped.

Standing only a few feet away, looking very unimpressed, was Evelyn.

Jo’s grin faltered. “Evelyn?” The woman’s arms were crossed over her chest, her expression carefully neutral, but Jo saw the tension in her shoulders and the way her jaw was clenched.

That’s when Jo realized Carly’s arm was still around her.

Shit , Jo thought. And we are standing very close together, laughing and having fun.

“Oh,” Carly said, glancing between them as she stepped back, clearly picking up on the shift in energy. “Uh-oh. Did I walk into something?”

Swallowing hard, Jo stepped toward Evelyn. “Hi,” she started, and when Evelyn didn’t reply, she held up her hands in surrender. “It’s not what it looks like.”

Evelyn arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Jo sighed, knowing that standing in another woman’s arms was not how she wanted Evelyn to find her tonight.

As she took in the scene in front of her, Evelyn’s stomach twisted.

Jo. Standing at the bar with another woman’s arm draped casually around her shoulders.

The two of them were close, laughing together in a way that looked easy and very familiar.

Jo’s face was lit up in that confident way Evelyn had come to recognize when she was completely in her element.

Like at the bar the first night, like at the car show, and even at her garage.

Already regretting it, Evelyn had come to Sapphire on impulse.

She hadn’t planned it. She had been sitting at her desk, waiting for Jo to text her back and feeling a little irritated for even caring so much that there hadn’t been an answer when the idea had struck her.

I should just go to Sapphire and say hi, she had thought.

And if she’s there, we can dance and if she’s not, I’ll go home.

But now, there she was, and there Jo was, with someone else.

When she first stepped inside and saw what Jo was doing, Evelyn’s initial instinct was to turn around and walk out.

Hopefully get away before Jo even saw her, but then Jo’s eyes met hers, and everything inside her froze.

For a split second, Jo even looked guilty.

Not caught-in-the-act guilty , Evelyn thought.

But in an “oh shit, this looks bad” guilty . Evelyn’s heart clenched.

She wasn’t naive. She knew she and Jo weren’t in a relationship.

They were still figuring things out. But seeing Jo in the middle of an embrace, looking so at home in this world, made something inside Evelyn go cold.

She refused to let it show. Instead, she lifted her chin, forced a neutral expression onto her face, and walked toward the bar like she had every right to be there.

She slid onto a barstool, setting her purse down beside her.

“Cosmopolitan, please,” she said to the bartender, keeping her voice even.

Jo stepped forward immediately. “Evelyn—”

Slowly, Evelyn turned her head, arching an eyebrow. “Oh,” she said, smoother than she thought possible. “Hey, Jo.”

After a beat of hesitation, clearly thrown by her calm tone, Jo gave her a small smile. “Hey,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Taking her drink from the bartender, Evelyn stirred the little straw.

“Yeah, well,” she said, lifting the glass to her lips.

“I needed a break from working so late.” She felt Jo watching her, as if she were waiting for something.

Maybe an accusation, a confrontation even, but Evelyn wasn’t going to give her that.

She wasn’t going to demand an explanation.

If Jo had one, she could offer it on her own.

Exhaling slowly, Jo shifted her weight. “Okay, look,” she said. “This—” She gestured toward the woman beside her, who had moved away slightly, no doubt sensing something was off. “This is Carly. An old friend from college.”

Carly gave a small wave, offering an awkward smile. “Hi.”

Evelyn nodded politely, sizing the woman up. Attractive, she thought. A little on the tomboy side for Jo’s taste I would have thought. “Nice to meet you,” she finally said, and Jo continued.

“If you sent me something, I didn’t get your text,” she explained.

“My phone’s dead. I don’t know when it happened, but Jess is charging it behind the bar.

” She motioned toward the counter where her phone sat plugged in.

“I wasn’t ignoring you.” Taking another sip of her drink, Evelyn let that sink in and made no comment.

Jo sighed. “Carly moved back to Portland. We ran into each other just now and caught up for a bit. That’s all. ”