Page 65 of With All My Heart, Joy

“Yesss.” She drew the word out with suspicion. “You wrote back.”

“And she wrote back and so on and so forth… Long story short, it ended up being my client. And before you freak out, I stopped counseling her before anything happened,” he said in a rush.

“Smart boy.”

“Her name is Joy. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

“Tell me more,” she demanded. “You barely gave me a crumb, son.”

He tilted his head back and laughed. “You’ll love her, just wait. A heads up, though. She’s…young.”

“How young?”

He hesitated. Joy was the most mature twenty-two-year-old he had met. But his mom didn’t know that. “She’s twenty-two.”

“Thatisyoung,” his mom said. “Maybe she can loosen you up, get you to live life a little more.”

“Thank you for making me feel so good about myself, Mom.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

“How is she with Paisley?”

Now there was a subject he could talk about for hours. “A miracle. She’s a miracle with Paisley.”

* * * * *

Joy’s doorbell rang mid-afternoon. She hit “post” on the Instagram story she’d been working on and moved toward the door. She hoped whoever it was wouldn’t be bothered by the mess of Christmas craft supplies strewn across the kitchen table. Isaac was at work, so it couldn’t be him.

“Dad?” She opened the door wide for her father, who stood on her stoop with a thick coat over his scrubs. “Come in! I had no idea you were coming.” She shut the door behind him. “Can I get you anything?”

He waved her offer away as he prowled around the common area. “I’m fine, Joy. I’m fine. This place suits you. I hope you don’t mind me dropping by unannounced.”

“Mind?” Joy was incredulous. “Why would I mind?”

Her father paused. “Your mother and I are under the impression that you’re in need of personal space.”

Joy was flabbergasted. Had she, with her chronic feeling of being unwanted, projected upon her family that they were unwanted byher?

“Notthatmuch personal space,” she said. “To be honest, this place is kind of lonely.”

Her dad’s lips curved. “Don’t tell your mother. She’ll be here in five minutes flat.”

Joy let out a giggle. She would, and they both knew it. “I’ll have you both over for dinner next week, how’s that?”

“Sounds great, kitten.” He hadn’t called her that in so long she’d forgotten he ever had. “The reason I’m here is that Isaac Miller paid me a visit at the hospital today.”

Joy staggered backward, reaching wildly for a chair to support her. “He did?” Isaac hadnottold her he planned to see her dad, even though he’d said that her father was one of Paisley’s many doctors.

Her dad nodded gravely. “I’ll be the first to admit I’m fond of Isaac. He’s a top-notch man. A true gentleman, wonderful father, sincere Christian. But are you sure about the age difference, Joy? I want you to know what you’re getting into.”

“What do you mean? That if we stay together long term, we might find ourselves at different stages in our lives due to the age gap?”

He nodded reluctantly.

“I’m mature, Dad. You know that. And Isaac is very down-to-earth. He’s totally supportive of my influencing, and I love how dependable he is. We make a good team.”

“Okay…”

“If you’re worried that he’s more experienced in life and relationships and, yeah, in the bedroom, I get it. He’s been very honest with me, and all I can say is that he is who he is today because of the past, for better or worse.”

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