Page 91 of Sycamore Circle

She was also a lot to deal with if Joy wasn’t up for the hurricane that she was. Which was why she hadn’t told Alice anything.

Of course, she hadn’t told Rand anything either. Chloe had told her grandparents about Bo two nights ago—much to Joy’s shock and dismay.

“I didn’t tell you about Bo because I didn’t want to have this exact conversation. I also didn’t want you wasting your day driving all the way to Chillicothe.”

“I’m not wasting my day. I wanted to come see you.”

“I’m just saying that you’re really busy. There was no need for you to make a special trip.”

“Sure there was.” Looking a little hurt, Alice added, “I care about you. Chloe too. We all do, Joy.” She leaned a little closer. “Now tell me about this guy.”

“I care about you too. But that doesn’t mean I want to discuss Bo.”

“How come? I heard he’s hot.”

“Because—wait, did you just say that Chloe called him hot? She didn’t say that... did she?”

Alice chuckled. “No. Joel did some recon.”

“How?”

“Joel’s sister Courtney is a cop.” She waved a hand like it was common knowledge. “She can do things like that.”

So now multiple family members knew about Bo. “At least Chloe didn’t show you a picture of him.” Of course, the minute she’d said that, Joy started to get worried. Her sister could be crazy—and didn’t have a whole lot of boundaries—where Joy was concerned. “Or did she?”

“I haven’t seen a picture yet. But was Courtney right?” Eyes practically twinkling, she added, “Does he really look like a young Brad Pitt?”

Joy couldn’t lie about that. “Oh, yeah. He’s gorgeous, like double-take gorgeous.”

“I want to see. Pull out your phone. Do you have a picture of him?”

“A picture, like I took a selfie of the two of us one afternoon?”

Alice was acting like that was perfectly possible. “Yes. So... do you?”

“No.”

“Joy. Really?”

“Come on. I wasn’t about to embarrass myself or him by doing that. And no, I’m not going to take his picture next time I see him.” It was hard enough wrapping her head around the fact that she was dating a younger guy who inspired second glances wherever he went.

“You are such a spoilsport. And you need to be sneaky, like say that you want to do a selfie with him or something. Guys are used to that.”

Even imagining such a conversation made her wince. “He’s not going to want to do that.” The next words came out before she could stop herself. “I can’t believe he likes me.”

“He does, hmm?” Alice smiled. “Did he ask you to go steady?”

That was a joke in reference to their parents, who were sure that such questions still came out of teenagers’ mouths. “No. but...” Oh, who was she kidding? She had to tell someone! “He kissed me two nights ago.”

Alice’s eyes lit up. “I knew it. I told Joel that there had to be something between you—otherwise you wouldn’t have let Chloe meet him.”

She didn’t want to involve her sister in her stalker situation, but Joy didn’t want her thinking that she was so ga-ga over Bo that she had forgotten all sense of decorum. “He’s helping me out with some things. I’ve been receiving some weird texts and notes.”

Immediately, Alice’s teasing expression turned serious. “What? Who are they from? And how can this Bo guy help you?”

“It’s a long story, I don’t know, and he has been listening to me and he got a cop involved.”

Alice pulled out her phone. “You have a perfectly good sister-in-law who’s a cop. She should be involved too.” She looked down and swiped the screen.

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