Page 44 of The Fixer

“Not my problem.”

“Not mine either.”

“Hailey likes her. A lot. She calls her multi-layered, like an onion, and you have to peel off one piece at a time. According to Hailey, someone dida number on her once, and she doesn’t trust people, but once she warms up, a different side comes out.”

“Hailey’s right, as usual.” Dixie’s voice at Charlie’s back was so unexpected he whirled in place, twisting his legs, and nearly fell over. “And them’s some mighty intriguing layers for the right sort to peel off and get down to her vulnerable center. I reckon there might be a man for the job right in this room.”

Charlie and Noah both gaped at her, but Dixie didn’t seem to notice. “She’s a likable little thing, much more so than that sister of hers.” Dixie tsked. “Joy probably got bullied by that one growing up and had to scrap for everything she got. I’d say the scrapper got the final laugh, though. She’s done all right for herself.” Dixie flashed them both a red-lipsticked smile as she deposited a stack of receipts on Noah’s desk, exiting as soundlessly as she’d entered.

“I’ll never get used to her doing that,” Charlie puffed.

“That makes two of us. Hailey says she has a portkey, like inHarry Potter, which is how she can disappear and reappear anywhere, anytime.”

Now there was a scary thought.

Dixie’s brass-colored head poked around the doorframe, eliciting a “Fuck!” from CharlieandNoah. She went on as if she hadn’t heard the shared expletive. “You spend time with her like you did yesterday, and you’ll see. She’s smart as a whip, but she doesn’t place much faith in folks. She’s no doormat, but she has a gushy middle, like one of them ee-clairs Amy sells. I’ll bet you donuts to dollars that when that woman falls in love, she loves something fierce. The man that gets her will have to earn every bit of her trust, but it’ll be worth it. You may have met your match, Charlie Hunnicutt.” She wiggled her painted-on eyebrows.

Charlie’s mouth swung open. “How do you know about yesterday?”

“When will you get it through that thick blond head of yours that I knoweverythingthat goes on in this town?” She quickly disappeared again.

Charlie laughed at the empty space where Dixie had just been. “Is she gone now?”

“Only one way to tell.” Noah sprang to his feet and ducked around the corner. “She’s gone.” He smirked at Charlie. “Yesterday? What’s that all about?”

“There was no water at the Majestic, so I let her use my place. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. End of story.”

Noah’s grin widened. “Sounds like our Dix is up to some matchmaking. Lucky you.”

Dixie’s quirky matchmaking methods had turned out well for Noah and Hailey, but those two were a one-off. And they weresupposedto be together. But Charlie and Joy? The thought was ludicrous. They were about as mismatched as a white crew sock and a navy dress sock.

Noah swiped a stress ball off his desk and tossed it in the air. “Who knows? Maybe you and Joy—”

“No effing way.” Charlie shook his head vigorously and snatched the ball out of midair. “She’s my client—maybe—and I don’t do clients. Besides, Dixie’s smoking something again. Likeable? Gushy? Vulnerable? Those are three words I would never associate with Joy Holiday. That woman is as vulnerable as a viper.”

“Well, if Hailey and Dixie are right—and I wouldn’t count them out, bro—there’s more to Joy Holiday than whatever it is you’re seeing.”

Joy’s bitter words about wanting to bury memories percolated and bobbed about in Charlie’s consciousness, and he put them aside to examine later.

Noah stole the ball back. “I think I’ll take the girls some lunch. You should come with me.” His smile turned downright evil.

“Don’t think so. I’ve got more important things to do than deliver a catered lunch to your girlfriend and a big-city snob.” Charlie tapped the doorframe on his way out. “You let me know about that meeting with Cantrell.”

“Sure, bro. Whatever you say.” Noah’s laughter followed him all the way out of the bar.

Charlie flew double birds over his shoulders.

“Joy Holiday?” he muttered to himself. “Andme? What a fucking joke.”

It wasn’t that Charlie didn’t want to be in a relationship. He’d tried in the past with disappointing outcomes, finally concluding his frontal lobes needed to mature completely before he seriously considered long-term—or at least that’s the diagnosis his non-doctor of a mother had once offered. It was as good a reason as any he could come up with.

Around that same time, his business volume doubled, and he’d been so busy scrambling and riding the wave that nothing more serious than a hookup appeared on his horizon. Being with the same woman three nights instead of one was a record. And that had been fine by him. But sincewatching Noah fall hard for Hailey, he’d found himself pondering whether a relationship that perfect was in his future. Something like his parents had, a union that was still close and loving, that had grown and adapted just as they had.

But with Joy Holiday?Ha!He couldn’t fathom a “someone” out there for her.

He hopped into his truck and headed down Bowen Street, passing Crystal Harmony Haven on his way out of town. As he rolled by, he caught a glimpse of Hailey and Joy laughing through the front window. Joy looked relaxed, almost happy, and the conversation in Noah’s office came circling back.

If Charlie was brutally honest, those “layers” of Joy’s piqued his interest, enticing him to do a little peeling back, and that was dangerous. This morning, when they’d shaken hands, something had passed between them in a bewildering eye exchange thing they had done at the end, and while he had yet to decipher what it had been about, he couldn’t deny her hand had felt good in his—too good—and staring into those eyes made him feel as though he were looking into a tumbler of the finest whiskey. It was … Wow!

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