After four hours of sleep, 8 more hours of driving, I am finally in Nashua, NH. I pull up in front of campaign headquarters and see Sam, Toby, CJ and Josh exiting the storefront. He looks terrible. Well, truth be told, they all do. The guys seem to be in a heated argument about something. CJ is looking around. Can she be looking for me? She says something to them and they turn to walk away. CJ is heading right towards my car.
"You made it!" she says as she leans into my car to give me a hug. "I am SO glad to see you!"
"You too, CJ but what's going on? Why all the eagerness for me to get back here?"
She stars to open my car door. "Come on, we're all going to dinner. Join us."
"Um, CJ? How far is it?"
The look of confusion on her face tells me I forgot to tell her about my ankle. "It's just around the corner. Why?"
"Well, I kind of hurt my ankle. Was wondering how far I was going to have to walk."
"DONNA! WHAT HAPPENED?" Ok, screaming at me over the phone is one thing but face to face it is so much louder.
"I was in a car accident. But please don't tell anyone. I'm telling you the truth but as far as anyone else is going to know, I plan on telling them that I slipped on some ice outside my home."
Now this look is priceless. It is not often that CJ is completely confused. But she looks at my ankle, back at my face, shrugs her shoulders and says, "OK. Whatever. Are you hungry?" It is just at that point my stomach decides to make itself known. We both chuckle. "Well, I guess that's a yes. Come on."
We enter a little Italian restaurant. The men are intently studying their menus and don't see us approach. "Look what I found!" CJ tells them as they all look up.
Sam looked up first. Then Toby. I could see the relief in their eyes. Glancing over at Josh, I saw a light shine in his eyes that I have never seen before. Sam and Toby both stood up and came over to give me a welcome back hug. Josh just sat at the table. CJ noticed this and slapped him in the head.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Stop being a jackass, jackass!" Her words made him stand. I did not expect to get a hug from any of them, let alone Josh. He looked uncomfortable. Staring at the floor, he saw something and then his eyes were staring straight at me.
"What happened to you?"
My ankle had been feeling better so I had forgotten about it for the moment. "Oh, yea. I slipped on some ice. But it's feeling much better. A little stiff right now but I can walk on it better today." CJ gives me a look but I stare her down, asking her with my eyes not to tell the guys the truth. We all take a seat at the table. It is eerily quiet. "So, how is the campaign going?" I say this to no one specific.
Josh picks up his menu and starts studying again while Toby and Sam stare at him. CJ looks at me and then to Josh. "Does ANYONE plan on answering Donna's question?"
"You can do it," Josh says with the menu still up in his face.
"Well, I guess I am elected to tell you that we are having a rough time of it lately due to…" CJ looks over toward Josh again. "Idiot boy over here."
"Wait…What did I do?"
"Josh, did you or did you not yell at Senator Hoynes in front of the press? Or the fact that you had a temper tantrum at our last fundraiser. Plus the fact that you have not been able to keep an assistant for more than 5 minutes in the past 6 weeks. Need I go on?"
"Well, those assistants were just not D…doing things the way I need them done." Was he going to say something else? I look over at CJ. She caught his slip too. I can tell by the little smirk on her face. I can hear a light little chuckle coming from behind Sam's menu as well. Did he miss me? Could it be possible?
It is at that moment that our waiter decides to come over and take our order.
Why do I feel like I am missing something or I am the butt of some joke? The table falls silent again. "Come on, Spanky. Dance with me", CJ says as she grabs Sam's hand and leads him to the tiny dance floor. As they are out there, they keep glancing back at Josh and me. I look from Toby to Josh and back again. Toby is intent on writing something on a legal pad he brought with him. He never seems to stop working. Not even for dinner. Josh turns quickly and catches me looking at him.
"Do you wanna dance too, Donna?"
I look into his eyes. He looks like a little boy who has just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I would", I respond as I feel a slight blush start to rise on my face. He puts his napkin on the table and reaches over to grab my hand, leading me tentatively toward the dance floor. He spins me around once before placing his other hand on the small of my back. We both chuckle a little as we sway to the music. We are staring into each other's eyes. I can feel a burning sensation where his hand rests on my back. He smirks when he realizes my hand on the back of his neck is playing with some of his curls.
"Did I tell you that I am glad your back?"
"No, not yet." He looks down at the floor. "Josh?" He raises his head and stares me straight in the eyes. His eyes show a wide range of emotions but I am unsure about what they are saying to me. "Are you glad I came back?"
He leans his head back a little, his eyebrows have now met his hairline and he's got those scruntchie lines across his forehead. "Well, yeah! I thought that was…" His expression is changing as he fights with himself on how to finish that sentence.
"You thought that was what, Josh?" I feel myself tense somewhat in his arms.
He notices my tenseness as well. I can see him starting to fight with the demons in his head as his eyes return to the floor.
"Josh?"
He looks back up at me and moves his head closer to mine. "Obvious" he whispers. "I was gonna say that I thought that was obvious."
"Oh."
I look over Josh's shoulder and see Sam and CJ staring right at us with huge smiles on their faces. Josh pulls me closer into his embrace. My head is spinning and, with eyes closing, I lean my head onto his shoulder. His breath is caressing my neck. If his arms were not around me at this moment, I think I would fall flat on the floor. Thank God he has very strong arms. Arms, I might say, that feel very solid around me. And did I mention how fantastic he smells? Well, he does.
We continue to dance, as I see CJ and Sam return to the table. I notice that our food has arrived. Whispering this fact in his ear, all he mutters is, "hmmm?"
"Josh? Our dinner has arrived."
Looking at me then over to our table, all he can say is, "oh." He seems to be unhappy about it. "Well, I guess we should get back there then", he says with a little smirk. His dimples make a very slight appearance.
"I guess so." Both of our shoulders seem to deflate in disappointment. He removes his hand from mine but the other remains on the small of my back as he leads me toward the table.
"Ow!", I cry as I stumble slightly on my sore ankle.
"Are you ok?" I see the worry cross his face and feel both his arms around me to steady me. It makes me feel safe.
"I'm fine. I just forgot about my ankle. I haven't taken care of it much today." He grabs my left arm and drapes it around his shoulders while his other arm gathers me in closer to him. He makes me lean on him as we walk back to the table.
As we approach the table, Sam stands up and pulls out my chair. "Donna? Is everything ok?"
"Yes. Thank you, Sam", I say as Josh aids me into the chair. "I have just been on my sore ankle too much today, I guess." Sam returns to his chair on my right. Josh takes his seat at the head of the table to my left.
"Hold your foot up for a minute", Josh leans over and quietly says to me.
"Why?"
"Just…please do it for me." He pleads with me to just do as he asks. I raise my foot up under the table. I feel his hands on my leg and shiver a little. My leg and foot are now lying on his lap. He removes my shoe and starts to lightly massage my ankle. My entire body is now tingling at this point. CJ is snickering at me and I feel the flush start to creep up to my face. "Does it feel any better?"
"Yes. Thanks", I mumble sheepishly. I try to remove my foot from his lap to no avail. His hand clasps around my leg and makes sure my foot is securely on his legs as he picks up his fork and starts to eat. I look around the table to see everyone intent on their meals, so I start to eat as well.
Dinner conversation is minimal, mostly talk about the campaign. Listening intently to try and get back up to speed about all that is happening on the trail, I also glance at Josh from time to time and wonder why he is so intent on keeping my foot on his lap.
After the meal is done, everyone starts yawning. Myself included. "That was great." CJ states, to a round of agreements from all. She is sitting straight across from me and, while looking down, notices that my foot is still on Josh's lap. She glances at me and smirks again. "Oh, Donna, by the way. I wasn't able to get you a room at our hotel." She sees me start to panic. "No, don't worry about it. I've got 2 queen-sized beds in my room. You can bunk with me. We can have a girls night." Her eyes are full of excitement.
"Are you sure it's ok?" I am tentative about 'crowding' her space.
"It'll be fun. Of course, I'm sure."
"OK, then. Girls night it is." I am now smiling from ear to ear.
"CJ, just remember that my room is right next to yours. Can you try and keep the cajoling to a low rumble, please? I need my beauty sleep, too", Josh says with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Oh, mi amor, no need to worry. We will keep it down. I wouldn't want you to eavesdrop on our conversation. I'm sure Donna wouldn't want you to hear what she is gonna say about you." I see her wink at Josh.
"What!!!" I am totally mortified at this point and I think my face has turned a wonderful shade of crimson.
CJ chuckles. "I'm kidding, Donna. Why on earth would either of us want to talk about the 'Idiot Boy' over here."
Josh's face has deflated, like someone has taken his favorite toy away from him. I place my hand on his arm. "Don't worry, Josh. I am so tired right now, I will probably fall right to sleep. It won't be too much of a 'girls night' anyway. You won't miss anything."
His eyes fall to my hand and then look up to me. Dimples are now out in full force as I get the 1000-watt Lyman smile. God, I love those dimples. Wait, did I just say that? No, no, no, no, no. That is not what I meant.
Please don't forget to review after you read. I am new to this and would love to hear some constructive criticism or some praise. Whichever you wish. Chapter 3 will be up soon (I hope. Right after I write it).