Five hours and three repeats of Sweet Caroline later, they pulled into the hotel where Zoe had booked a room. Jo was tired, but spending time with Zoe had been good for her. They'd talked about a whole lot of nothing almost the whole drive (when they weren't singing) and Jo had laughed a lot. The bellman took their bags and they followed him to the elevator after checking in. He led them to their room and opened the door.
It was more of a suite than a room, really. Two comfortable looking beds covered in white linens, a flat screen tv on the dresser, a small sitting area, and a computer desk occupied the large space. Jo tipped the bellman while Zoe bounced on the first bed. "How are you paying for this, Zoe?" Jo asked after the door closed.
"My mom sends me a big check every month. There's not a whole lot to spend it on out in Cambridge, so my bank account runneth over." Zoe grinned and grabbed her suitcase. "I have a surprise for you!" She unzipped the top and pulled out three DVDs. "We have Up, Beauty and the Beast, and your all time favorite, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. What do you say we order room service and veg out in front of the tv until we fall asleep?"
"Sounds good to me. But I get to pick first."
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang it is!" Zoe opened the case and popped in the movie while Jo took off her shoes. The title screen came up and Jo was enthralled immediately. Zoe grabbed the phone and called room service for a veggie pizza and a couple of sodas. She hung up the phone and sat on her bed, watching her friend's face as she watched the movie. Jo was so stoic most of the time, but when she was watching a children's movie, she was an open book.
The pizza came during the scene where the car was trapped by the tide. She put a slice on a plate and handed it to Jo, who took it and started eating without even looking away from the screen. Zoe relaxed and ate, waiting for the scene that would make Jo cry like it always did.
I love this movie so much, Jo thought, as the king and queen sang to one another while he tried to kill her. This is just what I needed. She sat up. Here came her favorite scene. The toymaker brought in two boxes and opened one to reveal Truly pretending to be a life sized doll on a music box. The song began:
What do you see?
You people gazing at me
You see a doll on a music box that's wound by a key
How can you tell
I'm under a spell
I'm waiting for love's first kiss
You cannot see
How much I long to be free
Turning around on this music box that's wound by a key
Yearning, yearning
While I'm turning around and around…
Jo burst into tears. Zoe paused the movie, jumped off her bed, and wrapped her arms around her friend. Jo tried to get herself back under control, but she just kept breaking down again. So she let herself cry out all the tears she'd been keeping in over the last few months. Zoe hugged her and patted her back until she'd cried herself out. She handed Jo the box of tissues from the nightstand.
"So, are you ready to actually talk?"Zoe asked. Jo looked at her. "You could have told me."
Jo looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about Zane, Jo. How long have you been in love with him?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Zoe." Jo's bottom lip trembled.
"Jo." Zoe folded her arms. "You don't need to lie to me. I pay attention, especially after I've been hit in the head a few times. I get that from my dad."
Jo smiled in spite of herself. "A Carter family trait, huh?" She sighed. "It's complicated, Zoe."
"Why? It doesn't have to be. I know, the town will be buzzing with gossip for a while, but they'll get used to seeing the two of you together."
"You say that like it might actually happen."
"Why not? You're a bipedal hominid; he's a bipedal hominid..." Jo chuckled in spite of herself. "No, really. The two of you have more in common than you think."
"Life in prison, or death, for one example." Jo sighed.
"What are you talking about?"
Jo looked at Zoe. She had more to lose than any of the five of them – six if you counted Grace - she'd lose her complete support structure if they were caught. She took a breath. "Give me my soda. This is going to take a while." She closed her eyes. "Back on Founder's day, your dad, Henry, Allison, Fargo, and I had an accident. We traveled back in time to 1947.
"I was in the sheriff's office, and then I was in a men's barracks. I freaked out and fought my way out of there. I hopped on a motorcycle, and the next thing I knew, I was being chased by MP's. I skidded out on the bike and tried to fight my way out again, but there were too many. They threw me in jail and Fargo was there…. Naked."
Zoe burst out laughing. "Naked Fargo? Oh my god! That's the best thing ever! So you saw little Fargo?"
"What? No! He was wearing a blanket and I did everything I could NOT to look!"
"Are you sure? It was you and him all alone in a tense situation and he was… naked." Zoe rolled over on her side, giggling. Jo chucked a pillow at her.
"ANYWAY, we got back, but we accidentally brought someone back with us. And that changed… a lot of stuff."
"Like what?"
"Well, before the change, I was your dad's deputy still and there was no Andy. Henry hadn't ever met Grace. Allison was the head of GD and Fargo was her assistant. Your dad had broken up with Tess a bit ago, and… Zane."
"You two were together?" Jo nodded. "How serious was it?"
Jo looked at Zoe. She took another deep breath. "He proposed. Ten minutes before the time jump."
"So you were engaged?"
"No. I froze up and he walked out before I could get my brain working again." Jo closed her eyes.
Sensing her friend needed a break, Zoe asked, "So who did you bring back with you?"
"His name was Trevor –"
"Grant? Dr. Trevor Grant? That's one of the biggest mysteries of all time and you were responsible? That's crazy!" Zoe marveled that the history that had been hammered into her head at Tesla had been walking around among them. "So where is he now?"
"Gone. Carter and he decided that it was too dangerous for us if he stayed around. People would find out about what happened and that would be very bad."
"Wait, why? Wouldn't it be easier if you could explain to everyone what had happened, that way you didn't have to pretend you knew what was going on until someone gave you more information.
Jo shook her head. "Allison, Henry, and Fargo said that time travel is outlawed and GD has protocols in place for anyone who breaks that law. As in lifetime prison sentences at best. Henry took a really big risk when he told Grace, and I'm taking a huge risk telling you. Not that I don't trust you, but anyone who knows about someone who broke the law and didn't turn them in can be charged as an accessory."
Zoe sat and thought for a few minutes. "You know, I don't think anyone we know would turn you in."
"What about the people we don't know? What about the hundreds of ambitious scientists we have a GD who hate Fargo and would take any opportunity to stab him in the back? They wouldn't hesitate to take the rest of us down."
"Well, Fargo is a jerk." Zoe shrugged.
"Not this one… well, yeah, he kind of is a jerk. But a different kind of jerk. He's trying very hard to become a leader, and I think he's made some decent strides. Just don't tell him I said that." Jo smirked.
Zoe said softly, "I can think of one ambitious scientist that won't turn you in."
Jo shook her head. "How can you be sure?"
"Would your Zane do it?"
"No, of course not. But that's because I had almost two years to work on him, and he liked keeping secrets and breaking the law every once in a while." Jo smiled.
"Well, I know this Zane." She pointed a finger at Jo. "Don't laugh. I'm purported to be a very good judge of character."
"I hope so," Jo muttered.
"Uh oh. What happened?"
"When Zane, my Zane, proposed, he gave me his grandmother's engagement ring."
"Wow."
"Yeah. And it came with me. When I got back to 2010, I ran back to the sheriff's office to see if Zane was there. And he was – so I told him I'd marry him." Jo took a breath. "He laughed in my face."
"Okay, well, that's not so bad –"
"It gets worse." Jo sipped her soda. "At Henry's barbeque, we all got zapped by a device that made us hallucinate. And I saw Zane. My Zane. Except it wasn't really like him, it was a weirdly warped version that followed me around like a puppy. Grace told us that our hallucinations were our subconscious telling us we had something to deal with and they would probably go away once that had happened. So I told mine that I had romanticized our relationship, that we didn't fit, and I threw the ring at him. But it wasn't a hallucination, it was this Zane. And he recognized the ring. Now he won't stop trying to get me to tell him why I had it and I'm pretty sure he knows already." Jo took another drink. "He saw through Grant in a second and he could tell that Allison and Fargo were acting differently."
"So is that what you were talking about when I walked in yesterday? He was trying to get you to explain?"
"Yeah." Jo swallowed hard, trying to force the memory of the kiss to go away.
Zoe pushed the pizza box to the side and lay back on her bed. She had almost made a serious mistake that would have cost her one of her best friends. Zane was ridiculously hot and she liked him very much, but Jo was more important to her than any fling. She rolled over and looked at her big sister. "I'm so sorry, Jo. If I had known, I never would have gone there. Sisters don't steal each other's guys."
Jo raised an eyebrow. "Yes they do. All the time."
Zoe sighed. "Okay then, people who have chosen to be sisters rather than by accident of birth don't steal each other's guys." She smiled at Jo. "So now we have to figure out how to get you guys together."
"What? Zoe, that would be a terrible idea! And a huge red flag to anyone who suspects that something is wrong."
"I don't think so. The two of you have always had a kind of Sam and Diane vibe."
Jo shook her head, smiling. "You're too young to be making Cheers references."
"I watched a lot of reruns as a kid. But really, a year ago Vincent was taking bets on how long it would be before the two of you would kill each other or get together."
"Seriously? Remind me to go down there and threaten that man's life when we get home."
Zoe laughed. "The whole town would protect him just for the coffee. But I mean it, Jo, I think that there's something there on his side, too. It will take some work, but I think we could do it."
Jo folded her arms. "Ok, relationship guru, just for the sake of asking, what would you do?"
"Honestly? The complete opposite of what I was doing. Play hard to get. If there's anything Zane Donovan can't resist, it's a challenge." She smiled ruefully. "Pilar cornered me and told me stories of women who had thrown themselves at Zane and had gotten nowhere. I see now that she was trying to help, but I wasn't interested in listening. I owe her an apology, too. Anyway. Make him chase you for a while. It will drive him crazy and you'll get some much needed wooing." She rolled back over. "Don't be stubborn about this, Jo. You deserve to be happy."
Jo sat silent. The idea of Zane pursuing her was very appealing. She didn't know if she could hold out to play hard to get, as Zoe said, but she smiled at the idea of their roles being reversed – he'd be shooting her sidelong glances and watching her walk away, completely confused and dying to follow her.
She looked over at Zoe. I have to tell her about the kiss, she thought. I don't want to hurt her, but she deserves to know. "Zoe, about yesterday… Something else happened between me and Zane." She cleared her throat. "When he confronted me about the ring, I refused to tell him anything. So he kissed me. And I, I kissed him back." Zoe's face was blank, so she went on. "When he let me go, I could tell that it was just an experiment to get me to confirm his suspicions. I felt so horrible when you walked in that I couldn't look at you. I'm so sorry, Zoe." Jo's voice broke as she fought back tears.
Zoe sat up. "Huh. I figured something like that had happened. Once I put two and two together, that is. Zane was so preoccupied and he took off pretty quickly." She shook her head. "Jo, don't beat yourself up over it. Maybe we'll beat him up once this is all over. But you have nothing to be sorry for. He kissed you and you reacted."
"Zoe, are you sure? 'Cause I can always throw myself off the balcony. I kind of want to – it would be a relief to feel a different kind of pain."
"Don't be ridiculous." Zoe stood up and shook a finger in Jo's face. "If you really want to make it up to me, you can drive the rest of the way to San Francisco. And let me pick the first tourist trap to visit." She leaned over and hugged her friend.
"Yes, ma'am." Jo hugged her back. "I guess if I should be driving, I should get some sleep. And in order to do that, I need to relax. Did I see a whirlpool tub in that bathroom?"
"You most certainly did. Go for it." Zoe smiled.
Jo stood up and grabbed the robe that was hanging in the closet. She shut the door behind her, turned on the water, and reached for the bubble bath. When the tub was full, she undressed quickly and sank into the hot water, sighing with pleasure.
As soon as Zoe heard the water running, she reached for her phone and shot off a text to S.A.R.A.H., telling the house to let her dad know they were safe at a hotel for the night. She opened her text history and scrolled through her conversations with Zane. They were a bit flirty, but she could tell now that he was only flirting, nothing serious. She started typing:
I just wanted to tell you that I think we should stay in the friend zone.
A few seconds later came the reply:
Yeah. I'm sorry, Zo.
She sent back:
No worries. See you later.
