Page 75 of Until Joy

“Yeah,” Joy whispered. “I promise to talk to them soon. I’m going to have to.”

Miss Laverne’s white head of hair bobbed in agreement. “You are, honey. You should have told them when it was happening.”

“It’s just that when I was in the hospital, I wasn’t thinking all that straight.”

The older lady gasped again. “How long were you in the hospital for?”

“Only three days.”

“Three days? You must have been hurt badly.”

“I told you, it wasn’t that bad,” Joy mumbled.

Miss Laverne looked at me and I gave a small shake of my head. I knew that Joy wasn’t ready to talk about it.

“And you never told your family? In all that time?” Miss Laverne asked for confirmation.

Joy shook her head. “No, ma’am.”

Miss Laverne gave Joy a long, considering look. “That’s okay, dear. I know you had good reasons,” the older lady said gently, and I wanted to kiss her. “How can I help?”

“I’m worried about you.” Joy blurted out.

“Why on Earth would you be worried about me?” Miss Laverne smiled wide. “I’ve lived here all my life. This is the house I was born in, and where I grew up. My mama left it to me when she died. Ain’t nothing bad has ever happened to me here, and nothing ever will.”

I watched as Joy’s fingers clenched tighter and tighter during Miss Laverne’s speech. “Yeah, but you never had a crazy man out to get you.”

“It’s okay. From now on I’ll lock my door.”

I snorted a laugh. “So that’s what’s finally gonna get you to lock your door, huh?”

“Well, when somebody from England comes to terrorize our Joy, darn tootin’ I’ll lock our door. Now, Graham, what are you and your young friends going to do about all of this? I assume you’re working with the police. Aren’t there a couple of Mayson boys on the police force? You better call them.”

Joy gave me a surprised look, and I grinned back at her. “Just think of her like this town’s Little Grandma.”

“You mean Esperance?” Miss Laverne asked. “Why, that’s a lovely moniker. I would be honored. But that’s neither here nor there. First, we need to do everything we can to keep our Joy safe.”

“I’ll be staying here with the both of you, and Joy will start working the day shift.”

Joy jerked around in her seat and glared daggers up at me. “For the last time, I’m not going to ask July for any favors. She needed a tech at night, not for days. I’ll continue to work nights until I can find a job that lets me work days.”

Miss Laverne let out a quiet laugh, and Joy turned to look at her. “What?”

“Aw, Honey. That’s not how the Mayson’s work. You’ll see.”

Chapter 20

We were just finishing up dinner when I heard the sound of motorcycle pipes. It was more than one. I looked up at Graham, and he didn’t look surprised.

“Who’s that?”

“Should be Wes and Z, along with July and Kayan.”

“Oh good. They’ll be just in time for dessert,” Miss Laverne said as she got up from the table. She picked up her plate, but I stopped her.

“You know the rules.” I smiled. “You did all the cooking. I’ll clean up. Graham will let everybody inside. Why don’t you go with him?”

“That sounds lovely.” She followed Graham out to the other room, and I started clearing the table. I was in the kitchen, pulling out the leftover chocolate cake, when July and Kayan burst into the kitchen.