Page 45 of With All My Heart, Joy

She brushed tears off her face she hadn’t realized she was shedding, reached for a fresh Christmas card, and began to write.

Hi Isaac,

I think it’s safe to say you understand what my PR work is now. Work I should be doing rather than writing another letter.

Please tell Paisley I enjoyed my evening immensely. She is an incredible girl, and you should be so proud of her. She will accomplish great things. I hope you’ll bring her to Silas and Lucy’s reception next week. She’ll have a blast seeing the glitzy party those two are sure to throw.

I appreciate everything you taught me during counseling and the many ways you have impacted my life and encouraged me. I wish things hadn’t gotten so complicated, but if Marie is half as good a counselor as you, maybe I’ll turn out alright after all.

Thank you for everything.

Joy

She read it once to make sure there were no mixed signals. Friendly, not flirty. And definitely no mention of the despair that threatened to drown her already.

Enough of Isaac. She pushed the envelope aside and woke up her computer. It was time to work. And judging by her to-do list, the emails flooding her inbox from sponsors, and the comments angrily demanding to know where she’d been the past few days, she had a lot to do.

A text came in from Lucy at ten p.m. while Joy was editing a kitchen hacks video from her lifestyle channel, making a condensed clip for Instagram reels.

Lucy: If you need to talk, I’m here. Don’t hesitate. Xoxo.

Scowling, Joy shoved the phone away. Maybe Isaac had needed to talk about it with his best friend. But she had nothing to talk about. Work was her priority. It was the only thing that gave her purpose.

Chapter Twelve

“Are yousureyou don’t want to think about it?”

Joy ignored her sister, plunging a baby carrot into a dish of ranch dip. She had missed Lucy the past week and a half, but she was currently taking the fun out of Family Fun Tuesday. Joy had not come here to discuss Isaac.

“He’s a wonderful man, Joy.”

The desire to smear ranch on Lucy’s face surfaced. Tempting. Very tempting. “I’m aware, Luce.” She bit the carrot in half with a snap. “He’s also twice my age.”

Fabulous blue eyes that Joy had always envied just a fraction rolled dramatically. “Nottwice.”

“Close enough.”

Their mom cast a speculative look their way across the kitchen, and Joy cut both hands through the air. “Enough, okay? I don’t need everyone else knowing about this.”

“Fine, but I’m following you to your place when we leave. I need more details.”

Didn’t she have someone else to annoy? “I thought you’d rush home to your new mansion and millionaire man. You’ve only been home a day.”

Lucy waved a dismissive hand. “He had enough of me in Tahiti.”

The way Silas’s eyes bore into Lucy’s back from the opening into the living room, Joy seriously doubted it. But she would welcome the company tonight. Her little apartment got lonely, and it turned out her family was, by and large, too busy to drop by very often. Or maybe they just didn’t want to.

“Dutch Blitz?” She had to lift her thoughts before she cried. The weekend had been brutal, playing catch-up with content, agonizing over Isaac, and, for the most part, ignoring all the helpful tips he’d taught her to combat her depression. It had been far easier to let it consume her.

She was regretting that choice now.

“You’re on, baby sister. TJ?” Lucy raised her voice to call her twin over. “Joy thinks she can beat us at Dutch Blitz. Let’s show her how to play, huh?”

Joy wasn’t expecting his look of challenge. TJ was the most passive of all her siblings. “Only if Ben’s on her team.”

“Why?” she blurted out before she could stop her mouth. TJ gave her a brotherlyyou-know-whylook.

“You want to play or not?”

---