Jo blinked at the quick subject change. At least it appeared to be a subject change. She was thinking that the coffee was cold?
All the same, Jo held out her cup.
"Thanks," she said.
She smiled appreciatively at Fred's offer. So she really didn't need to fight to prove herself to the woman. It was nice. Refreshing, really.
Of course then the slight discomfort at what Dean was going to say when he found out settled in. She was torn between saying something to Fred about his potential reaction and not saying something. Then she realized that if she didn't say something and Fred mentioned it to Dean, she might be more upset that Jo hadn't at least warned her.
"I'm not too busy. I can help," she said. "But, uh.... are you going to tell Dean? Because that will probably not go over well."