Page 72 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“Enough about me. Tell me everything that’s going on with you guys.”

“Oh, no, no,” Brielle says. “I want more deets on what’s happening with the high school crush.”

“He’s become my adult crush. There might’ve been some kissing over the weekend.”

“Lexi!” Naomi says dramatically. “His heart can’t take it.”

“He tells me his heart is never better than it is when I’m close by.”

Their chorus ofawwwwsis too cute.

“I like him so much for you,” Joy says. “The way he stepped up for you when you needed a way out of your parents’ basement and how he’s taken such sweet care of you for all these months without an ounce of pressure for anything more has earned him a permanent place in my heart.”

“Mine, too,” I tell her with a smile. She’s the most loving, generous person, and when she says she wants only the best of everything for all of us, we believe her. “What about you and the new guy?”

“Well… I might’ve had a sleepover the other night.”

This is huge news. She hasn’t been with anyone since Craig died.

Once again, we all speak as one. “And?”

“Mama got her freak on.” Despite the way she says that, her eyes are full of tears.

“Aw, sweetie.” Brielle puts an arm around Joy. “Are you okay?”

“I am. I really am. And, you know, that’s the problem. Everything about it feels so wrong, and yet, it felt so right at the time, and I just…” Joy takes the napkin I hand her. “It’s such a mess.”

“It’s an important step forward,” Hallie says. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Joy says with a sigh. “But it’s made me miss Craig more than I have in a long time. I mean, I always miss him something fierce, but it’s been worse lately.”

Naomi nods in understanding. “Which is also completely normal.”

“What even is normal anymore?” I ask the question before I think too much about it. “I look at my life today, and it bears no resemblance whatsoever to how it was before Jim got sick. I mean… I got laid off today, and I don’t even care when I desperately need the money.”

“That’s because you know there’re far worse things that can happen than losing a job you hated to begin with,” Hallie says.

Brielle nods in agreement. “Ain’t that the truth?”

“You’re right,” I tell Hallie. “I’m numb to disaster.”

“This doesn’t even count as a disaster,” Joy says. “In the grand scheme of things.”

“No, it doesn’t. It’s a wrinkle, and I’ll figure it out. How are things with Robin, Hallie?”

“So far, so great,” she says with a grimace. “Leave it to me to find someone who fits just right who also happens to be battling metastatic breast cancer. That’s a heck of a chapter two.”

Joy puts her hand over Hallie’s. “Nothing says you have to take on her battle, love.”

“Oh, I know, but I seem to be having a problem walking away from it—and her. She’s lovely and fun, and the other day, I met her kids, who are also wonderful. They were so nice and welcoming.”

“How old are they?” Naomi asks.

“Eleven and thirteen.”

“Not usually the most welcoming ages,” Joy says.

“Nope, but these kids have watched their mother fight a disease that could’ve killed her years ago. They know what matters and what doesn’t. They want her happy, even if that means dating a woman after leaving their father.”

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