Chapter 17 - Driving

Mina, Bailey, and George were starring at Joanna and Macaroy Sherman quite inappropriately. George and Bailey were considerably surprised to see Macaroy Sherman standing in front of them with Joanna as his wife, and it forced George to feel quite defeated – a feeling he wasn't used to.

"Miss Reed," Sherman addressed Mina with a smile and kissed her on the hand. "Darling, would you introduce me to your friends? I would love to be on good terms with them."

"Of course. This is Bailey and George…" Joanna was fighting the urge to break down in front of them all. She wouldn't allow it, her vanity forbid her, her status as a powerful, strong woman would have to be upheld.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Macaroy Sherman," he shook George's hand and kissed Bailey on hers.

Bailey had gone into shock just as Joanna - but for quite a different reason. She looked from Joanna to Sherman and back again, mouthing the word "Jo-jo-jo-anna?" whilst slightly shaking her head.

"I was planning to take Joanna to my home for the remainder of the weekend," Sherman paused as he looked to Joanna, who just nodded since she didn't know, where he was going with this.

"But I would like to invite you to my apartment here in town if you all have the time. I must warn you however, it might still smell a bit of paint - it was just finished repainting a few days ago."

Mina, Bailey, and George had nothing to say and the awkward tension was obvious to everyone if it hadn't already been.

"I don't know if my friends have the time," Joanna finally said to Macaroy, considering if she should start calling him something sweet like he always did, but decided that it was too soon.

"Of course, of course," Macaroy quickly said and turned to George, Bailey, and Mina. "This is my addresses," he said and handed out his card to the three. "You're welcome anytime, but I might not always be home. I rarely stay in the same town for long."

George frowned as he looked at the card. "If you won't stay in town, how do you expect to be with Joanna whilst she is studying?"

Sherman smiled as if he had already anticipated this question. "Do not worry about it. This decision will be between Joanna and me."

George didn't look satisfied with the answer but nodded without asking any further questions.

Joanna was getting more annoyed with the situation for every minute that passed. She had especially tried to avoid this situation. "Mr Sher… sorry Macaroy, I think we should leave now. My friends surely have better places to be as well," she looked to Bailey and quickly mouthed the words 'I'm sorry. Everything is fine. Don't worry about me.'

Bailey nodded as she quickly understood the words. "Yes, yes we do," Bailey said and turned to George and Mina "Let's go, it seemed we had no reason to worry about Joanna."

They didn't seem entirely convinced however and both made the exact same stands as a response: crossing their arms and narrowing their eyes.

"Sure Bailey… I will drive you home." George looked at Joanna, who nodded and smiled.

George and Bailey left closely followed by Mina, who stopped and looked back, "call me," she said to Joanna and walked out.

Joanna sighed as she saw her friends leave the door. She had never intended for her friends to be hurt by her decision, why else keep it a secret from George and Bailey? She hadn't avoided telling Mina of course, but she hadn't expected her to get the words to them.

"Trouble already - that's married life I suppose…" she said and looked to Macaroy.

"I'm sorry that your friends do not look kindly on our union." Sherman took her arm under his. "But for now, I would like you to focus on enjoying this day nonetheless. And if you want to, you can stick with calling me Sherman if it's more preferable to you."

Joanna giggled, "oh you picked up on that already. You're a good observer."

"I spend a lot of time observing people after all – helps with getting into character." He smiled kindly as he opened the car door for her and got in next to her on the back seats.

"Koresh, home please," he said to Trafford Koresh, the driver, and they headed out of the city towards the highway.

"This will be a rather long drive won't it?" Joanna asked trying to calculate the approximate time it would take.

"No better time to get to know each other," Sherman said winking to his new bride.

Joanna laughed and rolled her eyes at him. She did enjoy his company but hoped the drive wouldn't be ruined by her occasional motion sickness.

Joanna took her shoes off and leaned back in the seat. "Can we get started with me resting my tired feet on your knees?" she didn't expect him to accept but he lifted her legs without questioning it and started massaging her feet. She hadn't expected her feet to be this tired already, but it was nice to feel his thumbs massage out the stress. It was as if he massaged all the stress and nerves in her body and mind away, making her very relaxed and almost fall asleep.

A couple of hours later Mr Koresh made Mr Sherman aware that they would soon arrive and that he should consider waking Mrs Sherman.

"Joanna," Sherman whispered and brushed gently through her hair with his hand. "Wake up darling, we will be home in a minute."

"Home?" she mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. "Sounds nice."

Sherman smiled to himself and looked to Mr Koresh on the front seat, "Did you hear that Koresh? It 'sounds nice'."

Trafford Koresh smiled and nodded to Mr Sherman in the rearview mirror, "wonderful sir, it looks like you might develop a strong relationship and marriage. Congratulation."

"Thank you, Koresh," Sherman said as he wondered if he shouldn't wake Joanna up after all. But as they drove up in front of the house, he realized that he wanted her to have the experience of seeing the house this day. "Joanna, wake up darling, we're home." He hoped she would like it, he thought as her eyes slowly opened. What if she didn't like it, he wondered?