When he looked up, Silas met his eyes and tilted his head. Lucy had already squatted down beside Maggie and Paisley, so he followed Silas’s lead and came to a stop several yards away from the women.

“I have a question for you.” Silas regarded him seriously from his superior height. At six-foot-three, Silas had a four-inch height advantage over Isaac. “Lucy and I are getting married…soon.”

“Soon?” Isaac couldn’t stop the incredulity from filling his voice. They hadn’t been engaged for a month yet, and their engagement party was only two weeks ago. The night he met Joy.

The memory taunted him. If he had met Joy at a social function because her sister was marrying his best friend, it would happen again. And again. What would it be like seeing a client in a social setting? A client he was bound to know a lot of personal information about in a short time. Counseling got personalreallyfast.

He was racking up a lot of reasons why he should have stuck with his original refusal when Joy called Living Hope yesterday. He originally had no intention of accepting her as a client. If his rule about personal acquaintances wasn’t enough, he was booked clear through until Christmas Eve. He had a bad habit of taking on too many clients. But when she admitted in a shaking voice that she had been working up the courage for two weeks—since she met him—to call and schedule herself for counseling, how was he supposed to say no? He had a feeling if he said no, she wouldn’t be calling anyone else.

What was done was done. He would have to find a way to handle this professionally. He could do better than the last time he’d forgotten his professionalism. He had to.

“When’s the big day?”

“First Saturday in December.” He wasn’t joking about soon.

“What’s the rush?”

Silas’s sigh was heavy. “I lost so much time with Erika. So many years of misery. And I’m not getting younger.”

A disgruntled huff popped out of Isaac’s throat. “Don’t talk to me about age. I’m older than you.”

“But you already have a daughter. I want to start a family. I want a normal, healthy marriage. I see no reason to delay, and neither does Lucy. We will have a large reception two weeks later, but the wedding will be a small, intimate ceremony, mostly immediate family and close friends.”

“I’m your only close friend,” Isaac groused, and Silas’s lips curved with a smile.

“Exactly. You won’t be in the audience.”

“You asking me to be your best man?”

“Who else would agree?”

“Can’t imagine.”

“You know what? Shut up.”

Isaac let out his loudest laugh and slapped Silas on the back. “I’m happy for you, man. Happy you finally saw what was in front of you all this time. I believeIam the first one who told you to take a second glance at Lucy, correct?”

“For which he will be forever in your debt,” Lucy announced as she joined them. “Right, Silas?”

He only grunted, but nothing could hide his smitten smile.

“Who is your attendant?” Isaac asked Lucy.

“I haven’t asked her yet, but I’m sure Joy will say yes.”

Joy.

Isaac eased his fingers along his forehead. Another reason to regret his impulsive decision to mix his professional life with his personal. He’d staunchly observed that rule since the day he’d made it ten years ago. Until today.

On the way home an hour later, the backseat of Isaac’s car was quiet. Had Paisley fallen asleep? A glance in the rearview mirror revealed her face glued to the window, her eyes intently searching the darkness of the world outside.

“Look, Dad! Look! Christmas coming!”

Paisley had started with a speech-language pathologist when she was a tiny Kindergarten student. She communicated then with little more than grunts and pointing. Some Down children never mastered spoken language. Her therapist had predicted Paisley might remain mostly nonverbal for life. And reading and writing would likely always be a challenge. Isaac spent alotof time helping Paisley with homework, especially this year. But five years after starting therapy, though she struggled to speak grammatically, she had found her voice. Some days she didn’t seem to breathe in between words. Isaac never tired of her prattling.

Like right now, as she jabbered about the blinking lights adorning the roof of a house coming up on the left. It was appallingly early for Christmas lights. No one but his mother put up Christmas decorations this early.

Well, she and Joy Halverson, apparently.