Free Waiting for Jo by srbrdshaw Page B

in your life.”
    “Oh?” I say. “I don’t have a special man in
my life.” I try to not act too paranoid, but my mind goes
immediately to the stalker. I rush back to my office, eager to see
what’s waiting for me. Next to my computer, is the biggest, most
ornate bouquet I’ve ever seen. There are roses and lilies and other
flowers that I don’t even recognize. In all, there must be three
dozen blooms in this thing.
    I haven’t received live flowers from the
stalker for a while. Maybe these are from somebody else. I smile to
myself. Perhaps James had them delivered as a belated welcoming
gift.
    I pull the card out from the mass of flowers
and open the envelope. My smile quickly fades. The names James
Parker and Will Bennett are written on the card and both names are
crossed out.
    I grab the flowers and take them to
reception. “Who delivered these, Debbie?” I ask holding the large
vase in my left arm and pointing to the bouquet.
    Debbie can see that I’m agitated. “The flower
company. Is something wrong, hun?”
    “I just need to figure out who had these
flowers sent to me.”
    “Oh, looks like you got a secret admirer,”
she says with a sly smile on her face.
    “Yeah, something like that, I guess,” I
say.
    “Well, would you like me to call the flower
company? I can try and get the information out of them.”
    “That would be great.” I hand her the
envelope from the card with the florist’s name on it. “Thanks. Let
me know if you find anything,” I say as I walk back to my office
with the flowers.
    I pull out my stalker notebook that I
promised Will I’d carry around and log in all of the details of the
flowers and card.
    I hear James come into the office and greet
Debbie. He stops at the kitchen and gets a cup of coffee. He almost
passes right by my office but stops as he catches a glimpse of the
flowers.
    “Hmmm. Nice flowers,” he says. “Did your
boyfriend send those to you?”
    I’m already exasperated, and James’ inquiry
isn’t helping. “No James. I don’t have a boyfriend. My boyfriend
broke up with me. Now all I have is a stalker who sends me creepy
notes and text messages and slashes my tires.”
    James gives me a puzzled look. “You have a
stalker?” he asks.
    “Yes. Here’s his latest correspondence.” I
hand the card from the flowers to James.
    “Who is Will? Is that someone you’re
dating?”
    “Jesus Christ, James! I just handed you a
note showing that my crazy stalker has crossed your name out and
you’re worried about whether or not I’m dating Will. And, no. I’m
not dating Will. Will and I are friends.”
    “Jo, I’m not worried about some freak that is
sending you notes. I think I’ll be just fine.”
    “Well, that’s good. Look, I have a lot of
work to do,” I say, trying to get James to leave my office before
this conversation escalates any further.
    “Fine. I’m outta here,” he says as he walks
away.
    My blood is boiling. What the fuck is wrong
with James? He doesn’t seem at all worried that some dude is
stalking me. His only concern is who I’m dating. Why does he care
about that? Did he forget that he dumped me? All he would have had
to say is “Jo, I want to get back together,” and I would have
jumped at the opportunity. Instead he plays these games with me.
Sometimes I wonder if he’s bipolar or something. The James from
lunch yesterday and the James I’m dealing with today seem like
completely different people.
    My mind goes back to the day that James broke
up with me and the weeks that followed. I’ve never been so badly
hurt by someone in my life. I felt like I was being punched in the
stomach and every time I think about it, I feel that pain again. I
stopped eating, stopped laughing, stopped hanging out with my
friends. My life completely changed. I’m far from over the breakup,
but I’ve managed to get my life back over the last couple of
months. And now, he plays with my emotions by pulling this jealousy
act.
    I try and get