Page 130 of Until Joy

“I had every right. I love you. When you love someone, you want to know everything about them.” Glenda reached for the clotted cream and dolloped some onto her scone. “Try yours. They're really quite good, even if they're not as perfect as when you make them.”

I stared at the plate in front of me. “Why me?”

The question hung in the air between us. Glenda set down her scone and folded her hands in her lap, suddenly looking younger and more vulnerable.

“Rob used to get so jealous.” Her voice turned wistful. “He said I cared too much about other people. That I was always finding new friends and paying more attention to them than to him. He never understood that I just have a lot of love to give, and that I couldn’t help all the people who adored me.”

She picked up her lemonade and took a sip. “So that night at Louey’s when you sang that song to me, I swooned.” She had a glint in her eye that made me shiver. “Joy, that was the most beautiful moment of my life. I told Rob that, and he had the audacity to say I was crazy. He said you weren’t singing that song to me. I wanted to go talk to you, but he wouldn’t let me. Of course I’d driven us that night. I always had to be the designated driver, so he insisted we leave. I was heartbroken. Here he was, the man who had once claimed to love me, trying to keep me away from my soulmate.”

“Glenda.”

“I couldn't let that stand, of course. When I dropped him off at his house, I told him I needed to talk to him in his driveway. When he got out of the car…” She shrugged. “I put it in reverse, then drove backward as fast as I could…”

I waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, I prompted her. “And?”

“Unfortunately, he died.”

The casual way she said it made my blood freeze. She'd killed her boyfriend. Run him down in cold blood because he'd questioned her delusion about me.

“I knew you loved me from the very first note you sang to me.” Glenda's expression turned dreamy. “The way you looked right at me during that song. You were telling me how you felt, weren't you? That you wanted to kiss me?”

Horror crashed over me in waves. This was so much worse than London. The man who'd stalked me there had been delusional, but his delusions were about possession and control. Glenda's delusions were about love. About a relationship that existed only in her mind.

In London, I'd been dealing with a stranger. Someone I could hate without reservation. But Glenda had been kind to me. She'd adopted Rosebud, had seemed lonely and sad after her breakup. I'd felt sorry for her.

I'd invited her into my life.

My hands started shaking. I clenched them into fists, trying to hide the tremor. I had to stay calm. Had to think. Graham and the others would be looking for me by now. They'd find the security footage from the hospital. They'd figure out what had happened.

But how long would that take? And what would Glenda do to me in the meantime? She could tip over the edge at any moment. Just how long did I have to live?

I needed to stay alive long enough to be rescued. But how?

“You know we were meant to be, don't you, Joy?” Glenda leaned forward, her eyes bright with fervor. “From the moment I first saw you on that stage, I knew. You have such a pure heart. Such a beautiful soul.”

I forced myself to meet her gaze. If I was going to survive this, I needed to play along. At least until I could figure out an escape plan.

“I knew how special you were when you showed how big of a heart you had.” I kept my voice soft, gentle. “When you wanted to adopt a kitten. You could have chosen any pet, but you wanted to save Rosebud.”

Glenda's face lit up like Christmas morning. “I knew you understood. You saw the real me, not the awkward woman everyone else sees.”

“Where is Rosebud?” I asked. “I'd love to see her again.”

Something flickered across Glenda's face. A shadow that was there and gone so quickly I almost missed it.

“She's fine. She's safe.” Glenda picked up her scone again, her movements jerky. “We need to eat our snacks now. I want to get started on that pineapple upside down cake.”

She was deflecting. Changing the subject. What had happened to Rosebud?

“These scones are delicious.” I picked up the plastic spoon with my free hand—still tingling and half-numb—and took a small bite, though the food turned to chalk in my mouth. “When did you start baking?”

“As soon as I found all of your recipes. I thought you would like a partner who shared your interests.” Glenda practically glowed. “I've been practicing. I want to be able to cook all your favorites.”

We ate in relative silence, Glenda chattering about the lake house and how peaceful it was here. How we could be happy together, away from all the people who didn't understand us. She talked faster and faster, her words tumbling over each other in manic excitement.

When she finished her scone, she clapped her hands together. “Now for the fun part. You're going to teach me how to make your pineapple upside down cake. The real way, with all your little secrets.”

“I'll need to be untied.”