Page 1 of Until Joy

Prologue

Jasper Creek, Tennessee, One Month Ago

The supply pantry of the diner wasn’t the worst place to have a mid-life crisis. Okay, I’m twenty-three, so maybe I should call it a Gen-Z crisis.

I looked around and tried to smile, but it wobbled. Normally when I’m reading a book in here, I’m whisked away into a happily ever after, but not today. I looked down at the book that I’d actually bought in paperback, and at the fluorescent yellow marker in my hand.

Welcoming Change: How to Transform Your Life In Less Than A Month.

So far, I hadn’t highlighted a damn thing.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the things that usually gave me comfort in this small room. There was the smell of cinnamon. Then there was the fact that I was surrounded by family. Even now I could hear my Aunt Lettie shouting food orders to my Great-Aunt Patty. Since I was a little girl, that hadn’t changed. Then there was the comfortable feeling of leaning against bags of flour.

I looked down at the book again and studied the table of contents.

Chapter One.

Acknowledge That You Want To Change.

No shit, Sherlock! Why do you think I forked out almost twenty dollars for this book?

Chapter Two.

Identify What’s Holding You Back.

If I knew, I wouldn’t be out twenty bucks!

Sighing, I closed the book and banged my head against the bag of flour.

Dammit!

I started to cough as flour exploded out of the bag and gusted all over everything, including me. I’d actually ripped a hole in the bag I’d been leaning against, and now I was covered in the stuff. I sneezed and sneezed again. I couldn’t stop.

Perfect.

I looked around and spotted a broom and a dustpan and cleaned up the flour. The last thing I wanted to do was leave a mess for my aunt.

I carefully settled down next to a different bag and started thinking.

So, what’s holding me back? Fear of flying? Nope, that’s not it. I like airplanes. Except you’ll never get me to go skydiving.

Fear of failing?

Shit yeah!

Isn’t that why I’ve taken easy jobs here in Jasper Creek, ever since I came back from London?

Stop! No thinking of London!

My family? I sighed.

Hell yeah!

They were my support, my cheerleaders, my lifeline. I loved my parents. I loved my great-great-grandmother, and even though my big brothers annoyed the ever-loving fuck out of me, I adored them, too.

Leaving Jasper Creek? Well, this place was driving me crazy, but it was home. I knew everybody, and they knew me. And after my last big adventure turned into hell, did I really want to leave again?

Hell no!